Qatar keen to buy RBS and Lloyds stakes February 23, 2011 QATAR plans to buy stakes in RBS and Lloyds Banking Group, the nation’s Prime Minister told David Cameron yesterday. Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani said when asked about the state-owned banks: “We are very open to any investment in the UK and we have discussed some.” The Qatar Investment Authority already [...]
Barclays deal with Lehman cleared in US February 23, 2011 BARCLAYS is in line for an estimated £500m windfall after winning a legal battle with the bankruptcy estate of Lehman Brothers. Lehman’s creditors were attempting to extract $11bn (£6.8bn) from the bank on the grounds that it had improperly snapped up assets during a fire sale following Lehman’s collapse. But the bank’s lawyers fended off [...]
Eurozone new orders in shock rise February 23, 2011 INDUSTRIAL orders in the Eurozone defied expectations in the final month of 2010, official data revealed yesterday. The new orders index, compiled by the European Union’s statistics office Eurostat, jumped by 2.2 per cent in December, compared to the previous month. Across the European Union as a whole, industrial orders rose by 2.5 per cent [...]
France and Italy see prices fall February 23, 2011 French consumer prices dropped 0.2 per cent in January compared to December, official data showed yesterday. The fall reduced the annualised rate of inflation to 1.8 per cent, from two per cent in the last month of 2010. Services, transport and communication prices unexpectedly declined 0.6 per cent on the month, weighing down the figures. [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS February 23, 2011 Smith & Williamson The law firm has appointed a new head of its City-based restructuring and recovery team. Anthony Spicer will take up the role in the firm’s Moorgate office. He is a chartered accountant and licensed insolvency practitioner. He has specialised in turnaround and resturucturing since 1989, on both the lending and company side, [...]
FTSE 100 sinks again over fears of Middle East unrest February 23, 2011 POLITICAL turmoil in Libya and the threat of contagion across the Middle East and North Africa sent Britain’s leading shares lower yesterday, testing seven-month technical support levels. The FTSE 100 index was 73.23 points, or 1.2 per cent, lower at 5,923.53, extending its declines to more than 2.5 per cent on the week. London’s blue [...]
US home sales rise 2.7 per cent February 23, 2011 Sales of previously-owned US homes rose unexpectedly in January, but prices tumbled to the lowest in nearly nine years, a US industry group has said. The National Association of Realtors said sales climbed 2.7 per cent month on month to an annual rate of 5.36 million units from a downwardly revised 5.22 million pace. Compared [...]
Lehman Brothers £6bn case against Barclays fails February 23, 2011 Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc’s hurried sale of much of its US operations to Barclays at the height of the financial crisis was fair, and its bankruptcy estate is not entitled to recover an $11bn (£6.8bn) “windfall,” a federal judge ruled. The long-awaited ruling by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Peck followed a trial in which Lehman [...]
BHP’s shale gas deal gets a thumbs up from the market February 22, 2011 BHP Billiton’s share price rose yesterday after details of its $4.75bn (£2.94bn) purchase of US gas firm Chesapeake’s assets and $5bn buy-back filtered through the market. BHP, which announced the plans to the London market yesterday, said it would take over Chesapeake’s shale gas reserves in the Fayetteville field in Arkansas to gain an exposure [...]
Belgian confidence gets a boost February 22, 2011 Business morale in Belgium continued to rise this month, its central bank said yesterday. The headline business confidence index surprised economists by leaping from 4.5 last month to 5.8 in February – its highest level since July 2007. Belgium’s construction sector bounced back to a positive score of five points in the index, from January [...]