BarCap puts up salaries as bonuses fall December 3, 2009 BARCLAYS Capital is planning to significantly crank up the basic pay it gives its 22,000 investment bankers in a move to keep pace with salary hikes from competitors. The bank is said to be preparing salary rises of up to 150 per cent, with the cap on basic pay to increase from £120,000 to £300,000 [...]
Seligman joins BG?Group board December 3, 2009 Oil and gas giant BG Group yesterday said Mark Seligman had been appointed as a non-executive director at the company, with immediate effect. Seligman is currently senior advisor to Credit Suisse. He is the ex-chairman of UK investment banking at Credit Suisse and a former member of the bank’s global investment banking executive board. A [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 2, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES CIC IN €800M OFFER TO APAXChina Investment Corp, China’s sovereign wealth fund, is offering to invest as much as €800m (£723m) into Apax Partners’ €11.2bn private equity fund in a groundbreaking deal.The move, which would see CIC acquire a small stake in the management company of one of Europe’s biggest equity funds, shows [...]
Shares rally as doubts over Middle East start to subside December 1, 2009 BRITAIN’S top shares ended 2.3 per cent higher yesterday and posted their biggest daily gain in 4-1/2 months, with banks and commodity shares rising as worries over Dubai’s debt problems faded. The FTSE 100 closed up 121.49 points at 5,312.17, its best one-day percentage gain since July 15. On Monday, the index fell 1.1 per [...]
Barclays gets 1bn BGI boost December 1, 2009 BARCLAYS last night cheered a £1.3bn boost from the expected sale of its asset management arm to US fund manager BlackRock, due to a 62 per cent hike in the fund manager’s shares since the deal was struck in June. The bank said it had completed the $15.2bn (£9.1bn) sale of Barclays Global Investors (BGI) [...]
THE LONDON REPORT November 30, 2009 BRITAIN’S leading share index shed 1.1 per cent yesterday, ending at session lows, dragged back by weakness in oil majors and banks on lingering anxiety over the impact of Dubai’s debt problems. By the close, the FTSE 100 was down 55.05 points at 5,190.68, its lowest closing level for three weeks. The blue chip index [...]
SEASONAL THOUGHTS FROM THE CITY GIRL November 30, 2009 As 2009 comes to a close, City folk are craving a bit of fun. After being forced to keep their heads down all year amid the misery, bailouts and chaos, most bankers I know are desperate to let their hair down, get drunk and embarrass themselves. One of the things I miss most about the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 29, 2009 THE SUNDAYSThe Sunday TelegraphRATE HIKE THREATENS EXISTENCE OF RURAL PETROL STATIONSHundreds of rural petrol stations face closure if an “outrageous” increase in business rates is pushed through next April, forecourt owners have warned. Owners of the UK’s 6,000 independent petrol stations will this week launch a major MP-backed campaign to urge a government body to [...]
Mamas & Papas to sell online through tie-up with Shop Direct November 29, 2009 MAMAS & Papas, the baby clothing to pushchair brand, is set to profit from an online sales boost due to a tie-up with Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay’s Shop Direct business. Shop Direct, the UK’s biggest catalogue group, will sell Mamas & Papas’ range through its online department store Very.co.uk. Very’s marketing campaign is [...]
Property market bottoms out, Barclays Wealth says November 29, 2009 CONFIDENCE in both residential and commercial property is on the up, a report out from Barclays Wealth will show today. The survey, the tenth in a series from the global wealth manager and the Economist Intelligence Unit, will show that twice as many respondents (35 per cent) say they are planning to increase their property [...]