CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 24, 2009 Close BrothersThe financial services group has appointed Sven Guckelberger as a managing director to its corporate finance advisory arm, Close Brothers Corporate Finance, which has recently been sold to Daiwa Securities SMBC Europe. Guckelberger will join the restructuring and debt advisory group. Fenchurch The investment banking boutique has hired Julian Avery as a senior adviser, [...]
BARCLAYS TAKES THE METRO June 24, 2009 NEW YORK’S Brooklyn Atlantic Avenue subway hub is going to be renamed Barclays, after the bank struck a $4m (£2.4m) deal with the city’s transport authority. Barclays’ New York offices are actually in the more glamorous Manhattan, but the Barclays Centre sports arena is being built in Brooklyn as part of a local regeneration project, [...]
Fast food prospers as consumers loosen belts June 23, 2009 WHILE the recession continues to claim casualties from a variety of sectors, others are finding that an economic downturn has boosted business. One of the sectors whose BrandIndex scores have notably risen is fast food. As usual, we have created a “basket” of brands (Burger King, Domino’s, KFC, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and Wimpy). For comparison, [...]
STAVELEY SNUBBED June 23, 2009 BLACKROCK rejected backing worth $2.8bn (£1.7bn) from Middle Eastern power broker Amanda Staveley to help it purchase Barclays Global Investors (BGI). A source close to the deal confirmed she had offered the sum but said BlackRock rejected it due to a lack of detail about the identity of her Gulf backers.
Banks launch overdraft bid in the Lords June 23, 2009 A LEGAL case to determine whether banking overdraft fees can be challenged on grounds of fairness kicked off in the House of Lords yesterday, with seven banks and one building society fighting to overturn an earlier ruling against them. The lenders are contesting a judgement by the Court of Appeal that charges imposed by the [...]
RBS loss is the biggest of any bank in world June 23, 2009 ROYAL Bank of Scotland lost more than any other bank in the world last year, booking a pre-tax operating loss of nearly $60bn (£36.7bn), according to figures released today. The Banker magazine’s Top 1000 World Banks 2008/09 survey revealed that RBS was the world’s biggest loser, beating Wall Street giant Citigroup, which lost slightly more [...]
THE LONDON REPORT June 22, 2009 THE FTSE 100 ended 2.6 per cent, or 111.88 points, lower at 4,234.05 yesterday as falling commodity prices pressured miners and oil majors. Bucking the trend, Anglo American was the biggest blue chip gainer, rising 4.6 per cent, after rival Xstrata said it wanted talks about a proposed merger of equals. Xstrata shed 6.7 per [...]
Investment banks booming as RBS chief nets pay deal June 22, 2009 INVESTMENT banks are on course for a year of record profits, as they take advantage of dwindling competition to hoover up business from governments and companies raising money in the markets. Bankers at Goldman Sachs are expecting mammoth bonuses, after the investment banking division booked profits of more than £500m in the first quarter, nearly [...]
Goldman staff await bumper bonus payout June 21, 2009 INVESTMENT bankers at Goldman Sachs are expecting a bumper year for bonuses on the back of soaring profits at the Wall Street firm, in a sign that there will be no end to bumper payouts for bankers. The firm expects to book record profits for 2009, with revenues soaring due to dwindling competition and strong [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS June 18, 2009 ITVRoyal Bank of Scotland upgraded ITV to “buy” from “sell” with a target price of 41p, based on its belief that TV will lead the charge on the advertising recovery, and that ITV will take the lion’s share of the budgets. The broker notes that the balance sheet is slowly being addressed and that the [...]