Inside Track: For the first time since Lehman, CEOs are ready for deals May 29, 2014 Notwithstanding the fact that the US drugs group Pfizer was forced to walk away from its £69bn bid for Astrazeneca, takeover bids and deals, and even the sniff of them, are back. Yesterday morning, Man Group, the fund management company that has been haunted in recent years by the poor performance of its previously successful [...]
Football’s equaliser gets a good kicking May 22, 2014 FINANCIAL Fair play (FFP) has been big news of late. It’s splitting opinions across Europe and with this in mind City A.M. held a lively roundtable last night, bringing together some experts together to discuss the contentious topic. Despite what is sounds like, financial fair play doesn’t put the City in the limelight but instead, [...]
Handy business tips from Terra Firma’s top Guy May 20, 2014 GUY HANDS gave his first speech in London for five years at the Institute of Directors yesterday, as part of Private Equity International’s Operating Partners Forum. In case you missed it, here are our four gems of wisdom – inspired by the financier’s latest musings. 1. Don’t bother changing your suits “Over the last five [...]
Circassia cracks on with trials May 19, 2014 CIRCASSIA, the newly-listed allergy drugs company, said yesterday its clinical trials are progressing as planned. The firm expects results for two studies in the second half of the year and is pressing on with bringing its Cat-Spire treatment to market, it said in a trading update. Circassia raised more than £200m when it floated on [...]
The Peruvian Amazon: in search of the anaconda May 11, 2014 Steve Dinneen takes to the world’s second longest river to find its longest snake ON MY first morning on the Amazon the sun acted as a natural alarm clock, lighting up my room through gigantic floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the river. As I came to, blinking through the fug of the previous night’s pisco sours, pink [...]
Old Labour is back with new black and white ad May 7, 2014 NEW Labour RIP – Ed Miliband is so intent on turning the party back to old Labour values that even its election broadcasts are now in black and white. The party’s latest broadcast, released ahead of the looming local and European elections, is set around the government’s cabinet table. But class war seems to be [...]
Premier League: Sunderland make miracle escape May 7, 2014 SUNDERLAND 2 WEST BROMWICH ALBION 0 JUBILANT Sunderland manager Gus Poyet insists he now believes in miracles after his team clinched an extraordinary feat of Premier League escapology last night. First-half goals from Jack Colback and Fabio Borini downed West Brom and earned the Black Cats a fourth consecutive win, effectively relegating Norwich simultaneously. Less [...]
Find your sea legs at Tahiti’s Pearl Regatta May 5, 2014 Intrepid adventurer Chris Osburn reminisces about his adventures on Tahiti’s high seas CELEBRATING its eleventh anniversary and touted as one of the most important yacht races in the South Pacific, the Tahiti Pearl Regatta combines competitive sailing – on the high seas and in lagoons – with cultural events and boozy night time festivities. The route [...]
What investors are looking for in today’s US jobs report May 2, 2014 Investors are hooked on this afternoon's US jobs market report. We've got the critical nonfarm payrolls (NFP) number coming up, and analysts expect to see that 215,000 jobs were created this April. If that happens, it'll be the strongest month for the US labour market since November, the month before the country saw a period [...]
New airline turns to crowdfunding to launch business class-only flights April 30, 2014 A new airline set up by a Goldman Sachs alumnus, which hopes to bring back business class-only flights to the States, is raising up to £5m through crowd-funding. Odyssey Airlines was founded by Adam Scott, a former banker who has assembled a team of start-up veterans including some of the founders of Silverjet, whose [...]