AgBank’s IPO to get $22bn July 6, 2010 AGRICULTURAL Bank of China priced its Hong Kong and Shanghai dual listing yesterday, a deal that would break all IPO records by raising more than $22bn when adding in over-allotment shares. The initial public offering (IPO), which is raising funds to replenish capital, still faces a tough aftermarket, with a debut planned for 15 July [...]
No longer safe or sound July 6, 2010 WITH disappointing datasets coming out of the US – from employment to house prices – and equity markets looking shaky, some analysts have started to question whether this could be the beginning of the end for the greenback as the world’s “safe haven”. While such scenarios are usually imagined to play out over five- or [...]
THE AUSSIE IS NOT JUST A RISK PLAY July 6, 2010 DIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT WITH the economic calendar light on both sides of the Atlantic this week, the most interesting event risk is taking place down under where the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) just left its benchmark rates unchanged at 4.5 per cent. Although the RBA acknowledged that the global recovery is beginning [...]
MARKETS | Government Debt July 6, 2010 GEORGE TCHETVERTAKOV HEAD OF MARKET RESEARCH, ALPARI OVER the past three months, confidence in a global economic recovery has waned and volatility has risen spectacularly in May. And as we enter the second half of 2010, most asset classes are severely underperforming consensus estimates made at the beginning of the year. Libor (the London inter-bank [...]
LABOUR DATA IS A WORRY FOR THE US July 5, 2010 CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT FOR many investors the long weekend in the US couldn’t have come at a better time. On top of Europe’s sovereign debt problems, and signs that Chinese growth is slowing, recent data from the US suggests that the much-hyped economic recovery may be reversing. We have seen housing data sour following [...]
BP in rush to sell off assets July 4, 2010 A RAFT of Chinese and Middle Eastern bidders are looking at taking up a stake in BP as the oil major attempts to find investors ahead of a possible hostile takeover by a rival oil company. It is understood that a number of sovereign wealth funds, including the Kuwait Investment Office and oil companies have [...]
Chinese firm in exclusive talks to acquire Tower 42 July 4, 2010 THE SALE of London’s first skyscraper came a step closer to completion yesterday after it emerged that Chinese Estates Group had entered exclusive discussions to buy Tower 42. The group, chaired by Hong Kong-based billionaire Joseph Lau, is said to have won a three-month auction with a bid near the asking price of £300m. Moorfield [...]
European shares slide after weak China data July 1, 2010 European shares tumbled in early trade – retreating for the seventh time in eight sessions, after tepid Chinese macro data raised concerns about the global recovery. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 1.2 percent at 981.94 points, while Euro STOXX 50, the euro zone’s blue chip index, fell 1.5 percent at [...]
Morgan Stan is top in global IPO rankings June 30, 2010 MORGAN Stanley has topped the underwriting league for initial public offerings (IPOs) in the first half of the year. A few large deals helped propel the Wall Street bank to first place, up from its number three spot at this time last year. It underwrote 36 deals with estimated proceeds of $5.9bn (£3.9bn) in the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 29, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES M&A ACTIVITY LACKLUSTRE DESPITE STRENGTH IN EMERGING MARKETS Europe’s sovereign debt crisis and turbulent financing markets rattled the confidence of corporate dealmakers across the globe in the first half of the year to damp already lacklustre mergers and acquisition activity. The volume of deals worldwide rose 2.9 per cent to $828.9bn during the [...]