Rio Tinto sale helps pay off its Alcan debt July 6, 2009 MINING giant Rio Tinto boosted its cash position yesterday, selling its Americas food packaging company to US group Bemis $1.2bn (£740m). Rio said that $200m of the sale proceeds may be in the form of Bemis shares.Rio, which last week raised $15.2bn through a massively discounted rights issue, is looking to slash the debt it [...]
Fiat to enter Chinese car market July 6, 2009 Italian carmaker Fiat is to enter the rapidly growing Chinese automotive industry which will see it make cars and engines there from 2011, in a joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC). The deal will see the two firms invest more than €400m (£344m) in the project, including the construction of a 700,000 square metre [...]
New GM may be launched by end of July July 6, 2009 A SENIOR figure in President Obama’s automotive task force said last night that GM could be relaunched as a new company by the end of the month. Steve Rattner said a judge’s ruling that GM can sell its assets to a government-backed company would clear the way for the firm to emerge from bankruptcy and [...]
It’s vulgar and brash but perfect for a big old all-American blowout July 6, 2009 PLANET HOLLYWOOD60HAYMARKET, SW1Y 4QXTel: 020 7437 7639www.planethollywoodlondon.com FOODSERVICEATMOSPHERECost per person without wine: £20 WHEN I think of Planet Hollywood, I think of family-themed nights – sticky floors, screaming babies, hassled staff. But London’s new PH, a revamped affair just down the road from the old one, is trying to go for a different demographic. “Our [...]
BP and CNPC in cut-price Iraq oil deal June 30, 2009 AN ALLIANCE led by UK oil giant BP yesterday secured a six-year contract to develop Iraq’s biggest oil field, but had to agree to a fifty per cent cut in the fees it had been asking for. In a consortium with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), BP accepted a fee of $2 (£1.20) for each [...]
Oils and banks lift the large caps but defensives slide June 29, 2009 THE FTSE 100 gained 1.3 per cent yesterday, boosted by strength in oil majors and banks, and reflecting early gains on Wall Street. The index closed 53.02 points higher at 4,294.03, recovering most of last week’s 1.5 per cent decline. “What is most impressive about today’s rally is the breadth of the buying. Most sectors [...]
China snares 4.4bn Addax June 24, 2009 CHINESE state-owned Sinopec agreed a takeover of London-listed oil producer Addax yesterday, in a deal worth C$8.3bn (£4.4bn). The offer of C$52.80 a share – which comes after a behind-the-scenes bidding war with Korea National Oil – is a 16 per cent premium to Addax’s closing share price on Tuesday and more than four times [...]
IDEALISM ISN’T LOST ON CITY ART CROWD June 23, 2009 IF THERE are any City types out there itching to use the dwindling financial job prospects as a catalyst for a change of career, they could do worse than to heed the advice of Thomas Ostenberg. Just before the recession of the early Nineties, Ostenberg decided to leave his career as an independent financial consultant, [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 23, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES GCL-POLY TO BUY SOLAR ASSETS FOR $3.4BNGCL-Poly Energy, a Hong Kong-based power plant operator, said yesterday it would pay HK$26.4bn (£2bn) to acquire solar assets from its chairman as it seeks to expand in the green energy sector. The company said it would buy Jiangsu Zhongeng, a supplier of polysilicon and wafers used [...]
CAPTURING YIELD IN THE FX MARKET June 23, 2009 BORIS SCHLOSSBERGDIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFTWHICH investment thesis will be proven right – the recovery trade or the return of risk aversion? For the past few months, the recovery trade has dominated, with risk currencies gaining on the US dollar. Recently, however, that rally has stalled and the bears have re-emerged, arguing that the recovery [...]