Swiss Life cuts dividend but raises key targets December 15, 2009 EUROPEAN insurer Swiss Life will cut its dividend payout ratio to between 20 and 40 per cent until at least 2012 in a bid to protect its balance sheet. Switzerland’s largest life insurer said the move would strengthen its capital base, an essential step, and restore its “A” credit rating. Currently Swiss Life aims to [...]
London rises to highest close in 3 weeks on Dubai bailout December 14, 2009 BRITAIN’S top share index closed at its highest level in a week yesterday, led by banks, after Abu Dhabi bailed out Dubai with $10bn in surprise aid, with commodities stocks also notching up solid gains. The FTSE 100 closed up 53.77 points at 5,315.34, its highest close since 4 December, adding to a rise the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 14, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES COUNCILS THREATEN ICELAND BANK ACTION Council leaders have threatened to launch legal proceedings against a failed Icelandic bank which they fear will not repay £150m in deposits made by local authorities before the credit crunch. British councils had £900m of deposits in Iceland when a trio of its banks collapsed. So far barely [...]
Abu Dhabi gives Dubai a $10bn bailout December 14, 2009 ABU DHABI’S surprise $10bn (£6bn) bailout of neighbouring Dubai has given the debt-laden emirate some breathing space to restructure its troubled Dubai World conglomerate. Yesterday’s move prevented an embarrassing debt default by Nakheel, the property arm of Dubai World, and went some way towards reassuring investors. Abu Dhabi’s intervention, which investors had been waiting for [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 14, 2009 Edison Investment Research Céline Saikali has joined the research firm as an account director, tasked with re-launching its investor access offering and focusing on European opportunities. Saikali previously worked at financial PR agency Redleaf Communications as an account director and head of the transaction team. Prior to that, she was at Dresdner Kleinwort, covering emerging [...]
Hugh Osmond looks to buy firms in debt December 13, 2009 HUGH Osmond, the entrepreneur who built up Pizza Express and Punch Taverns, is amassing a £1bn war chest to begin a spending spree on distressed companies. Sun Capital, Osmond’s private equity firm, is already in the process of raising capital for the venture, and is understood to be preparing for a stock market listing early [...]
Insurer MetLife says 2010 earnings will beat forecasts due to cost cutting December 7, 2009 METLIFE, the largest publicly-traded US life insurer, yesterday forecast fourth-quarter and 2010 earnings that could beat average Wall Street expectations, helped by cost cuts, improved investment returns and higher revenue. But it said it did not see a return to historical growth levels until 2011 or 2012. In a statement issued just before the start [...]
Habitat set for a new home as management plans to go it alone December 6, 2009 HABITAT, the home furnishing retailer is set to be placed in the hands of its management after a lengthy battle for control with restructuring specialists Hilco. It is understood that new investors have agreed to back chief executive Mark Saunders and finance director Sebastian Drouillet to turn around the business after it was put up [...]
WAR ON BANKS AFTER BONUS ROW EXPLODES December 3, 2009 POLITICIANS rounded on bankers yesterday amid fears a windfall tax on bank profits is on the cards for the pre-budget report next week. The concerns came as a report from the National Audit Office (NAO), released today, revealed for the first time that the government has spent £117bn bailing out the banks. Lord Myners, the [...]
Treasury pays 107m in fees December 3, 2009 THE Treasury expects to have spent £107m by April 2010 on legal and financial advisers to sort out the banking crisis, a report from the National Audit Office revealed today. The legal firm Slaughter and May tops a table of fees paid for services with a bill of £32.9m, followed by Credit Suisse with £15.4m. [...]