UK dominates deal rankings July 19, 2009 LONDON dominated the global mergers & acquisitions (M&A) scene last week, with deals by buyout vehicle Resolution and gas giant Centrica pushing up UK volumes by 39 per cent compared to last year. Resolution’s talk of a $2.7bn (£1.65bn) buyout of insurer Friends Provident was the top announced deal and Centrica’s $1.7bn plans to take [...]
Why Goldman Sachs is doing so well July 14, 2009 SO Meredith Whitney was right. The high-profile Wall Street analyst upgraded her advice to potential Goldman Sachs investors from “neutral” to a “buy” – and the investment bank, whose European operations are based in Fleet Street, responded with a hugely positive set of numbers. Net profit for the three months to June hit $3.4bn from [...]
Cowdery will chase Friends July 13, 2009 CLIVE Cowdery’s buyout vehicle, Resolution, is prepared to launch a hostile bid for Friends Provident, the life assurance firm led by Trevor Matthews, if it fails to agree a takeover. Cowdery and Matthews may end up battling it out if a friendly deal can’t be struck, with Resolution prepared to ignore the Friends board’s recommendations [...]
Vasanta says it is nearing vital deal July 12, 2009 OFFICE supply giant Vasanta has spoken out again to reassure backers over its financial situation, stating it has entered the last stages of talks with its unnamed private equity saviour. Group chief executive Richard Martin yesterday said the private equity investor, who is backed by the firm’s lending banks, has been granted a “short period [...]
Bond insurers obliged to pay out over Bradford & Bingley July 9, 2009 COMPANIES that provide insurance against bond defaults will have to pay out to cover the recent non-payments by nationalised building society Bradford & Bingley (B&B), following a key ruling yesterday. The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) ruled that B&B’s failure to keep up with payments on £325m of Tier 2 bonds constituted a “credit [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 9, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMESSTRATEGIC REVAMP FOR LLOYD’SLloyd’s of London has begun the biggest strategic review it has undertaken this decade in an attempt to ensure the more than 320-year-old insurance market does not fail in exploiting the gaps in the market thrown up by the financial crisis. The institution, which deals in insurance risks from all over the [...]
FSA to ramp fines for City rulebreakers July 6, 2009 CITY watchdog the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has unveiled plans to treble penalties for serious breaches of its rules, and called for individuals caught insider dealing to face a £100,000 minimum fine. A consultation paper from the regulator proposes a beefed-up regime in which the most serious abuses could land companies with fines of up [...]
Friends Prov offloads final F&C shares July 6, 2009 INSURER Friends Provident has finished demerging its 52 per cent stake in asset manager F&C, after it sold its final 11.7 per cent chunk into the market on behalf of a group of smaller shareholders yesterday. While bigger Friends Provident shareholders were recently handed shares of F&C as part of the demerger, to do with [...]
Vasanta closes in on rescue bid as PwC hovers July 5, 2009 OFFICE supply group Vasanta has said it is at an “advanced stage” of discussions over a restructure of its debts, and dismissed “alarmist and misleading” speculation it is on the brink of bankruptcy. Chief executive at the firm, which is struggling after having its credit insurance to key suppliers withdrawn, Richard Martin said it still [...]
Shrinking economy shakes market but Wolseley grows June 30, 2009 WEAKER than expected consumer confidence figures in the US drove some shares lower yesterday, with banks, miners and food retailers leading the fallers. The FTSE 100 shed one per cent, or 44.82 points, to close at 4,249.21. But the index is up 8.2 per cent on the quarter, the best such performance since the final [...]