Markets hit by MF Global bankruptcy October 31, 2011 MARKETS plunged in London and New York yesterday as MF Global, the $41bn brokerage, became the first big American casualty of the European sovereign debt crisis. MF Global Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US following the collapse of a last-minute deal to sell off assets. It became the eighth-largest bankruptcy in [...]
John Lovering returns to fashion chain Peacocks October 27, 2011 RETAIL veteran John Lovering has returned to the board of the investment group that owns Peacocks, the struggling fashion chain he chaired for six years until 2003, City A.M can reveal. Last month the British high street retailer, which sells discount fashion lines, called in KPMG to conduct an independent business review as fears grow [...]
Crisis grows as FBI probe hits Olympus October 24, 2011 JUST when it looked like things could not get any worse for stricken camera-maker Olympus, its shares were rocked again by news the FBI will probe its controversial advisory payments. Its stock tumbled a further 11.5 per cent in trading yesterday to hit ¥1,099 – a 55 per cent fall in the space of just two [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 24, 2011 Genzyme David Meeker has been appointed as chief executive of Genzyme, part of the wider Sanofi healthcare group, effective from 1 November. He will also join the group management committee. Meeker joined Genzyme in 1994 as medical director to work on the cystic fibrosis gene therapy programme. Rising to the position of president of the [...]
Auditors quit over Olympus payments October 23, 2011 KPMG, the auditors of the British medical equipment company at the heart of the Olympus scandal, quit last year over a series of mysterious payments made to the Cayman Islands. Last week, Olympus’ former chief executive turned whistleblower Michael Woodford sent the technology firm’s share price plummeting after claiming he was fired after questioning $1.3bn [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 23, 2011 Little Chef The roadside chain has appointed Graham Sims as its new chairman. Sims is currently chief executive of Qunatilis, a non-executive board member at the UK Border Agency, and chairman of Kensington Consultancy Group. Earlier in his career, he spent seven years at BP, rising from operations manager for Portugal to UK retail managing [...]
OFT refers audit market to Competition Commission October 21, 2011 The Office for Fair Trading has referred the audit market to the Competition Commission. The continued dominance of the so-called Big Four accountants is at the heart of probe. The watchdog estimates that in 2010 PwC, KPMG, Deloitte and Ernst & Young, earned 99 per cent of audit fees paid by FTSE 100 companies, while [...]
Merging national insurance with income tax will boost transparency and cut costs October 20, 2011 NEXT month George Osborne will deliver his Autumn Statement, and it will have to be a good one. With the economy stalled and high unemployment, he needs a credible plan for economic growth. The credibility of the fiscal adjustment is on the line. Spending cuts are right and necessary but they are only one part [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 18, 2011 Cushman & Wakefield The global property consultant has appointed Michael Lindsay as a partner and head of its EMEA corporate finance team in London. Lindsay was formerly a partner and UK head of corporate finance at KPMG, and director in Citigroup’s real estate and lodging investment banking team. Signia Wealth Etienne de Merlis has been appointed [...]
Russia’s Evraz to list on LSE October 17, 2011 EVRAZ, the Russian metals and mining group backed by billionaire oligarch Roman Abramovich, is moving its domicile to the UK and listing in London as it seeks greater international acceptance and access to capital. Evraz, which mines coal, iron ore and valladium and makes steel industrial goods, yesterday said it wanted to list on the [...]