Vedanta raises stake in Cairn India as a deal inches closer April 19, 2011 OIL firm Vedanta edged closer to sealing its long-awaited purchase of Cairn’s Indian assets yesterday when it snapped up a 10.4 percent stake from Malaysian oil company Petronas for around $1.5bn (£919m). Cairn, which owns 62 per cent of Cairn India, agreed last August to sell up to 51 per cent of the firm, while [...]
The man who’s locking horns with indecisive EU regulators April 17, 2011 MENTION Brussels to any senior London-based insurer and you will always get the same reaction: anger and exasperation. With just over 18 months to go before the introduction of Solvency II, the insurance industry’s equivalent of the new Basel III banking rules, European regulators have still not produced a framework that properly reflects the business [...]
A new man to bear the Southern Cross April 12, 2011 TROUBLED healthcare group Southern Cross has appointed a new chairman, the second reshuffle within the company’s top ranks in just three weeks. Ray Miles, who was chairman of the group for three years, has been replaced by Chris Fisher (right), as the company continues its restructuring. Fisher has over 25 years experience in investment banking. [...]
Just three weeks to go to get your entries in for the City’s best awards April 12, 2011 THERE are just three weeks left to get those entries in for City A.M.’s second awards ceremony where we will be celebrating the best of London’s financial business community and its most successful individuals and firms. Anybody present at last year’s inaugural ceremony will bear testimony to the fact that the City A.M. awards have [...]
For those without family connections, professional qualifications are a lifeline April 12, 2011 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (BRAND), ACCA LAST week, Nick Clegg launched the government’s new social mobility strategy to great fanfare. With slightly more fanfare, the press and opposition skipped over the strategy and focused on Clegg’s use of unpaid interns and the parental help he’d had to start his career. Amusing headlines – not if you’re Nick [...]
Retail activity to get explicit state backing April 11, 2011 PROPOSALS by the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) could deter competition and lead to the first ever explicit taxpayer subsidy of retail banks, according to industry experts. “The implicit taxpayer guarantee of banks has become far more explicit with the ICB report making clear that retail banking businesses will be protected while investment banks will [...]
Southern Cross hit by talk of UK government bailout April 11, 2011 SHARES in troubled healthcare group Southern Cross fell more than 13 per cent to 9.65p in trading yesterday, after reports that it was seeking short-term financial support from the UK government. The company, which provides care homes across the UK, is believed to be planning to meet with its landlords tomorrow to renegotiate leases as [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 11, 2011 KPMG Stuart Westgate has been appointed as director of KPMG’s major project advisory practice, which advises clients on construction and transport projects that are either in play or running over time or budget. Westgate joins KPMG from The Nichols Group, where he spent the last ten years leading programmes for infrastructure clients. For the last [...]
€14M WAR CHEST FOR WIGLEY’S FILM PLOT April 6, 2011 EACH year, the Big Curry Lunch hosted by Lord Mayor Michael Bear gets “bigger and better” according to Bear, with 800 guests from the City, Parliament and Livery Companies sitting down to three servings yesterday at the Guildhall. The annual banquet is held in aid of ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, and this year’s event raised [...]
McInerney folds seven firms April 5, 2011 McInerney Holdings Group has put seven of its UK units into administration, with the housebuilding group blaming the continuing poor health of the property market. The companies affected by the administration include McInerney Group, McInerney Homes, Alexander Developments (North East), Lancing Homes, Gold Homes, William Hargreaves and Bowey Homes. Several building projects in the Midlands [...]