CITY VIEWS: WHERE DO YOU THINK HOUSE PRICES WILL GO IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS? November 4, 2010 SUNIL KESUR | SELF-EMPLOYED TRADER “I’d estimate house prices will rise. Personally, I think a double dip isn’t going to happen, contrary to what a lot of people say. House prices have always been the first to bounce back, even if they might have to go down in the near term.” KEITH ABERCROMBY | LV [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 4, 2010 Aviva The insurer has hired Helen Hislop as chief financial officer and Patrick Dixneuf as chief operations officer for its European arm, with effect from 1 January. Both will be based in Paris, and will work under EMEA chief executive Andrea Moneta. Hislop replaces Tim Harris, who has moved to Aviva as deputy chief financial [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 3, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES PRIVATE EQUITY PLANS €10BN OF PASS-THE-PARCEL DEALS Private equity groups are working on bids for European companies owned by rival buy-out firms worth more than €10bn ($14bn) in total as the industry looks set to keep churning assets through “pass-the-parcel” deals. MIZUHO EXECUTIVE ARRESTED IN FSA PROBE A Mizuho International executive has been [...]
Santander UK float rocked by chief’s exit November 3, 2010 SANTANDER faces an uphill struggle to float its UK operations successfully on the London Stock Exchange next year, after chief executive António Horta-Osório’s shock defection to Lloyds Banking Group. Santander – which last night confirmed it had appointed Ana Patricia Botín, daughter of veteran group chairman Emilio Botín, to replace Horta-Osório – confirmed last week [...]
EX-SEYMOUR PIERCE BOSS TO LAUNCH NEW ADVISORY VENTURE November 1, 2010 A FEW short months ago, this column brought you murmurs that corporate financier Richard Feigen – who resigned as managing director of broker Seymour Pierce at the beginning of the year after an internal investigation, admitting that errors had occurred in a transaction he was overseeing – was mulling a return to the City. Fast [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 31, 2010 Marriott Harrison The City law firm has taken on Hadleigh Graves as a partner in its media and technology practice. Graves was previously a partner at music specialist law firm Statham Gill Davies and also an M&A and private equity lawyer at Ashurst. He has particular expertise in music industry-based M&A and joint ventures, as [...]
The housebuilder who is ready to take the long road back to recovery October 31, 2010 DESPITE the generally depressed state of the housebuilding and residential property market, Taylor Wimpey’s chief executive Peter Redfern says he is pretty pleased with business. But sitting in the boardroom of his London office, his mood appears more reflective than upbeat. “Prices are very stable at the moment,” says Redfern. “Stable is good for us. [...]
Three cheers for the stars of the Square Mile October 28, 2010 LAST night was truly an exciting and exceptional occasion: City A.M.’s inaugural awards celebrating the best and brightest of London’s business, financial and investment communities. Our inaugural awards ceremony saw more than 450 guests in their finery roll up at the Grange Hotel at St Pauls. Our winners, unique in that each was initially chosen [...]
CITY WELCOMES A DOSE OF FESTIVITY AND OPTIMISM October 28, 2010 “AN EVENING of festivity and optimism” was the way in which our editor Allister Heath introduced City A.M.’s inaugural awards ceremony last night, and the evening did not fail to live up to expectations. After years of gloom-mongering and banker-bashing, what better way to acknowledge the role of the City in bringing the economy back [...]
Barclays weighs up costs of quitting UK October 27, 2010 SENIOR executives at Barclays Bank are weighing up the costs of moving the group’s headquarters from London to overseas, most probably New York. The bank’s executives, including at board level, have spent a great deal of time poring over the issue over the past few weeks. While no final decision has been taken, they have [...]