BORIS FUND BREAKFAST CLUB MEETS AT SAVOY December 7, 2010 LONDON mayor Boris Johnson played host to a star-studded launch for the corporate sponsors of the charitable Mayor’s Fund for London yesterday morning, with grandees of the City treated to an 8am poached egg and salmon breakfast in return for their paid-up membership of the London Business Club – an organisation for fund donors. The [...]
Receding fears over Eurozone debt levels hand FTSE a boost December 6, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index closed higher yesterday, buoyed by oil stocks after crude reached a two-year peak, while banks fell on fears over Eurozone debt as EU ministers met to discuss ways of preventing debt contagion. The FTSE 100 ended up 24.96 points, or 0.4 per cent, higher at 5,770.28, for its highest close since [...]
Bloomberg asks Foster to design its new London HQ at Walbrook Square December 6, 2010 BLOOMBERG, the financial media giant, yesterday said it had reached an agreement with Legal & General for the purchase of the Walbrook Square site to build a new European headquarters located in the heart of the City. Bloomberg will construct two new buildings, one that will contain in excess of 500,000 square feet and one [...]
London seventh cheapest city in Europe, survey says December 5, 2010 LONDON has seen price increases across a number of consumer goods, according to a survey released yesterday. The cost of books, coffee, condoms and digital cameras rocketed between 2009 and this year, said Price Runner, a shopping comparison website. In 2007 the UK’s capital was the second most expensive city in the world, but a [...]
ANGER OVER COST OF SNOW FIASCO December 2, 2010 THE COST to the UK economy of the mounting chaos bought by the snow and unseasonally cold temperatures could be as much as £1.2bn a day, it was claimed yesterday. As the seventh day of the cold snap saw the disruption reach the south-east of England, with more than six inches of snow falling overnight, [...]
Snow chaos is turning UK into a joke December 2, 2010 BRITAIN’S humiliating inability to cope with winter conditions is becoming almost unbearable. Heavy snowfall is not a freak event. It now happens every year – and yet the authorities and transport companies appear utterly unable to learn any meaningful lesson from the annual debacle that is the onset of snow and bad weather. It is [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 2, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES BANKS’ ASSET SELLING HINTS AT BETTER CONDITIONS Banks are selling some of the companies they took over from their private equity owners during the financial crisis, such as Swedish fridge-maker Dometic and German construction group DSI, indicating that the economic cycle is turning. Bargain-hunting private equity executives have been frustrated at the dearth [...]
CITY MOVES| WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 1, 2010 HSBC HSBC?has announced the appointment of Hossam Alsaady as head of its Saudi Arabia team within the London-based Middle East and North Africa division of its private banking business. Alsaady is moving over from his role at NCB Capital in Jeddah, where he has held several senior positions, most recently head of strategy. At HSBC, [...]
FUND MANAGEMENT NEWS November 30, 2010 NEW SCHRODERS PROPERTY FUND Schroders has announced the launch of a new property fund. The Schroder global property income maximiser fund will aim to provide a regular income stream through exposure to global property securities. Subject to FSA approval, it will be opened to investors in February 2011. The fund is broadly similar to Schroder’s [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 28, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES AMAZON SEEKS TO EXPAND GLOBALLY Amazon says it plans to revamp its international e-commerce platform to make it easier for the company to reach customers in new markets. The online retailer, the world’s largest by number of visitors, operates online businesses in six countries outside the US. It says it has set up [...]