Clever traders use call warrants to profit from those M&A rumours September 30, 2009 WITH the exception of shot gun weddings in the banking sector, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity practically died a death during the financial crisis. But recently there has been a slew of rumoured buyout offers such as Kraft’s bid for UK confectionary giant Cadbury. Indeed, Credit Suisse analyst Richard Kersley believes that the Kraft bid [...]
Builders tap the market September 23, 2009 HOUSEBUILDER Barratt yesterday unveiled its widely tipped £750m fundraising through a rights issue and share placing in a bid to repair its battered balance sheet. The group said it would raise £545.5m in a rights issues and £175m through a placing. Chief executive Mark Clare said the 1.3 for one rights issue would be priced [...]
BUILDERS GO CAP IN HAND FOR 850M September 22, 2009 HOUSEBUILDERS Barratt and Redrow are today expected to tap shareholders for a total of £850m to shore up balance sheets that have been battered by the property slump. Barratt is set to unveil plans to raise £700m in a placing and open offer through its house broker UBS. And rival Redrow is expected to launch [...]
Housebuilder Redrow unveils its worst ever annual results September 10, 2009 HOUSEBUILDER Redrow yesterday announced its worst ever yearly trading results, after its revenue dropped by more than half to £301.8m. The company may now be forced to launch a rights issue to boost its capital and finance land purchases. Group revenue fell from £650.1m for the same period a year ago, in line with tough [...]
Barratt Developments set to launch 500m rights issue September 6, 2009 Housebuilder Barratt Development is expected to launch its £500m rights issue at the end of this month. Insurer RSA, rival housebuilder Redrow and several others are thought to be readying themselves to bid for the stake. The cash call is believed to be part of the group’s efforts to make further inroads into its £1.3bn [...]
Market to eye consumer purse while MPC mulls rates September 6, 2009 THIS week will be all about consumers’ purse-strings and just how tightly they are pulled. Results from across the retail and leisure sectors will go some way to answering that question, while the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee’s decision on interest rates and quantitative easing will tell us what the experts think about any [...]
Bovis Homes raises 60m in cash call September 3, 2009 HOUSEBUILDER Bovis Homes yesterday launched a £60m share placing to take advantage of depressed land values. Bovis said that its recent half year results showed it had maintained a net cash position of £7m despite the economic turmoil and it was beginning to see a number of opportunities to acquire land for development. The group [...]
Redrow in board reshuffle August 20, 2009 Housebuilder Redrow has launched a boardroom shake-up by naming a new deputy chairman and two non-executive directors. The reshuffle comes after the firm was taken back under the control of original founder Steve Morgan. Alan Jackson, who is already a director of several non-public firms and sits on the board of The Restaurant Group, has [...]
Housebuilders hail stability but warn mortgage drought will hurt July 9, 2009 Barratt shows signs of stability as volumes pick up but mortgage drought continues Barratt Developments yesterday reported a 19 per cent fall in private house prices over the last 12 months and warned that a sustained improvement in training conditions would remain elusive until the availability of mortgage finance recovers. However, the group has witnessed [...]
New property group to float July 6, 2009 Paul Pedley, the former chief executive of Redrow, yesterday announced plans to raise £50m to buy new-build flats in London from distressed developers. The new investment company, London Residential Opportunities, aims to be listed on the London Stock Exchange in September. Steven Norris, the former Tory transport minister, will sit on the board of Callidus [...]