Banks dump US debt pile: Cash-strapped central bankers are offloading treasuries in huge loads October 13, 2015 Emerging market governments are dumping US treasuries en masse, in the latest sign of the pressure their economies are under. China, Brazil, Russia and Taiwan have all been sellers, accounting for some of the $123bn in foreign net sales of treasury debt maturing in a year. This figure is for the 12 months to [...]
Georgia Healthcare plans to raise £65m in London IPO October 12, 2015 Tblisi-based medical insurer Georgia Healthcare has announced plans to raise $100m (£65m) by listing its ordinary shares on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The healthcare service and medical insurance provider – Georgia's largest – is a subsidiary of the Bank of Georgia, which has been listed on London's blue-chip index since 2006. Read more: London pharma flotations are rising [...]
Russian commodities firms Eurasia Drilling Company, Uralkali PJSC and Polyus Gold are fleeing London’s stock markets October 12, 2015 Russians are flocking to leave the London stock exchange as commodities companies take a hammering. Eurasia Drilling Company, Russia's largest driller, confirmed this morning its managers would buy out the company and de-list it from the London Stock Exchange, for an increased price of $11.75 a share. If the deal goes ahead, and is approved by two-thirds [...]
Oil firm Ineos goes on a shopping spree for DEA’s North Sea assets October 11, 2015 Ineos has agreed to purchase all of the UK North Sea gas fields owned by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman’s DEA Group. The deal comes only weeks ahead of a deadline set by the government in April for DEA owner investment firm LetterOne to dispose of the oil and gas fields it bought from German utility [...]
Marks & Spencer to close 12 stores in five Eastern European countries October 11, 2015 Marks & Spencer (M&S) is pulling out of five countries in eastern Europe, driven in part by heightened tensions between the West and Russia. The company is leaving Croatia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia, with store closures set to begin in January. The group plans to close 12 stores in total by May 2016. The [...]
Sepp Blatter suspended: Fifa bans its president and Uefa boss Michel Platini for 90 days October 8, 2015 Sepp Blatter's hold on power at Fifa appears to be slipping after he was banned from the organisation for 90 days along with Uefa boss Michel Platini over alleged corruption. Blatter's 17-year reign at the top of football's under-fire governing body has hit its biggest crisis yet, while Platini's hopes of eventually succeeding him in [...]
Will an asteroid hit the Earth? Not this time, but we should take today’s fly-by as a warning October 8, 2015 Later today, an asteroid called 2014 RC will pass by the Earth, flying 25,000 miles over New Zealand as it makes its way through space. While that's far enough away to pose no direct threat to Earth, we shouldn't simply brush it off. It was, after all, an asteroid that supposedly killed off the [...]
Europe and the US space agencies are trying to protect us from death by asteroids October 8, 2015 It's never the wrong time to remind yourself that millions of asteroids are rushing around us in space, posing a constant threat to human existence. Should one head down and collide with earth, it could lead to such devastating destruction that we would perish, just like the dinosaurs did some 65m years ago. But the [...]
Bank of England holds interest rates at 0.5 per cent as inflation forecasts are pushed back October 8, 2015 Rate-setter Ian McCafferty failed to persuade any of his colleagues to join him in voting to lift official interest rates from their record lows this month as the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee (MPC) pushed back its inflation forecast. The MPC – which voted eight to one to hold rates – changed its tone [...]
As Fallon warns Russia is making the Syria situation more dangerous, should Britain be wading into the quagmire? October 7, 2015 Dr Alan Mendoza, executive director of The Henry Jackson Society, says Yes There is a strategic imperative for greater British involvement in Syria at this juncture. Our failure to confront President Bashar al-Assad two years ago, when he used chemical weapons in breach of international norms, has encouraged him to keep murdering civilians. Islamic State [...]