Don’t lock the world out of London: New rules send the City back to the dark ages December 15, 2011 THERE is a well-used phrase in management, that it is better to make a wrong decision than none at all. The exception must be Mark Makepeace, chief executive of the FTSE Group, who this week ruled all listings in London from next month must have a 25 per cent free float In enforcing this, he [...]
TNK-BP puts $10bn into Arctic plans December 14, 2011 RUSSIAN oil company TNK-BP, half-owned by BP, will invest up to $10bn (£6.4bn) in Arctic oilfield development and construction of a pipeline to link the fields with the export pipeline, the company said yesterday. Russia, the world’s top crude producer, is desperate to tap new hydrocarbon resources at the far-flung reaches of the Arctic and [...]
BG Group sells 10pc stake in gas field to Kazakhstan’s government for $3bn December 14, 2011 BRITISH oil company BG Group said yesterday the Kazakhstan government has agreed to acquire a 10 per cent interest in its Karachaganak gas-condensate field for $3bn (£1.9bn). Under the terms of the agreement with the Kazakh government, each of the contracting companies, including Italy’s ENI, will transfer 10 per cent of their stake in the [...]
Russia’s protests are a cry for less state corruption December 14, 2011 ANYONE surveying the scene in Russia today has one name to commit to memory: Alexey Navalny. It would be a gross exaggeration to say that this 35-year-old anti-corruption blogger was responsible for turning out a 50,000-strong protest against a rigged parliamentary election – the largest pro-democracy movement Russia has seen since the collapse of communism. [...]
BEST CHRISTMAS READS ZOE STRIMPEL December 14, 2011 Snuff: Discworld Novel 39 by Terry Pratchett Doubleday, £18.99 When Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is reluctantly sent off for a holiday in the countryside, it isn’t going to be long until he encounters a crime – make that more of a ghastly layer cake of crimes and even “an ancient crime [...]
Durban’s climate conference puts green deal on ice December 13, 2011 AFTER two weeks of talks and partying, delegates at the UN climate summit in Durban agreed to meet again for further talks and partying around the dream of a global climate treaty. As expected, an informal coalition of major emitters such as the USA, China, India and Russia won the battle at the climate talks [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 12, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES Evraz raises prospect of Severstal merger Evraz has raised the possibility of a merger with Severstal in a deal that would unite Russia’s two biggest steelmakers to create the world’s eighth-largest producer by output, with a combined market capitalisation of £12bn. Alexander Abramov, Evraz’s chairman and founder, said in an interview with the [...]
Bank weighs up new global finance rules December 11, 2011 THE THREAT to financial stability from rising global capital flows could see regulators call for a new “rules-based system of global economic management”, according to papers released this morning by the Bank of England. The Bank’s latest financial stability paper explores a “fundamental overhaul of the International Monetary and Financial System (IMFS)”, including the possibility [...]
THE WEEK AHEAD December 11, 2011 COMPANY NEWS ● Betfair Group will announce its interim results tomorrow. The sports-focused online gambling exchange is betting on seeing the numbers in their favour. ● Domino Printing Sciences will announce its preliminary results tomorrow. The company is lasered in on industrial printing equipment. Carpetright, Britain’s largest carpet retailer, will also roll out its preliminary [...]
MRSK lists on LSE to attract new investors December 8, 2011 RUSSIAN power grid company MRSK listed its shares in London yesterday in a move it hopes will boost the liquidity of its stock and enable it to raise funds in the future, its chief finance officer told City A.M. The technical listing, in which no money is raised, will see MRSK list 25 per cent [...]