Russia approves £20bn plan to privatise assets November 17, 2010 RUSSIAN Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday approved a plan to sell 1 trillion roubles (£20bn) in state assets over the next three years to help plug a gap in the budget and lure investors. Russia’s leaders need cash as they struggle to get the country out of its worst recession in 15 years and ratchet [...]
THERE’S SCOPE FOR GOLD TO RISE FURTHER November 17, 2010 SENIOR ANALYST, ETF SECURITIES THE allure of gold is unmistakable in the current economic environment. Its attributes as a store of value have historically attracted investors during times of financial and economic uncertainty, and as a counter to inflation and sovereign risk. While inflation still appears a long way off, gold is being viewed as [...]
LISTED PRODUCT NEWS November 17, 2010 DB X-TRACKERS LISTS FOUR NEW ETFS Deutsche Bank’s ETF division db x-trackers announced on Monday that it had listed four ETFs in London that give access to key Asian emerging markets. These swap-based ETFs track the MSCI China, MSCI India, MSCI Malaysia and MSCI Thailand total return equity indexes. The all-in fees for the Malaysia [...]
Selfridges snaps up Dutch store November 16, 2010 RETAIL group Maxeda Retail Group B.V. said yesterday it has agreed to sell the Dutch luxury department store chain, De Bijenkorf – or “the beehive” to Selfridges Group for an undisclosed sum. The transaction is part of an overhaul of the Dutch non-food retail sector, with KKR’s Maxeda also selling the Hunkemoeller lingerie stores and [...]
SFO chief in vow to chase Russian fraud November 16, 2010 RICHARD Alderman, director of the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO), has told the Anglo-Russian business community that his organisation will actively seek to exercise new powers worldwide in the global fight against corruption. Referring to new powers available to the SFO following the implementation of the Bribery Act in April 2011, Alderman told an event [...]
MUFG buys RBS project finance book November 15, 2010 BANK of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ said yesterday it had agreed to buy a project finance loan book owned by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) for £3.8bn. Earlier this month City A.M. reported RBS had entered into talks with the subsidiary of Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ (MUFG) Financial Group over the possible sale of the book which includes [...]
Facebook eyes email service as beats eBay November 15, 2010 FACEBOOK is now worth a staggering $41bn (£25.5bn), valuing it ahead of online auction site eBay. The valuation, based on shares traded on SecondMarket, an exchange for privately held companies, makes Facebook the third largest online firm in the US. It still trails in the wake of Google, which is worth $192.9bn, and Amazon, worth [...]
BP’s Hayward starts energy consultancy November 14, 2010 FORMER BP chief executive Tony Hayward has set up his own business, understood to be an energy consultancy, as he rejoins the business world following his departure from the oil giant. Hayward set up 3E Capital on 28 October, papers filed at Companies House show. He lists Deloitte’s office in London as the company’s registered [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 14, 2010 3i Group After the merging of its buyout and capital growth divisions and the departure of several top dealmakers from 3i Group’s buyout team this autumn, the group recently recruited three new members for its senior leadership team. Leader of infrastructure business Cressida Hogg (pictured) will join head of UK markets Alan Giddins and Menno [...]
Spain and Qatar back under microscope after note fiasco November 10, 2010 SURREPTITIOUS note passing may sound like harmless classroom mischief but it is threatening to wreak serious damage on Spain, England’s rivals to host the 2018 World Cup. It was confirmed yesterday that the Spanish member of Fifa’s executive committee, Angel Villar Llona, passed a note to his Qatari colleague, Mohamed bin Hammam, (right) during a [...]