Severstal plans London float September 21, 2010 RUSSIAN steel group Severstal is expected to launch a float of its gold mining division in London later this year. Severstal, which owns a portfolio of gold assets in Russia and west Africa, is likely to sell off around 30-35 per cent of the company, retaining a large controlling stake for itself. The float is [...]
Fund managers are seeking Brazilian market exposure September 21, 2010 ARE CIVITS the new BRICs? The emerging market acronym – BRICs – standing for Brazil, Russia, India and China has been cast aside for CIVITS, the latest buzzword for China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Turkey and South Africa. But rather than get excited by the new entries, some fund managers are chasing after the developing middle [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 15, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES BOND STRATEGY LED TO BIG WIN AFTER LEHMAN The collapse of Lehman Brothers and central banks’ unorthodox monetary policies distorted markets to create some of the biggest pricing anomalies ever documented in bond trading, according to research from leading US academics. A paper from the US National Bureau of Economic Research claims to [...]
Carlsberg eyes cider sales September 15, 2010 Danish brewer Carlsberg yesterday said successful launches in Russia of Somersby cider and Eve, a fruit flavoured malt beverage aimed at women, meant it could look to products other than core brands for growth. Chief executive Jorgen Buhl Rasmussen also said the world’s fourth-biggest brewer was to target women in general and northern and western [...]
Spies and?Russians in classic le Carré London September 15, 2010 OUR KIND OF TRAITOR by john le carré Viking, £18.99 A LE Carré book is an event whether you’re a fan or not. He is the last great British thriller writer, a former spy for MI5 and MI6, and a man with an intellectually political core. He also manages to provide page-turners in a way [...]
Unloved European equities are cheap and attractive September 14, 2010 IT WAS not so long ago that European equities were underloved and underowned. A combination of the sovereign debt crisis and fears of a patchy economic recovery saw investors dumping European-listed stocks in favour of almost anything else. Global fund allocations to European equities languish at around 13 per cent, close to the lows of [...]
CPI remains at 3.1pc September 14, 2010 Consumer price inflation held steady in August, after unexpectedly strong rises in airfares, clothes and food prices offset falling fuel costs, official data showed. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said consumer price inflation came in at 3.1 per cent last month in contrast to economists’ expectations for a fall to 2.9 per cent. On [...]
FOOD & BOOZE NEWS September 13, 2010 HEL YES! FINNISH POP-UP Another month, another pop-up. The latest high profile temporary eatery, to open alongside London Design Week, is HEL YES!. It’s Finnish (get it?) with 120 covers, a bar and an exhibition created and executed by a creative team of Finnish designers and food connoisseurs. Highlights include “archipelago bread”, made from wheat [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 12, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES RESPITE OVER CITY BONUSES DETAILS Britain’s banks will be spared the embarrassment of giving details of big bonus payments to staff in their annual reports next spring after the Treasury admitted the relevant legislation will not be on the statute book in time. The delay to new disclosure requirements is likely to create [...]
Jim O’Neill to take new role at Goldman September 12, 2010 JIM O’Neill, chief economist at Goldman Sachs, has been appointed to the newly created role of chairman of the bank’s asset management division, the bank announced this weekend. O’Neill will advise clients on investment strategies but will also continue to comment on key economic issues. His appointment is subject to regulatory approval from the Financial [...]