Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse snap up stakes in Bank of Moscow July 27, 2010 MAJOR international banks Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse have bought small stakes in state-run Bank of Moscow, an encouraging sign for Russia as it considers a broader sale of the state’s financial assets. As part of a $29bn (£18.6bn) fund-raising effort to plug gaps in the budget, Russia is looking at the sale of minority [...]
FUND MANAGEMENT NEWS July 27, 2010 HEDGE FUND REVIEW IS LESS THAN ROSY The Dow Jones Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Index released its first half 2010 industry review yesterday and it was fairly sober reading. The good news was that, so far in 2010, hedge funds have outperformed many global stock indices. However, the returns were far from lacklustre at 0.6 [...]
Red Knight’s bid for United may go ahead July 25, 2010 A BID to wrest control of Manchester United could be back on after a fans’ campaign against its American owners appears to have taken hold. The club was forced to humiliatingly offer a second batch of season tickets more than seven weeks after the initial deadline. Around 4,000 tickets were put on general sale by [...]
Russia prepares for giant sale of assets July 25, 2010 RUSSIA is understood to be planning its biggest sell-off of state assets since the early 1990s as it seeks to raise over $29bn (£18.8bn) to plug budget gaps over the next three years. According to finance ministry sources quoted by Reuters, the plan to sell minority stakes in 10 major companies in 2011-2013 had been [...]
King Contador claims third crown as Cav ends on high July 25, 2010 ALBERTO CONTADOR cruised to his third Tour de France title in four years after Britain’s Mark Cavendish clinched the final stage in Paris for the second year running. Contador ensured Spain held onto the yellow jersey for the fifth successive year after safely arriving at the Champs Elysees 39 seconds ahead of nearest rival Andy [...]
Imperial Tobacco suffers as cigarette volumes fall July 22, 2010 IMPERIAL Tobacco, the world’s fourth-biggest cigarette maker, said cigarette volumes fell 4.3 per cent in the nine months to June – a worsening from a 3.7 per cent decline in its first half. Imperial, with cigarette brands including Lambert & Butler, West and Gauloises, said declines in Russia, Spain, Ukraine and the United States were [...]
More to Russia than gas July 20, 2010 FOR years, investment in Russia has meant little more than investment in commodities and energy. And while those sectors still make up a huge proportion of the country’s wealth, those trying to target high-return emerging market growth in Russia should steer clear of the usual country wide benchmarks. Renaissance Capital’s Karol Chrystowski says: “Most of [...]
FROM CUSPS OF CHANGE TO BONDS July 20, 2010 MANAGING DIRECTOR, ARTEMIS CAUGHT between corporate news that is good and macroeconomic news that is bad (or, rather, not as good as it was), investors are understandably unsure. A “flight to safety” is still the default for investors – and that’s bad for equities. What, we wonder, should equity investors pay for £1 of future [...]
Philips offsets good results with warning sales will slow July 19, 2010 Dutch electronics group Philips forecast sales growth would slow in the second half of this year given sluggish US and European economies and as television sales drop off after the World Cup. The outlook offset higher-than-expected quarterly results and brisk trade in markets like China and Brazil, helping push its shares down as much as [...]
FAIRFAX CO-FOUNDER CRAWFORD ON THE HUNT FOR A NEW INVESTOR July 19, 2010 IS A changing of the guard in the offing down at boutique investment bank Fairfax? I hear that Rolly Crawford, who co-founded the firm back in 2006, is on the lookout for a new major investor to take Fairfax forward in its ambitions. A number of interested parties have already been sounded out about the [...]