Toyota suspends US Lexus SUV sales April 14, 2010 TOYOTA has suspended sales of a new Lexus SUV in the US market to investigate the risks of the vehicles rolling. The company has stopped sales of the 2010 Lexus GX 460 after consumer reports suggested that the vehicles handled badly on some turns with possible “safety risks” attached. Toyota, which also sells the Lexus [...]
FUND MANAGEMENT NEWS April 13, 2010 FUND MANAGERS MOVE OVERSEAS The prospect of tighter regulation and higher taxes has led to an 80 per cent increase in fund managers’ enquiries about relocation from the UK, according to Laven Partners, the consulting group. The prospect that the fund management industry will be exposed to new rules from the Alternative Investment Fund Management [...]
Banks slam plan to shake up takeovers April 12, 2010 LABOUR manifesto proposals to make mergers between companies more difficult to complete came under fire from the City’s investment banking community yesterday. The government controversially said all takeovers – whether hostile or not – should require the approval of 66 per cent of shareholders rather than the current straight majority. It also said a “public [...]
Heritage given green light in Tullow deal April 7, 2010 BRITISH oil explorer Heritage Oil today tempered the prospect of five-month delays at its latest well in its Iraqi operations with news it has the backing of the Ugandan government in the sale of two oil fields to Tullow Oil. The Miran West-2 appraisal well in Kurdistan will need to be deepened to 4,600 metres [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 6, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES GAZPROM TO LAUNCH RUSSIA’S BIGGEST BOND ISSUE Gazprom will seek to raise Rbs300bn ($10.2bn) in Russia’s biggest bond issue programme to date, as the gas export monopoly tries to take advantage of a booming domestic bond market to restructure its debts and raise funds for upcoming investments. Gazprom said it had mandated Gazprombank, [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 5, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES DUBAI WALTH FUND BUY-OUT HEAD SWITCHES TO CARLYLE Carlyle, the US-based private equity group, has poached Eric Kump, head of Dubai International Capital’s European private equity team, leaving the sovereign wealth fund with a troubled portfolio and lacking funds for new deals. Mr Kump will on Tuesday be unveiled by Carlyle as a [...]
Keep an eye on executive pay, watchdogs are told March 30, 2010 THE Financial Stability Board (FSB) is worried companies will be tempted to begin competing for talented staff by using disproportionate bonus deals again as the financial crisis fades. In a review of remuneration practices across G20 countries published yesterday, the Switzerland-based body said its recommendations to reform pay in financial institutions had still not been [...]
Take a global view for the best returns on your ISA March 30, 2010 IF you want to make the most of your ISA allocation, then you had better get your skates on: tomorrow is your last chance this year. Of course, the principles of picking a fund are the same as any fund-picking. As ever, diversification is the key when it comes to long-term investment planning, so it [...]
MOSCOW METRO BOMB HORROR March 29, 2010 A WOMAN places flowers in memory of the victims of a bomb explosion at Lubyanka metro station in Moscow. Two female suicide bombers killed at least 38 people on packed metro trains yesterday, stirring fears of a broader campaign in Russia’s heartland by Islamists from the North Caucasus.
The spy who loves papers needs deep pockets March 25, 2010 JOURNALISTS at the Independent cheered when they found out that former KGB spy Alexander Lebedev had finally bought the newspaper. Their reaction couldn’t have been more different to the doomed silence that descended on the Evening Standard offices in January 2009, when hacks at that title learned of its sale to the Russian billionaire. But [...]