Jump in sales of distressed commercial property November 23, 2009 Over eighty percent of countries are experiencing a rise in distressed sales in the commercial property market, according to research by the Royal?Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) out today. During the third quarter of 2009, RICS surveyed members and other real estate executives in 25 countries across the globe to ascertain the volume of distressed [...]
Buckingham’s 80m from Ugandan sale November 22, 2009 HERITAGE OIL is expected to announce today that it has agreed to sell its Ugandan fields to Italian rival Eni SpA, in a $1.5bn (£909m) deal which will earn chief executive Tony Buckingham around £80m. Buckingham is a former partner in South Africa-based private military company Executive Outcomes, where he worked closely with Simon Mann, [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 19, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES VODAFONE?VEXED BY VERIZON STANCEThe chief executive of Vodafone yesterday said that the question of dividend payments from Verizon Wireless, its US joint venture, was one of the most pressing items on the company’s agenda. Speaking at a MorganStanley investor conference in Barcelona, Vittorio Colao said: “We need to solve the US situation.” EUROPEAN [...]
TNK-BP’s new boss unveiled November 19, 2009 OIL giant BP said the candidate proposed by its oligarch partners to lead their Russian joint venture, TNK-BP, had won out over BP’s candidate and that oligarch Mikhail Fridman would stay at the helm until 2011. BP and AAR, a consortium representing the billionaire co-owners, said Maxim Barsky, currently TNK-BP’s executive vice president for strategy [...]
Henry’s Hand of God breaks Irish hearts November 18, 2009 FRANCE (1) vs. REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (1)AET, FRANCE WIN 2-1 ON AGGREGATE THIERRY HENRY relived the Hand of God in Paris last night to cruelly deny Republic of Ireland a place in the 2010 World Cup finals. The Barcelona striker blatantly juggled the ball with his hand before setting up Arsenal’s William Gallas for an [...]
Boom-town Qatar is becoming the New York City of the Middle East November 18, 2009 WHEN chancellor Alistair Darling announced the introduction of a 50 per cent tax on all income over £150,000 from April 2010, there was immediately talk of a mass exodus from the City. High earners, said the chancellor’s critics, would look to preserve their wealth and firms try to attract the best talent. Some were expected [...]
QUEEN SENT FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE November 17, 2009 FIRST there was Bobby George; the Bobby Dazzler, the King of the Bling, the first true bastion of darting glitz and glamour. Then, there was Andy Fordham. Thirty-one stone at his peak, hair down to his backside and regular consumer of 25 bottles of Holsten Pils before going on stage. Equally adored by his public. [...]
Central bank slows rocky rouble’s rally November 17, 2009 WHILE its Bric counterparts of Brazil, India and China have been relatively unaffected by the global downturn, the Russian economy has suffered more than most. With approximately 60 per cent of its exports dependent on oil, a slump in the crude price during the second half of 2008 proved disastrous. But a recovering oil price [...]
Loopsign brothers bank dividend November 17, 2009 Ian and Richard Livingston, the billionaire brothers who own David Lloyd Leisure, received £242m each in dividends for the year to the end of September 2008, according to accounts filed by their property firm Loopsign. However the firm, which owns the Marks & Spencer building on Baker Street and land in Russia and the Turks, [...]
Obama delays deal on climate change November 15, 2009 US PRESIDENT Barack Obama has acknowledged that time has run out for securing a binding deal for tackling global warming at next month’s Copenhagen summit. But he and other world leaders have rallied around plans to avert a failure at the climate summit that would delay legally binding agreements until 2010 or even later. “We [...]