London 2012 poster boy Smith’s secret weapon in gold mission April 2, 2012 TAKING risks comes as second nature to Louis Smith, a sportsman who aligns natural athleticism with brute strength to perform gravity defying routines in pursuit of glory, but the London 2012 poster boy is willing to gamble on four years’ worth of gruelling preparation to complete his medal collection this summer. At the last Olympic [...]
Jefferies Hoare Govett wins Sirius Minerals April 2, 2012 HOARE Govett, the former RBS broker sold to US investment bank Jefferies, has won a new mandate with Sirius Minerals, the firm looking for potash in Yorkshire. The renamed Jefferies Hoare Govett has been picked as joint broker alongside Macquarie and Liberum. Chris Fraser, managing director and chief executive of Sirius, said: “With its US [...]
Petroplus gets first offers for German plant April 2, 2012 SEVERAL interested parties have submitted offers for insolvent refiner Petroplus’ Ingolstadt plant in Germany, a spokesman for the refinery’s administrator said yesterday. “We’ve received non-binding offers and are now organising plant visits,” said the spokesman for administrator Jaffe Rechtsanwaelte Insolvenzverwalter. “We hope to be able to conclude negotiations in the second quarter,” he added. The [...]
Honeymooning for one in the Maldives April 1, 2012 GOING on holiday alone is one thing. Going on holiday alone to the world’s foremost couples’ destination is rather another. I wasn’t off to backpack around the villages of the Himalayas or go down and out in Bangkok and Hanoi, bumping into new people and places every five minutes. No: I set off on a [...]
Miner Polyus prepares for premium London listing March 30, 2012 Russian miner Polyus Gold is likely go ahead with a share sale worth $700m (£436m) to $1bn in late April, paving the way for a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange, according to Reuters sources. The company had originally planned to redomicile from its Jersey home to London in early March but has instead [...]
Petropavlovsk looks to hike its gold production target for year March 28, 2012 RUSSIAN gold miner Petropavlovsk is likely to increase its 2012 production target to reflect an increase in capacity at its flagship mines, chairman Peter Hambro has said. The company, which operates open-pit mines in the Russian far east, is forecasting a 680,000 ounce production figure in 2012 – around eight per cent higher than last [...]
Deripaska poised to snap up Rusal’s Norilsk Nickel stake March 26, 2012 RUSSIAN tycoon Oleg Deripaska is ready to buy Rusal’s 25 per cent blocking stake in Norilsk Nickel to resolve a shareholder dispute at the world’s largest aluminium producer, a source close to the Rusal board said. Deripaska’s gambit seeks a way out of a row with minority shareholder Viktor Vekselberg, who quit as Rusal’s chairman [...]
Political risk is a global threat to recovery March 25, 2012 IN a tentative recovery, everyone always looks for the next nasty shock that could spring up and derail growth. The answer this time is political risk – all over the world. We all know about the geo-political tensions in the Middle East that sent Brent over $126 earlier this month. But in a year heavy [...]
Day of change at UBS and Bank of America March 22, 2012 YESTERDAY was a day of musical chairs at two of the City’s top investment banks as both UBS and Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BoAML) made significant management changes. UBS, the bank still reeling from the after-effects of the rogue trader scandal, indicated its intention to remain a major force in investment banking by hiring [...]
CHANGING OF THE GUARD AT BANK OF AMERICA MERRILL LYNCH March 22, 2012 ANDREA ORCEL Andrea Orcel’s departure will leave a big gap at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. In a world where contacts and relationships matter so much, the suave late 40s banker had it all. His contacts include Santander, Danske Bank, Unicredit (where he helped BoAML take a lead role in the rights issue earlier this [...]