OUT OF OFFICE December 14, 2011 SLAVA’S SNOWSHOW AT ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL This surreal, laugh-out-loud, poignant festive-themed physical theatre troupe has been quietly gaining plaudits for years. As of tomorrow, Londoners will get their first chance in 15 years to see the larger-than-life performance. This distinctive brand of Russian clowning sees a group of rather terrifying characters put on a spectacular [...]
MAN GROUP AIDE PLOTS FAME, SEX AND RUIN December 13, 2011 MANAGING the press coverage of Man Group’s multimillionaire hedge fund manager Pierre Lagrange is not a nine-to-five job. Which is partly why it taken Man Group’s head of media relations David Waller eight years “on and off” to complete his second historical biography around his day job, this time on his scandalous great-uncle Eugen Sandow. [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 12, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES Evraz raises prospect of Severstal merger Evraz has raised the possibility of a merger with Severstal in a deal that would unite Russia’s two biggest steelmakers to create the world’s eighth-largest producer by output, with a combined market capitalisation of £12bn. Alexander Abramov, Evraz’s chairman and founder, said in an interview with the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 11, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES TNK-BP WARNED ON LEGAL ACTION Two of the independent directors in TNK-BP, the Russian joint venture of BP, warned the board that legal action by the company against either set of shareholders could destabilise the group, according to a letter seen by the Financial Times. In the letter addressed to Mikhail Fridman, TNK-BP’s [...]
Russians join FTSE 100 December 8, 2011 EVRAZ, the Russian miner and steelmaking group part-owned by Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovitch, yesterday said it was “delighted” to be included in the FTSE 100 index. A second Russian group, gold and silver miner Polymetal, was also added to the blue-chip index after the quarterly review by the FTSE committee on Wednesday. Evraz [...]
MRSK lists on LSE to attract new investors December 8, 2011 RUSSIAN power grid company MRSK listed its shares in London yesterday in a move it hopes will boost the liquidity of its stock and enable it to raise funds in the future, its chief finance officer told City A.M. The technical listing, in which no money is raised, will see MRSK list 25 per cent [...]
Banks and miners fuel FTSE gains December 7, 2011 Miners and banks fuelled a lift in the FTSE 100 as investor sentiment improved ahead of a crunch Eurozone summit. The blue chip index mirrored Asia and the US where markets recovered from the ratings blow from Standard & Poor’s, which threatened to downgrade 15 nations, including Germany. There is mounting optimism that Eurozone leaders [...]
Miners losing due to poor governance December 6, 2011 THE BOSSES of some mining companies are letting their shareholders down by ignoring corporate governance issues, a hard hitting report has found. According to the research, dozens of London-listed firms are missing out on making more money for their investors through their bungling in the boardroom. Half of the 179 listed companies have lost shareholders [...]
Villas-Boas: Team right behind me December 6, 2011 CHELSEA vs VALENCIA CHELSEA manager Andre Villas-Boas has dismissed suggestions of player unrest, insisting his whole squad is firmly behind him as he prepares for tonight’s season-defining match. Striker Didier Drogba called on his team-mates to rally behind the rookie boss following Saturday’s 3-0 win at Newcastle, in which midfielder Frank Lampard appeared unhappy to [...]
S&P was right to warn the Eurozone December 6, 2011 THERE was anger at Standard and Poor’s, the rating agency, last night, focusing on the timing of its decision to put fifteen Eurozone countries on negative watch. I disagree: for once, the agency demonstrated bravery uncharacteristic of the times we live in. I’m no defender of the rating agencies, who performed appallingly during the bubble [...]