Rusal profits rise as cost cutting measures kick in November 14, 2011 RUSSIAN aluminium giant Rusal said yesterday its profits had risen in the third quarter – triggered in part by massive cost cutting, including the freezing of bonuses for top executives. The company, which listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange in January last year, said profits reached $432m (£271m) despite a fall in aluminium prices. [...]
Barclays private equity unit in management buyout November 11, 2011 Barclays Private Equity is being bought out by its own management team and will be relaunched as Equistone Partners Europe, it said, adding that the value of the gross assets being sold off was expected to be around £45m. Barclays, which last month posted higher profits as gains in its retail banking and credit card [...]
How to lock into a new market November 10, 2011 GETTING a property with top quality security is now more important than ever. Not only for safety, insurance and peace of mind, but because it is really important to the wealthy international buyers coming in from abroad. So if you intend on selling your home to one of these security-conscious foreigners or simply like to [...]
AB InBev flourishes while rival Carlsberg is hit by Russian woes November 9, 2011 Anheuser-Busch InBev and Carlsberg showed sharply contrasting fortunes in the third quarter, the former persuading US and Brazilian beer drinkers to swallow higher prices while the latter suffers a tax-rise hangover in Russia. AB InBev, the world’s biggest brewer and maker of Budweiser, Stella Artois and Beck’s, persuaded increasingly affluent Brazilians to drink higher priced [...]
HOME FROM HOME FOR HYDE PARK OLIGARCHS November 9, 2011 LUCA del Bono has been busy ever since he exited Quintessentially, the concierge service he started with Ben Elliot, to start his property fund Del Bono & Partners. The leisure-focused fund has bought £150m-worth of property over the last two years, recently acquiring the C London restaurant in Mayfair and 50 St James’s, where del [...]
Two more Russians to enter FTSE November 8, 2011 TWO Russian miners are set to join the FTSE 100 next month, reigniting concerns over corporate governance and the composition of the index. Roman Abramovich’s steelmaking group Evraz and gold miner Polymetal will both join the index if the FTSE Group agrees at its next meeting. Evraz, with a £4.7bn market cap, and Polymetal, at [...]
Polymetal expects ruling November 8, 2011 GOLD miner Polymetal yesterday said it should know the outcome of a ruling on buying out its Russian minority shareholders by the regulator in Moscow in about 15 days’ time. Polymetal, which started trading on the London Stock Exchange on 2 November after switching from a Moscow listing, said its subsidiary Polymetal Holding had sent [...]
A Playboy queen in chef’s whites November 8, 2011 IMAGINE, for a moment, the head chef at a Playboy Club. Whatever image just sprang to your mind, I am fairly certain it is not Judy Joo. A Korean-American former Wall Street banker (she was a sales-trader on the fixed income floor of Morgan Stanley; her husband works for a hedge fund in London), Joo [...]
It’s time for UK institutions to take more risk November 7, 2011 WOULD-BE investors in UK stocks are in a bad place right now. The long-only funds have too few successes to boast about and the hedge funds are scared of ever-increasing redemptions. As far as the majority of the UK investor base is concerned, IPOs of untested UK companies are distinctly off the menu. Those same [...]
Polymetal in debut day on London exchange November 2, 2011 RUSSIA’S fourth biggest gold miner Polymetal was yesterday officially admitted to the London Stock Exchange after switching from a Moscow listing. The move follows a £491m share placing that values the company at £3.55bn. The placing was priced at £9.20 – the bottom of the range that was set between £9.10 and £10. Sources said [...]