Gazidis to feel heat of Usmanov’s blast June 12, 2011 ARSENAL chief executive Ivan Gazidis is facing a grilling from disgruntled fans tonight after Alisher Usmanov, the club’s second largest shareholder, turned up the heat on the board. Gazidis (below right), who is hosting a question and answer session with the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust, was already set for a mixed reception amid increasing criticism from [...]
London IPO market is close to seizure June 7, 2011 GLENCORE recently pulled off a $11bn flotation, London’s largest ever, but the past few months have otherwise been pretty desultory in terms of new companies coming to market. Some blame last year’s flotation of Ocado, the online grocer, for starting the rot. Ocado’s share price has recovered well from its early post-IPO malaise but bankers [...]
HMV signs new £220m loan facility June 7, 2011 Troubled music retailer HMV has refinanced a lifeline £220m lending facility with its banks but has agreed to give them a five per cent stake to do so. HMV, which sold its flagship book retail chain Waterstone’s to Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut last month, has signed three separate loan agreements with lenders led by Lloyds [...]
Russia’s Global Ports to raise $750m in London June 6, 2011 RUSSIA’S biggest freight terminal operator aims to list on the London Stock Exchange to raise up to $750m (£456m), it said yesterday. Global Ports Investments, which operates terminals in Russia and Finland, intends to float 25 per cent of its issued share capital. It will list $100m of new shares and an unspecified amount of [...]
Statoil to sell £2bn stake in gas pipeline June 6, 2011 NORWEGIAN energy giant Statoil has agreed to sell a 24.1 per cent stake in a key European natural gas transport venture to a group including German insurer Allianz and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority for 17.35bn crowns (£2bn). Statoil will retain a five per cent stake in Gassled, the owner of gas pipelines on the [...]
Russia’s Global Ports plans $750m London IPO June 6, 2011 Russian freight terminal operator Global Ports is planning to raise up to $750m (£456m) from an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange. Global Ports, the latest in a stream of Russian companies seeking fresh capital from the market, has said it will sell $100m of new shares as well as an unspecified amount [...]
HMV nears refinancing deal with its lenders June 5, 2011 EMBATTLED retailer HMV is close to securing a vital refinancing from its lenders, a source close to the company confirmed yesterday. Months-long talks with HMV’s lending syndicate, led by Lloyds Banking Group and RBS, are close to yielding a two-year refinancing of between £210m and £230m, allowing the firm some breathing space to get its [...]
A man on a mission to the Moonpig.com June 5, 2011 MOONPIG was a nickname I had at school,” says Nick Jenkins. “I needed a two syllable domain name, something comic and unique on Google.” It took him four days of checking potential names on Network Solutions to stumble upon Moonpig. Now a household name, it is also one of the UK’s fastest growing and most [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK June 5, 2011 NO EXPENSE was spared when three Russian businessmen, accompanied by one of the group’s nephew, dined at Cheneston’s in Kensington’s Milestone Hotel. So when it came to choosing the wine to accompany the three-course blow-out, the only thing to do was to choose a vintage from the year the nephew was born, which turned out [...]
Russian tax freeze set to hit Gazprom June 1, 2011 RUSSIA will not increase its mineral extraction tax for independent gas producers, finance minister Alexei Kudrin said yesterday, leaving state export monopoly Gazprom to bear the brunt of tax increases. Gazprom deputy chief executive Alexander Ananenkov warned that if the ministry carries through with proposed output levies, production would decline. “More gas will end up [...]