FTSE falls with investors still cautious ahead of US results April 14, 2011 BRITAIN’S top share index fell yesterday, led by Reckitt Benckiser after the company said its chief executive was retiring, and with banks weaker on renewed worries about sovereign debt levels. The FTSE 100 fell 46.64 points, or 0.8 per cent, to 5,963.80, its lowest close since 31 March. The index is up 1.1 per cent [...]
Protests and angry investors colour BP meeting April 14, 2011 Protestors against BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster and Canadian tar sands exploration disrupted its annual meeting today, while the company came under fire from a range of investors. Shareholders tackled BP’s board with questions over its risk management, climate change, environmental damage and the fallout from its $16bn (£9.8bn) share swap deal with [...]
Euroset confirms pulling its £800m IPO April 14, 2011 The already shaky climate in the UK’s new issues market worsened today as Russian mobile phone retailer Euroset pulled its £800m issue. The flotation has been dogged by uncertainty because of nervousness in the markets, with investors increasingly unwilling to pay up for what they deem to be overvalued stock. City A.M. broke the news [...]
Oligarchs crush BP’s £10bn dream April 13, 2011 BP’S gamble on Russian oil seemed in tatters last night, paving the way for an explosive BP shareholder meeting today. BP had hoped to wow investors with the final version of its £10bn share swap with the government-run Rosneft at today’s meeting, after signing the deal in January. But Rosneft last night said it would [...]
Euroset float hits a bout of nervousness April 13, 2011 NERVOUSNESS in London’s IPO market spread yesterday as it emerged that the Russian mobile phone retailer Euroset was considering scaling back its flotation plans. The group originally aimed to raise up to $1.3bn (£799m) from investors through a combination of new shares and stock sold principally by Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut, who owns 50.1 per [...]
Sale could be the key for Russian oligarch April 13, 2011 RUSSIAN billionaire Alexander Mamut’s plans to cash in part of his stake in Euroset could be a lynchpin for his future investment plans. The Moscow financier, best known in Britain as the owner of blogging site Livejournal.com, is said to be plotting a takeover bid for high street bookshop chain Waterstone’s. Yet if his plans [...]
Choc & Awe April 13, 2011 TIME was when an Easter egg was a bottom-rung milk chocolate concoction picked up at the corner shop, that kids could hunt for in the garden before being made sick by it. But now that we’re a nation of foodies – and more to the point, a nation increasingly rich in the kind of imaginative [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 12, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES CITY INVESTOR CHIEFS BACK BANKING REVAMP City fund managers have broadly welcomed the reform drive sweeping Britain’s banking sector, in spite of vocal criticism from some institutions. “There is a largely silent majority of investors who believe that structural reform and tougher capital requirements are a good idea,” said James Alexander, head of [...]
BP faces US shareholder revolt at AGM April 12, 2011 CALPERS the biggest US public pension fund, and its Florida equivalent have said they will vote against management ahead of BP’s annual general meeting tomorrow, over anger at the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Calpers and the Florida State Board of Administration, which between them own almost 83m shares, or 0.4 per cent of BP’s [...]
Helicopter company is latest Russian to seek London float April 12, 2011 STATE controlled JSC Russian Helicopters yesterday confirmed its intention to raise $500m (£308m) in a joint flotation in London and Moscow. The offering is expected to consist of the sale of existing shares, primarily by the firm’s major shareholder Oboronprom, as well as up to $250m of primary shares in the form of Global Depository [...]