Orascom sells 50pc stake in $1.2bn deal November 22, 2010 ORASCOM Telecom has sold its 50 per cent stake in Tunisian mobile operator Tunisiana to a Qatari-Tunisian consortium for $1.2bn in a further sign of consolidation in the Arab telecoms market. The consortium includes Qatar Telecom’s (Qtel) Kuwaiti unit Wataniya, which already owns 50 per cent of Tunisiana, the Qatari fixed line and wireless carrier [...]
BOTTOM LINE November 22, 2010 WHEN DMGT sold the loss-making Evening Standard to Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev in January 2009, finance director Peter Williams caused a storm by saying the firm’s love affair with newspapers was all but over. It had “crossed the Rubicon,” he declared (although chairman Lord Rothermere soon made it clear that Williams had crossed the line). DMGT abandoned [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 22, 2010 Huntsworth Group Global PR firm Huntsworth has added Colin Adams to its board as group finance director, replacing Tymon Broadhead. He has a background in media and joins from Bloomsbury Publishing, where has had been finance director since 1994. He also has three years’ experience on the investment committee of the creative capital fund. He [...]
Van Persie: I advised Arsenal to sign Van der Vaart November 18, 2010 ARSENAL striker Robin van Persie has added further spice to tomorrow’s north London derby by revealing he begged manager Arsene Wenger to sign Rafael van der Vaart. Holland playmaker Van der Vaart has been a revelation at Tottenham since joining in September and will pose the visitors’ biggest threat when they clash at Emirates Stadium. [...]
Russia approves £20bn plan to privatise assets November 17, 2010 RUSSIAN Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday approved a plan to sell 1 trillion roubles (£20bn) in state assets over the next three years to help plug a gap in the budget and lure investors. Russia’s leaders need cash as they struggle to get the country out of its worst recession in 15 years and ratchet [...]
Beetham Tower site is put back on the market by administrators November 16, 2010 THE SITE earmarked for the 53-storey Beetham Tower on the south bank has been put back on the market by administrators BDO. The site at 1 Blackfriars Road, once owned by Beetham Organisation and Russian developer Mirax, will be formally marketed by CB Richard Ellis in early 2011. Royal Bank of Scotland placed the developers’ [...]
SFO chief in vow to chase Russian fraud November 16, 2010 RICHARD Alderman, director of the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO), has told the Anglo-Russian business community that his organisation will actively seek to exercise new powers worldwide in the global fight against corruption. Referring to new powers available to the SFO following the implementation of the Bribery Act in April 2011, Alderman told an event [...]
MUFG buys RBS project finance book November 15, 2010 BANK of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ said yesterday it had agreed to buy a project finance loan book owned by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) for £3.8bn. Earlier this month City A.M. reported RBS had entered into talks with the subsidiary of Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ (MUFG) Financial Group over the possible sale of the book which includes [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 14, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES LLOYDS TO SPIN OFF BUY-OUT ARM The private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group has for the first time outlined plans for the UK’s most prolific buy-out investor to spin off from its banking parent. Darryl Eales, chief executive of Lloyds TSB Development Capital, said it was expected to start raising money from [...]
BP’s Hayward starts energy consultancy November 14, 2010 FORMER BP chief executive Tony Hayward has set up his own business, understood to be an energy consultancy, as he rejoins the business world following his departure from the oil giant. Hayward set up 3E Capital on 28 October, papers filed at Companies House show. He lists Deloitte’s office in London as the company’s registered [...]