Algeria mulls offer for BP assets December 19, 2010 ALGERIA is considering snapping up assets oil giant BP wants to sell in the country, before it allows another firm to buy them. Russian oil company TNK-BP wants to buy BP’s assets in Algeria, which include stakes in two major gas-producing fields, but Algerian state energy firm Sonatrach has the right of first refusal. BP’s [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 19, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES APAX PLANS €11BN FUND Apax Partners aims to cement its position as Europe’s biggest private equity group next year by raising a new €11bn-plus ($14.5bn) fund – the biggest buy-out fundraising since the start of the credit crisis. Led by Martin Halusa, who replaced Sir Ronald Cohen as head of Apax six years [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 15, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES SIENNA MILLER CLAIMS REIGNITE HACKING ROW Lawyers representing the actress Sienna Miller have alleged that a senior executive at the News of the World ordered a private detective to hack into her mobile phone voicemail account, reigniting a controversy over journalistic practices at the tabloid Sunday newspaper. GOLDMAN’S SZE TO LEAVE FOR HEDGE [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 13, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES US REGULATOR WIDENS STANFORD PROBE TO BROKERS US securities regulators have broadened their investigation into the alleged $8bn Ponzi scheme run by Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire, to include brokerage executives who invested their clients’ money in Stanford International Bank products. JPMORGAN CUTS BACK ON US SILVER FUTURES JPMorgan has quietly reduced a [...]
Journey into the mighty history of Samarkand December 12, 2010 AROUND Tashkent airport, giant hoardings proclaimed in English: “Uzbekistan Airways Wish You Good Luck”. It might have been more unsettling to read that message driving into Heathrow before our departure. In fact, we’d had an incident-free flight on Uzbekistan Airways to Uzbekistan’s capital. Tashkent sounds endlessly exotic but isn’t really. Much was destroyed by a [...]
Pavlyuchenko to sign new Spurs deal December 8, 2010 TOTTENHAM have opened contract talks with Roman Pavlyuchenko less than a year after the Russian striker seemed destined to leave White Hart Lane. Pavlyuchenko, 28, appeared to be on the verge of sealing a switch to Birmingham City in January but the two clubs were unable to agree a fee. Now, the striker’s agent has [...]
IMI promoted to FTSE 100 as Cobham falls December 8, 2010 ENGINEERING group IMI has been promoted to the blue-chip FTSE 100 index after the latest review, indexes complier FTSE Group said yesterday. IMI will replace defence contractor Cobham which has been demoted to the FTSE 250 index. Companies outside the FTSE 100 that grow to rank among the 90 largest by market capitalisation are promoted [...]
Get out your pith helmet and start building railways, roads and ports December 7, 2010 AT THE end of the 19th century, British investors were funding railways throughout India and across South America, telephone cables underneath the Atlantic and gold mines in the South African Transvaal. In the first great age of globalisation, the most important thing was to build infrastructure, only after which could trade follow. That is as [...]
Sarkozy signs $20bn in deals on Indian trade trip December 6, 2010 FRANCE’S President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday said he had clinched deals worth about $20bn (£12.6bn) with India, becoming the latest among a string of world leaders jostling for a share of Asia’s third biggest economy. The business deals, which spanned atomic energy, defence and civil aviation, comfortably bettered the $10bn US President Barack Obama secured on [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 5, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES IRISH BANKS FACE LOANS SELL OFF Ireland will have to accelerate the shrinking of its troubled banks’ balance sheets in return for gaining continued access to emergency European funding. According to people briefed on the details of Ireland’s €85bn (£72bn) bail-out by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, the banks will [...]