FORTY YEARS ON AND WE SEEM TO HAVE LEARNED VERY FEW LESSONS May 24, 2010 WHEN you are older than God, as I am, I think you tend to become rather blasé as yet another political or financial crisis unfolds. I was 23 and working as an impecunious bank clerk at Hill Samuel (now part of Lloyds Banking Group, for the youth among you) when I was exposed to my [...]
Norilsk to sell Stillwater stake May 24, 2010 NORILSK Nickel yesterday confirmed plans to sell its stake in Stillwater Mining, the sole US producer of platinum and palladium, which is valued at around $750m (£519m). Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, chief executive of Norilsk, the world’s top producer of nickel and palladium, said the Russian firm would sell the 51.3 per cent stake to streamline its [...]
African billionaire joins the race to buy Arsenal May 23, 2010 AN African billionaire has joined the race to take control of Arsenal. Manufacturing mogul Aliko Dangote, worth over £2.5bn, is understood to be keen to snap up the 16 per cent stake in the club held by Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith. Speculation has been mounting that a bid may be forthcoming from one of the club’s [...]
Mozzarella in Mayfair goes glam May 17, 2010 Cielo/Luxx 3 New Burlington Street W1S 2JF 020 7297 2893 www.cielorestaurant.co.uk, www.luxx-london.com FOOD *** SERVICE **** ATMOSPHERE *** Cost per person without wine: £50 THESE days, being a restaurant plain and simple just isn’t good enough. Since the credit crunch bit, we have entered a new realm of added value, and if you like to [...]
Peacocks ready to sell after bumper Christmas May 16, 2010 FASHION retailer Peacocks may cash in on its storming run of form with a sale that could value the business at £600m. The budget store has seen sales rocket as customers flocked to it during the recession. Now shareholders are understood to be keen on a quick sale, with the private equity arm of Goldman [...]
Blues double stars salute Ancelotti May 16, 2010 THE FA CUP FINAL 2010 FRANK LAMPARD and John Terry, two of the players closest to Jose Mourinho during his reign as Chelsea manager, have hailed double-winning boss Carlo Ancelotti as the equal of the self-styled Special One. Ancelotti led his squad on an open-topped bus parade through west London yesterday as ecstatic Blues fans [...]
Intesa’s Fideuram listing to be delayed May 13, 2010 ITALY’S Intesa Sanpaolo is understood to be preparing to delay listing its Banca Fideuram asset manager until after the summer, potentially slowing the bank’s plans to boost capital. It is expected to wait for better market conditions to list Fideuram, Italy’s market-leading asset manager. A spokesman for the bank said work on the initial public [...]
ON IN LONDON | SIX OF THE BEST May 6, 2010 ART: Angela de la Cruz Head along to the Camden Arts Centre to decide for yourself whether de la Cruz, a painter who inflicts deliberate damage on her canvases, is worth her nomination for the Turner Prize as announced this week. THEATRE: Posh The Royal Court’s cracking show offers a satirical look inside the privileged [...]
SPORT | IN BRIEF May 6, 2010 Tiger back on form at Sawgrass GOLF: Tiger Woods made a welcome return to form as he closed in on the leaders in the Players’ Championship at Sawgrass. Woods, who missed the cut in the Quail Hollow Championship last week, was just three shots behind clubhouse leaders JB Holmes and Robert Allenby on three-under-par as he [...]
Panel slams Bear Stearns risk taking May 5, 2010 THE former chairman and chief executive of Bear Stearns conceded yesterday that the failed investment bank had taken on too much risk. “That was the business. That was, really, industry practice. In retrospect, in hindsight, I would say leverage was too high,” a weary-sounding James Cayne told a nine-hour hearing of the Financial Crisis Inquiry [...]