Santander secures British expansion July 15, 2008 Standard Life, one of Alliance & Leicester’s largest shareholders believes the bank is being sold to Abbey National owner Santander at a “giveaway” price. Santander’s offer represents a 36 per cent premium to A&L’s share price on Friday, but it’s still well below the stock’s 1200p peak a year ago. Despite assurances from A&L chief [...]
Alliance & Leicester snapped up as bid fever returns to the City July 15, 2008 A frenzy of merger and acquisition activity, spearheaded by Spanish bank Santander agreeing to buy Alliance & Leicester for £1.3bn, returned to the markets yesterday causing stocks to rally. The oil and gas sector was the centre of much of the bid action, with Imperial Energy, the developer of Russian oil reserves, soaring 18 per [...]
Hleb poised to seal £14m Barca switch July 10, 2008 Arsenal midfielder Alexander Hleb is set to complete his long-awaited move to Barcelona, after the two clubs reportedly agreed a fee of £14.3m. Hleb, who has been linked with a move from the Emirates all summer, is poised to sign a four-year deal with Barcelona after rejecting the chance to join Bayern Munich. Arsenal have [...]
G8 in climate dispute with poor states July 9, 2008 Big emerging economies will come under pressure today to respond to an initiative by rich countries to work towards a target of at least halving their global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The Group of Eight (G8) industrial nations want the leaders of eight fast growing countries to adopt a “shared vision” of tackling global [...]
BP’s man in Russia lives to fight again July 9, 2008 The Kremlin, BP and four Russian moguls all want control of TNK-BP. Roger Baird reports. The embattled chief executive of BP’s Russian joint venture TNK-BP, Robert Dudley, survived an attempt by its Russian billionaire partners to remove him on Monday – but he will have to do it all over again on Friday. The screws [...]
Russia’s Sibir Energy races towards FTSE July 8, 2008 London-listed mid-sized Russian oil company Sibir Energy said yesterday its full-year pre-tax profit trebled to $344m (£172m) due to higher output at its Siberian unit and strong margins from refining and retail. Sibir said its crude oil production rose 80 per cent in the year to 17.8 million barrels. Most of the output, 15.3 million [...]
Ross has found form at just the right time July 8, 2008 For several years now, I’ve been monitoring the progress of a young man who I always felt had the potential of becoming a future major champion. Playing from Wentworth, down the road from me, Ross Fisher caught the eye from a very young age, but has never quite had the breaks needed to force his [...]
Federer wary of Safin threat as he goes in search of title number six July 4, 2008 Roger Federer admits he is wary of semi-final opponent Marat Safin, describing the Russian’s lowly ranking as “ridiculous”. Safin is ranked as low as 75th in the world but has discovered the best grass court form of his career after beating No3 seed Novak Djokovic on route to a place in the last four. And [...]
Take Safin to start well, but be Fed up July 4, 2008 It’s easy to predict that Roger Federer will beat Marat Safin in the Wimbledon semi-final today, and is all set to clash with Rafa Nadal in the final. But there might still be some value out there if you look for it. Looking at the semi-final between Federer and Russian maverick Safin, better have an [...]
Federer routs Ancic to march into semis July 3, 2008 Defending champion Roger Federer continued his serene progress towards a sixth successive Wimbledon title with a quarterfinal stroll against Mario Ancic. Croatia’s Ancic, the last player to beat Federer on grass, in 2002, failed to earn a single break point as the world No1 cruised into the last four, 6-1, 7-5, 6-4. It was another [...]