Canary Wharf leads the new wave of swanky members’ clubs March 16, 2011 RARELY has a new club been so aptly named as the recently launched Sky Bar at the Millbank Tower. With wall to wall windows, the views from its 29th floor, directly down towards the Houses of Parliament, are arguably the best in London. While previously just for events, the space has been transformed into an [...]
3i mandate will be coup for BarCap’s Renwick March 14, 2011 IF, as seems likely, 3i decides to appoint Barclays Capital as its joint corporate broker at the end of the month it will be further proof that Barclays’s strategy of building up its equities business is bearing fruit. Since hiring Jim Renwick as head of UK Equity Capital Markets and corporate broking in April 2009, [...]
Facebook hires Google exec to lead M&A efforts March 14, 2011 Facebook has hired one Google’s business development executives to lead its fledgling merger and acquisition efforts. In a sign the world’s No. 1 internet social network has a growing appetite for deals, Amin Zoufonoun, a director of corporate development at Google, will join Facebook next week. The move – the latest development in the rivalry [...]
Jeremy Hunt defends role in clearing News Corp bid March 13, 2011 JEREMY Hunt, the culture secretary, was yesterday forced to defend his role in News Corp’s bid for BSkyB, after an alliance of media companies accused him of acting in an “unprecedented manner”. The alliance, which is made up of BSkyB and News Corp rivals like BT and the Telegraph Media Group, said the culture secretary was wrong [...]
Wolseley nears Bathstore sale March 10, 2011 Private equity group Electra has reportedly entered exclusive talks with builders’ merchant Wolseley about buying its Bathstore retail chain. Bathstore, which has more than 150 shops across the UK, is expected to sell for around £90m. Electra, which declined to comment, beat private equity group LDS and Change Capital Partners to secure exclusive talks, according [...]
Hedging your portfolio with CFDs March 7, 2011 IF YOU don’t already, perhaps you should consider hedging your portfolio with contracts for difference (CFD). Provided you have enough time to actively manage your positions and are familiar with their workings, CFDs are worthy of some serious consideration. For many investors, the idea of using leverage to hedge is enough to put them off [...]
Sky investors to play hard ball with Murdoch empire March 6, 2011 BSKYB investors are preparing to play hardball with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp over its proposed takeover. Murdoch tabled £7.8bn in September to buy the 61 per cent of the broadcaster it does not already own but now investors are pushing for a price closer to £11bn. Talks between the two sides were broken off while [...]
BT advertising war boosts UK broadband March 6, 2011 FIERCE competition between Sky and BT is the most likely explanation for the unusually high growth in the UK broadband market last year, according to analysts at Enders. It enjoyed an “exceptionally strong” final quarter of last year, adding 397,000 new customers, beating some forecasts by around 100,000. Enders says the most likely cause is [...]
News Corp’s BSkyB bid could hit credit rating March 3, 2011 NEWS Corp could have its credit rating cut if it is forced to bid more than 850p a share for BSkyB, according to analysts at Jefferies. Shares in the broadcaster closed last night at a record 823p – far ahead of its pre-recession peak of 713p – on the expectation of a much improved offer [...]
News Corp wins right to make Sky bid March 3, 2011 NEWS Corp yesterday won full approval to bid for the 61 per cent of Sky it does not already own. Culture minister Jeremy Hunt accepted an eleventh hour News Corp concession that it would spin-off Sky News into a separate, publicly-traded entity, in order to counter media plurality concerns. Hunt said he accepted the terms [...]