FSA calamity piles pressure on Prudential May 5, 2010 PRUDENTIAL’S audacious takeover of AIA in Asia is teetering on the brink after the City watchdog blocked the insurer’s plan to raise $21bn (£14bn) through a bumper rights issue. The FTSE 100 company was humiliatingly forced to delay the publication of its cash call prospectus yesterday following a veto from the Financial Services Authority, which [...]
FTSE 100 hit by falling banks as fears over Eurozone debt contagion continue May 5, 2010 BRITAIN’S top shares index shed 1.3 per cent yesterday laid low by weaker banks, as Eurozone debt contagion concerns intensified and Moody’s warned that Portugal’s debt could be downgraded. The FTSE 100 ended down 69.18 points at 5,341.93, a fourth consecutive session of falls, closing at a level not seen since 25 February. The FTSE [...]
Standard Life boosted by a return to risk April 29, 2010 STANDARD Life said high street savers’ appetite for equities and fixed income would continue to return this year as it beat market expectations to deliver a 30 per cent rise in sales. The Edinburgh-based insurer posted first quarter sales of £4.6bn, nearly £1bn more than analysts expected. Other stocks in the sector were buoyed as [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 29, 2010 Aviva The insurance giant has appointed Tim Harris as its new deputy chief financial officer and chief capital officer. Harris is currently chief financial officer of Aviva’s European business. He has also been the group’s chief accountant and, before that, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Aviva has also appointed Richard Dewar, the chief financial officer at [...]
Ennis: I can wait for world records April 28, 2010 WORLD champion Jessica Ennis insists she is thinking about herself and herself alone as she prepares to make her long-awaited outdoor return next month. The 24-year-old has enjoyed a golden start to 2010, claiming the world indoor pentathlon title in March to add to the world heptathlon crown she won last summer. Ennis is now [...]
Prudential prepares final charm offensive as deal D-day looms April 28, 2010 TIDJANE Thiam must be trying hard to shut out the noise. As Prudential’s chief executive hunkers down to work on the prospectus for the insurer’s gargantuan $21bn (£13.8bn) cash call, grumblings from shareholders continue to fuel rumours of a break-up bid that would see the firm snatched from the brink of a historic deal and [...]
FTSE drops after Spain downgrade April 28, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index closed lower yesterday, extending the previous session’s steep falls, after ratings agency Standard & Poor’s cut Spain’s credit rating to AA, overshadowing strong corporate earnings. The FTSE 100 index closed down 16.91 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 5,586.61, after it tumbled 2.6 per cent on Tuesday — its biggest one-day [...]
Man behind Pru break-up plot unmasked April 27, 2010 PATRICE Collette, an investment manager with US-based Capital Research and Management, has emerged as the man at the centre of a plot to break up insurer Prudential. City A.M. understands Collette, who works from Geneva, is the fund boss at Capital Research who held talks with third parties including life company Aviva with a view [...]
PANTHER BOSS ON A TRIP INTO NOSTALGIA April 26, 2010 ANDREW Perloff, the eccentric chairman of property firm Panther Securities, has something of a cult following among City investors due to his penchant for using company results statements as an excuse to reminisce at length about life’s little quirks. But yesterday’s final results announcement was a corker even by Perloff’s own standards, ranging from fervent [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 26, 2010 PricewaterhouseCoopers Bridget Jackson has joined the accountancy firm as director of corporate sustainability, leading the firm’s internal environmental, community and corporate sustainability strategy. Jackson has over twenty years of experience in international business and strategy consulting. She joins from management consulting firm Accenture. She will report directly to managing partner Richard Collier-Keywood. Resolution The investment [...]