CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 22, 2012 Avocet Mining David Cather has been appointed chief executive of the West Africa-focused gold mining and exploration firm. He joined the board as chief operating officer in May 2012 from European Goldfields, where he was also chief operating officer, and replaces Brett Richards. Cather has previously held senior positions at Anglo American and De Beers. [...]
Coller raises $5.5bn to buy private equity assets July 19, 2012 Coller Capital has raised $5.5bn (£3.5bn) to buy private equity investments from banks and other investors, tapping into a growing niche that has seen some of the biggest pools of capital raised by buyout firms over the last year. As traditional private equity groups have found new capital hard to raise and deals tough to [...]
Vivendi break-up eyed as Levy steps down over strategy row June 28, 2012 THE reign of Vivendi chief executive Jean-Bernard Levy ended yesterday in a strategy dispute with the French telecoms and media conglomerate’s supervisory board, paving the way for possible disposals to shake up its flagging share price. Vivendi, whose shares are at nine-year lows, has been reviewing its conglomerate structure and seeking ideas on how to [...]
Insurers bolster property loans June 12, 2012 The volume of new property loans in Britain is set to balloon to £50bn a year by 2016, as more insurers enter the real estate lending market, according to research by property consultancy Savills. The new loan market will rise from the £27.5bn seen last year, in large part thanks to the likes of AXA, [...]
Smarta businesses could win £10,000 June 10, 2012 WHILE the Eurozone crumbles around us, businesses and entrepreneurs are working hard to build upon the shifting rubble. Here is snapshot of their latest activities: ■ The 2012 Smarta 100 competition launches today. It’s a celebration of the most exciting and disruptive small businesses, with a cash prize of £10,000 for the overall winner. The [...]
Top insurers to see curb on risky activities May 31, 2012 TOP insurers face curbs within five years on risky “non-traditional” activities, global regulators said yesterday as they seek to avoid a repeat of AIG’s huge taxpayer bailout in the financial crisis. Leaders of the world’s top 20 economies (G20) have asked the industry’s regulators to design tighter supervision for big insurers that pose risks to [...]
Capita in £20m deal for health tech business May 30, 2012 OUTSOURCING group Capita has sealed another small takeover deal with the acquisition of healthcare technology firm Clinical Solutions. It bought Clinical from a private equity consortium led by Bridgepoint for £20m on a cash free and debt free basis. Clinical, which has offices in Britain, the US, India and Australia, provides patient management software and technology [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 20, 2012 CBRE The global real estate adviser has announced that Dr Neil Blake has been appointed head of Europe, Middle East, Africa and UK research. Blake joins from Oxford Economics, the economic forecasting consultancy, where he was director of economic analysis. He is a founder director of Business Strategies, which became part of Experian in 2002. [...]
HSBC sells US credit card unit to Capital One May 2, 2012 HSBC has netted a $2.5bn (£1.5bn) premium from the sale of its US credit card and retail services business to Capital One. The bank, which agreed the deal last August, said Capital One paid $31.3bn in cash for the assets, including an 8.75 per cent premium over the total loan balances. HSBC has agreed to [...]
Spanish debt auctions revealed little about finances April 22, 2012 WHO ever said that debt auctions from Club Med countries were boring? Certainly nobody who follows the markets closely – these days, they are often the central economic event of a week. Take last week’s Spanish debt auctions, which ended up raising more questions than they answered. On Tuesday the precursor was an auction of 12 [...]