Premier Oil to buy North Sea rival EnCore October 5, 2011 PREMIER OIL, the FTSE 250-listed oil company, is expanding its North Sea presence with a £221m cash deal to buy rival EnCore Oil. The potential takeover will increase Premier’s stake in the Catcher field – one of the largest discoveries in the UK North Sea in recent years – from 35 to 50 per cent. [...]
Land Sec gets planning for St Paul’s build October 4, 2011 LAND Securities, the UK’s biggest commercial landlord, has secured planning consent for a new mixed office and retail development near St Paul’s Cathedral in the City of London. The 250,000 square foot scheme will replace three existing buildings on the corner of Shoe Lane and Little New Street with cafes, restaurants and premium office space [...]
Deadline passes for Axa PE bids October 3, 2011 The deadline for first-round bids Axa’s private equity arm closed yesterday with a series of private equity houses interested in a deal. US giant KKR and 3i, the UK-listed buyout vehicle, were believed to be mulling a bid but did not comment last night. City A.M. understands BlackRock has not pursued its early interest. Axa [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 2, 2011 Baker & McKenzie Gavin Bushell, formerly of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, has been appointed as a partner in the law firm’s European & Competition Law Practice, based in Brussels. Bushell specialises in EU competition and state aid law, Euratom Treaty law, aviation law and regulation, and litigation before the European Courts in Luxembourg. He was recently [...]
BlackRock mulls takeover bid for Axa Private Equity September 29, 2011 BLACKROCK is among a host of global buyout funds considering a bid for the private equity arm of Axa. The world’s largest money manager by assets could make an offer of around £300m, but has not got as far as opening talks, City A.M. understands. French insurer Axa confirmed on Wednesday that it had begun [...]
Possible bidders eye insurance arm of HSBC September 29, 2011 GERMAN life insurer Allianz and French giant AXA are among potential bidders for HSBC’s non-life insurance division, which could fetch more than $1bn (£640.7m) when sold, sources said yesterday. HSBC has sent out information memorandums to potential bidders for the sale of its non-life insurance business, as its chief executive Stuart Gulliver streamlines the bank [...]
Axa is set to sell private equity arm September 28, 2011 AXA hopes to spark an auction after it finally confirmed it is interested in selling its private equity arm. The French insurance group believes Axa Private Equity will go for between £200m and £400m. Axa yesterday said it had begun a strategic review of its PE unit, which was set up by Dominique Senequier in [...]
AXA ‘selling private equity unit’ September 23, 2011 French insurer AXA is putting its private equity unit up for sale, Sky News reported. The unit could be worth around £1bn, according to the broadcaster. AXA declined to comment.
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS September 7, 2011 NEW MOBILE APP FOR INVESTORS Hargreaves Lansdown has released a new smartphone app, allowing investors to view their Isa, Sipp and other investments on both iPhone and Android systems. Ofcom figures show that 27 per cent of UK adults now own a smartphone.“The age of connected computing is with us,” says Richard Hunter, head of [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 5, 2011 Cushman & Wakefield The property consultant has appointed corporate real estate executive Simon Ward as a partner in its EMEA corporate occupier & investor services team in London. Ward has more than 30 years’ experience in European and international corporate real estate, holding senior roles including regional director of corporate real estate at Jones Lang [...]