CITY VIEWS: WILL EASYJET’S MOVE HELP TO EASE RUNWAY CAPACITY PROBLEMS? June 16, 2011 SEAN SMITH | AXA “No, Southend is too far from London, there isn’t very good rail linking and it is pretty hard to travel to from central London. I don’t think people would want to travel that far.” MICHAEL KING | JR CLARE “Yes, it’s not like it could make it any worse. It would [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 13, 2011 HSBC Alternative Investments The division responsible for hedge funds, private equity and real estate offerings across the HSBC group has appointed Simon Jennings as managing director, head of private equity. Jennings has more than 22 years of private equity investment experience. Most recently, he co-founded and ran the private equity business at UBS Wealth Management, [...]
Citi sells £1bn in private equity assets to Axa June 8, 2011 US BANK Citigroup has agreed to sell a portfolio of private equity assets to Axa Private Equity for $1.7bn (£1bn), the latest move by the lender to unload non-core assets. For Paris-based Axa, the deal is part of a series of acquisitions of private equity investments originally owned by other investors, including the purchase of a $1.9bn [...]
Resolution to return £500m to investors June 7, 2011 LIFE insurance asset buyer Resolution yesterday pledged to return £500m cash to shareholders over the next year, starting with £250m of share buybacks that kick off today. Resolution, which is restructuring life insurance books bought from Friends Provident, Axa and Bupa, will return the second £250m to shareholders in the first half of 2012 after [...]
Resolution pledges £500m extra cash to investors June 7, 2011 Resolution, the UK life insurance consolidation vehicle, is to return £500m in cash to investors over the next year, starting with £250m in share buybacks from tomorrow. The insurer, which has combined assets from Axa, Bupa and Friends Provident, will return the second £250m to shareholders in the first half of 2012 after making £235m [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 6, 2011 Ingenious The financial services group has promoted Neil Forster from group finance director to the group’s chief operating officer. Prior to joining Ingenious in 2008, Forster was group finance director at Hat Trick Productions and held senior finance roles in Walt Disney’s European television business. Forster remains a non-executive director of Hat Trick Productions and [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 5, 2011 Merchant Securities Lindsey Hamilton, formerly head of wealth management at WH Ireland Group, has been appointed as sales director of Merchant Securities Wealth Management. In addition, Chris Theis will join Merchant Securities Limited in August as head of institutional sales and research, moving from Daniel Stewart & Co. AXA Real Estate The real estate manager [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS June 5, 2011 AXA Goldman Sachs rates the firm “neutral” and has raised its target price by €0.50 to €16.50 (£14.70). The broker expects the bulk of capital generated over the 2011 to 2015 period to be used shoring up its balance sheet. INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS Deutsche Bank rates the hotels group a “hold” and has raised its target [...]
ARE YOU MORE WARY OF EU VEGETABLES? June 2, 2011 BEN BEAUMONT | CMC MARKETS “Why risk it? News coverage puts the possibility always in the back of your mind. I don’t think food exports should be banned because it is up to people to make their own decision.” DANIEL BROWN | LIBERTY SYNDICATES “It has not been identified that the cucumber is the source [...]
WHISKY AT MIDDAY FOR ABERDEEN’S POLAR FEAT June 2, 2011 THE WHISKY came out at noon at Aberdeen Asset Management yesterday to christen the boat the fund managers are sponsoring on its voyage into the Arctic unknown. The Old Pulteney has been designed to withstand some of the harshest conditions on earth, and her six-man crew – led by Scottish explorer Jock Wishart – will [...]