Hit the powder, not your wallet this ski season December 2, 2010 AA THE snow settles in London and the transport system goes into an adolescent sulk, many of us have started thinking about places where the white stuff is more welcome. With many resorts reporting bumper snowfalls, it is beginning to look like yet another excellent ski season for the Alps. Time to get out the [...]
Munich Re is exposed to €2.4bn of Irish bonds November 29, 2010 Munich Re is exposed to €2.4bn (£2bn) of Irish government bonds – around 1.2 per cent of its total non-linked assets (see chart above). However, exposure to the Irish crisis is not as bad as some feared, according to data from Nomura. Munich Re’s exposure is double the next most exposed insurer, ZFS, which has [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS November 29, 2010 RESOLUTION JP Morgan has started coverage of the insurance group with an “underweight” rating and a target price of 254p. The broker believes the firm’s main strength is its excess capital that allows it to make purchases without equity financing, but adds that a share buyback would be more productive. It sees the earnings potential [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 17, 2010 Cheyne Capital Management Cheyne Capital Management has appointed a new partner, after a period of new inflows and clients since 2009 and the launch of several funds. John Hyman will join the firm to develop its equity business, launch new products and generate research ideas. Hyman has 23 years’ experience in equities. He is moving [...]
AMP and Axa offer £8.2bn in a second bid for Axa’s Asian unit November 15, 2010 AUSTRALIAN wealth manager AMP launched a fresh £8.15bn bid for Axa Asia Pacific Holdings yesterday in a joint deal with French parent Axa, a year after its original approach. The move comes after rival bidder National Australia Bank pulled out of a deal to buy Axa’a Asian unit after the Australian competition regulator blocked the [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 15, 2010 Barclays Barclays has appointed Paul McNamara (pictured) as MD of insurance and investments to strengthen the bank’s ability to make protection insurance more accessible. McNamara comes from Standard Life, where he was MD for group strategy and corporate finance, before which he was a director of marketing and distribution at HBOS financial services. In another [...]
Axa Asia Pacific receives £8bn bid November 15, 2010 Australian wealth manager AMP and French insurer AXA launched a new $13.1bn-plus (£8.1bn) bid for AXA Asia Pacific, a move set to challenge banks’ domination of the world’s fourth-largest wealth market down under. A deal would put AMP at the top of Australia’s $1.2 trillion wealth management market, and end one of Asia’s largest takeovers [...]
Resolution eyes up further deals November 11, 2010 RESOLUTION, the insurance buyout group founded by entrepreneur Clive Cowdery, said yesterday that it remains firmly on the acquisition trail, with a view to exploiting opportunities overseas as well as in the UK. Chief executive John Tiner said the group has a “wider and longer-term ambition to build restructuring projects in other jurisdictions”, including the [...]
RBC hires JPM Caz dealmaker November 7, 2010 MARK Preston, one of the City’s most influential rainmakers, is joining RBC Capital Markets – Royal Bank of Canada’s investment banking arm – as head of the UK advisory business. RBC is this morning poised to confirm the appointment of Preston, whose illustrious CV features stints at both JP Morgan Cazenove, Merrill Lynch and Deutsche [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 2, 2010 Ernst & Young The accountancy firm has hired Samantha Keen to join its restructuring practice as a partner, working with the liquidations and strategic exit routes (LASER) team. Keen has over 18 years of experience in the insolvency and restructuring arena, and has recently focused on advising clients about solvent reorganisation and legal entity rationalisation [...]