Rosenfeld is second on power list October 7, 2010 KRAFT chief executive Irene Rosenfeld is the second most powerful woman in the world, outranked only by American First Lady Michelle Obama, according to Forbes magazine. Rosenfeld moves four places up the power rankings from last year’s Forbes list in the wake of Kraft’s £11.5bn play for chocolate maker Cadbury earlier this year. German chancellor [...]
Axa rejigs UK insurance as its chief exits October 7, 2010 AXA UK Insurance chief executive, Philippe Maso, has stepped down from his role after two years following a strategic review that will see the company reorganise into two distinct business units. Axa said one unit will focus on commercial business with the other focusing on consumer business. It said the change would give it a [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS October 5, 2010 NATIONAL GRID JP Morgan Cazenove considers the Ofgem decision on the framework for the next transmission and gas distribution to be a friendly move for National Grid’s shareholders. The broker gives the energy giant a “neutral” rating and says the new finance director may offer a fresh look at the financing challenges facing National Grid [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 4, 2010 Yell Group The company behind the Yellow Pages has appointed Tony Bates as chief financial officer, effective from 22 November. He will also take up the role of executive director from 1 November. Bates, 54, served as chief operating officer at Colt from 2002 until the end of July. Before this he was with record [...]
Top 100 list shows women at senior level September 26, 2010 MORE than a fifth of Europe’s 100 most influential women sit at the top of some of the largest companies within the financial services sector, according to new findings. According to the fourth annual list of the 100 most influential women compiled by Financial News, more than 20 per cent of the listed women in [...]
National Australia scraps bid for Axa September 14, 2010 NATIONAL Australia Bank (NAB) scrapped its £7.95bn (A$13.3bn) bid for Axa Asia Pacific Holdings yesterday, which would have seen it buy the Australian and New Zealand branches of the wealth management firm. The move came after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission blocked the deal for a second time last week. “Continuing with this agreement [...]
NAB’s A$13bn bid for Axa is blocked again September 9, 2010 National Australia Bank’s A$13.3bn (£8bn) bid for AXA Asia Pacific has been blocked for a second time, dashing its efforts to cement its lead in the world’s fourth-largest wealth management market. The Australian competition regulator’s decision clears the way for Australia’s second-biggest fund manager AMP to take another tilt at AXA Asia Pacific, after its [...]
Regulator block NAB’s $12bn bid for Axa Asia September 9, 2010 Australia’s competition regulator blocked National Australia Bank’s $12bn (£7.8bn) bid for AXA Asia Pacific for a second time, dashing NAB’s efforts to cement its dominance in the world’s fourth-largest wealth management market. The decision clears the decks for Australia’s second-biggest fund manager, AMP, to take another tilt at AXA Asia Pacific after its cash and [...]
Dana battles to stop £1.9bn offer by KNOC September 8, 2010 DANA PETROLEUM is braced for a £1.9bn hostile takeover by Korean National Oil Corps after investors dismissed an ambitious defence document demanding a higher price. Shares in Dana closed almost flat at £18.09, just above the level of state-owned KNOC’s £18 per share offer, indicating shareholders were unmoved by the argument. The board of the [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 7, 2010 Deloitte The accountancy firm has appointed UK partner Chris Harvey as the new head of its financial services group. Harvey has been a partner since 2002 and has been global head of banking and securities since 2008. He will focus on growing the financial services business in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern [...]