THE LONDON REPORT November 9, 2009 BRITAIN’S top share index hit its highest closing level in more than two weeks yesterday as the G20’s pledge to keep stimulus in place bolstered investors’ risk appetite, with miners and oil stocks leading the charge. The FTSE 100 closed up 92.46 points, or 1.8 per cent, at 5,235.18, the highest close since 23 October, [...]
Axa to launch 2bn cash call November 8, 2009 Insurance giant AXA is plotting a €2bn (£1.8bn) rights issue to fund potential acquisitions. It is believed that bankers BNP Paribas and HSBC have been hired to work on the capital raising. Earlier this year Axa’s senior management said that the company did not need to tap shareholders for money – but the fresh equity [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 25, 2009 AvivaThe insurer has appointed Patrick Regan as its new chief financial officer, effective from February next year. Regan is currently group chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Willis Group Holdings, the insurance broker. He has also previously held positions within the industry as group financial controller at RSA and as finance and claims [...]
Axa looks to offload its stake in Chinese Taikang Life arm October 22, 2009 FRENCH insurer AXA has started the ball rolling on a Chinese asset sale that could raise as much as $1bn (£604m). Axa will sell the 15.6 per cent Taikang Life Insurance Company stake it took on when it bought Swiss group Winterthur in 2006. The group has enlisted US investment bank Morgan Stanley to advise [...]
Insurer Pearl offers better bonds deal October 21, 2009 PEARL, the life insurance group that is planning a stock market flotation sometime next year, has resurrected discussions with the disgruntled holders of £500m of its bonds. Earlier this year, Pearl, then led by serial entrepreneur Hugh Osmond, suspended interest payments on the bonds, sparking protests from the holders, including representatives from Rathbone, F&C, Axa [...]
CITY VIEWS: ARE THE TORIES RIGHT TO PROPOSE A PUBLIC-SECTOR PAY FREEZE? October 7, 2009 STEVE RYAN AXA“Yes I think it’s the right thing to do. There are other things they could do as well to cut the fiscal deficit. I’m worried about the government’s debts for my children’s sake – they will be the ones who pick up the bill. For a very long time Gordon Brown has been [...]
European stocks near 11-month high September 7, 2009 EUROPEAN shares closed higher yesterday, led by UKchocolate giant Cadbury which soared 38 per cent following a £10.2bn bid approach from US company Kraft Foods. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares rose 1.4 per cent to 975.90 points, just 0.3 per cent away from an 11-month closing high. The European benchmark index has [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 3, 2009 Pinsent MasonsThe law firm has appointed Raymond Beven as a London-based partner, responsible for leading the transport team within the firm’s projects and international construction group. Beven will be tasked with working across a broad transport portfolio including airports, rail and ports and projects in the Middle East, Caspian region and Europe. He joins from [...]
Axa warns on pensions, cuts jobs August 5, 2009 Europe’s second-biggest insurer Axa warned future pensioners that UK retirement incomes from annuities have been too generous in the past and will be cut from current levels once new European rules for insurers are brought in. It added that it will cut a further 350 jobs in the UK, after it unveiled a 39 per [...]
Bluefin boss attacks Tory threat to FSA August 4, 2009 THE HEAD of one of the UK’s largest insurance brokers has hit out at shadow chancellor George Osborne’s plans to scrap the tripartite system of regulation, accusing him of “pandering to public sentiment”. Howard Fryer, managing director of Axa-owned broking giant Bluefin, has said the insurance sector would face costly turmoil if Osborne goes ahead [...]