WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 5, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES PAULSON FUND FALLS 6PC IN MAY Paulson & Co, the world’s third- largest hedge fund, saw the value of its flagship fund drop close to 6 per cent in May, echoing losses across the industry. The loss tops negative returns in the first quarter at the $37bn (£22.5bn) New York-based money manager, famed [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 25, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BRANSON WANTS 600 BRANCHES OF LLOYDS Sir Richard Branson has set his sights on buying a network of branches from Lloyds Banking Group as he attempts to go head-to-head with some of the biggest banks on the UK high street. Sir Richard met António Horta-Osório, Lloyds chief executive, on Tuesday and plans [...]
One Finsbury Circus is sold May 24, 2011 The former City headquarters of BP has been sold to a real estate fund for £141.5m, the vendors said yesterday. One Finsbury Circus has been snapped up by Invesco Real Estate’s pan-European fund after months of bidding. Hermes Real Estate and LaSalle, which acted on behalf of the sellers, said the sale of the multi-let, [...]
TURTLES DITCH DAY JOB FOR HEDGE FUND BREAK May 18, 2011 SOME of the City’s brightest talents will hand in their notices this week to pursue potentially even more lucrative careers as hedge fund traders. Oxbridge graduate Will Jukes, 27, who trained at Ernst & Young before working at RBS and most recently as a freelance financial analyst, will be much missed by his well-known Westminster [...]
Lights, Camera: Beauty! May 16, 2011 RED carpet beauty is different to the catwalks. It’s not about being edgy. Our brief is simple: Actresses just want to look as gorgeous as possible,” says celebrity makeup artist Emma Day, known for working with Sienna Miller, Keira Knightly and Lily Allen, among others. “We pull out all the tricks so that people go: [...]
Kesa looks at Comet sell-off May 15, 2011 KESA Electricals has held meetings with activist shareholder Knight Vinke to discuss selling or restructuring its struggling high street retailer Comet, several sources confirmed yesterday. Kesa, which was spun out of the Kingfisher retail group in 2003, could also end up de-listing from the FTSE 250 to leave it solely listed in France, its main [...]
Outlook for electrical retailers is bleak May 15, 2011 AU revoir Britain, vive la France – that seems to be the prevailing view at Kesa, where management has asked bankers to put Comet, the underperforming British chain, on the block. That will allow Kesa to concentrate on the more profitable French business Darty, or so the theory goes. There is no doubt that Knight [...]
Here’s to some green shoots in M&A May 12, 2011 Now I’m not one to want to follow inadvertently in the footsteps of Shriti Vadera, who famously said she had noticed the green shoots of recovery shortly after the banking crisis had reared its head in 2009. Vadera, who was then business minister to the Brown government, was roundly criticised for calling the recovery a [...]
Kesa cuts as Comet struggles May 11, 2011 Electricals retailer Kesa yesterday posted a further plunge in sales at its loss-making Comet unit in the UK and said it would accelerate change at the chain in an attempt to revive its fortunes. Kesa, the subject of private equity bid speculation amid stake-building by activist investor Knight, said it would meet market expectations for [...]
CAR TALK May 10, 2011 VAUXHALL’S INSIGNIA VXR IS UNLEASHED Vauxhall has introduced a package to de-restrict the Insignia VXR so that it’s capable of 170mph. Called the ‘Unlimited’ option the package removes the ‘regular’ Insignia VXR’s 155mph restrictor and costs just £250. Available for the hatch, saloon and sports tourer versions it means the Insignia VXR Unlimited’s turbocharged, 321bhp, [...]