Lenders hope for boost from Crosby July 28, 2008 The crumbling housing market is holding its breath for the publication of the Crosby review tomorrow into the funding struggles facing British banks, amid speculation that the government is working on a new mortgage debt swap plan to help soften the effects of the credit crunch. Sir James Crosby, the former HBOS chief executive and [...]
London hardest hit as house prices suffer further falls July 28, 2008 Fresh evidence that the housing market is continuing to deteriorate emerged today as an influential survey revealed prices fell for the tenth month in a row – with most of the declines hitting London. House prices fell a further 1.2 per cent in July, compared to a 1 per cent fall from June, according to [...]
Price website founder snubs takeover bid July 24, 2008 Moneysupermarket.com shares jump 45 per cent after offer by mystery buyer Top site Moneysupermarket.com saw its shares rocket 45 per cent yesterday after it dismissed a bid approach. The popular website, which lets users compare finance and travel prices, confirmed in a statement that CEO and cofounder Simon Nixon had received an initial approach regarding [...]
Rock forced to pay £2m for new boss July 24, 2008 Northern Rock has announced the appointment of Barclays director Gary Hoffman as its new chief executive, in a deal worth more than £2m. Hoffman, who will pull in an annual salary of £700,000, has been at Barclays since 1982, where he has held several senior positions, including chief executive and chairman of Barclaycard. He stands [...]
HBOS City advisers rights issue storm July 22, 2008 Investment bankers at Morgan Stanley and Dresdner Kleinwort will have breathed a collective sign of relief yesterday when they managed to find buyers for 29 per cent of the HBOS rights issue rump. The whole experience has been an unnerving one for the bank and its advisers, left holding billions of pounds worth of HBOS [...]
Bank of America adds cheer to bank stocks July 22, 2008 Shares in Bank of America, the largest retail bank in the US, surged after the mortgage lender revealed better-than expected second quarter results, despite a 41 per cent drop in profits and a rise in bad loans. The stock climbed 6 per cent higher after the bank topped earnings forecasts, boosting confidence amongst investors that [...]
HBOS suffers rights issue humiliation July 21, 2008 Morgan Stanley and Dresdner Kleinwort to lose tens of millions of pounds on the deal High street banking group HBOS is today expected to announce that as few as 10 per cent of investors took up its £4bn share offer, making it one of the biggest rights issue failures in corporate history. Shareholders, who were [...]
Alliance & Leicester snapped up as bid fever returns to the City July 15, 2008 A frenzy of merger and acquisition activity, spearheaded by Spanish bank Santander agreeing to buy Alliance & Leicester for £1.3bn, returned to the markets yesterday causing stocks to rally. The oil and gas sector was the centre of much of the bid action, with Imperial Energy, the developer of Russian oil reserves, soaring 18 per [...]
US authorities move to rescue Freddie and Fannie July 14, 2008 Support from US Treasury comes minutes before far east markets open for trading US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson moved to calm nerves about stricken American lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac last night, saying the government would be willing to take an equity stake in the two banks. His eagerly awaited statement came just minutes [...]
Housing recession creeping closer as Barratt cuts jobs July 11, 2008 Leading economists predicted yesterday that house prices will fall by 35 per cent by the end of next year, as lender Halifax reported a 2 per cent slump in values last month. Britain’s biggest mortgage lender said that house prices are already 6.1 per cent lower than last June, fuelling fears Britain is heading for [...]