WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 17, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES 3I TO OFFLOAD EUROPEAN INVESTMENTS3i, former powerhouse of Europe’s venture capital industry, has entered exclusive talks to sell a portfolio of 36 European venture capital investments to a consortium led by Coller Capital and HarbourVest Partners for about £100m. The talks follow 3i’s decision last year to abandon early stage investment in start-up [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 13, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES YANZHOU DIGS DEEP IN BID FOR FELIXChina’s largest takeover bid for an Australian company was formally launched yesterday when Yanzhou Coal Mining made a recommended cash offer for Felix Resources worth just over A$3.5bn (£1.78bn). The offer is pitched at A$16.95 a share, valuing Felix at A$3.33bn, but shareholders will also receive A$1 [...]
House prices and home loans showing signs of stabilisation August 11, 2009 HOUSE PRICES rose 1.6 per cent in June on the previous month, narrowing the annual decline to 10.7 per cent, according to official government data published yesterday. The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said that UK house prices rose by 2.6 per cent in the quarter ending June 2009, compared to a fall [...]
Former broker admits he lied August 6, 2009 A FORMER Credit Suisse broker testified yesterday that he and his former business partner lied to corporate clients and sent them incorrect information in emails to cover up investments in risky debt. In one of the first criminal prosecutions stemming from the credit crunch to go to trial, former broker Julian Tzolov told a jury [...]
UK housing market shows more signs of stabilisation as prices surge in July August 5, 2009 HOUSE prices in Britain rose 1.1 per cent in July in the latest sign of growing stability in the property market, data from Halifax showed yesterday. The mortgage lender reported that in the three months to July, house prices jumped 0.8 per cent, the first rise on a quarterly basis since October 2007. The rise [...]
US resists ratings regulation August 5, 2009 THE Obama administration is resisting calls to help ensure that credit ratings are reliable, saying this would force investors to rely even more on the ratings. Although credit rating agencies have been accused of assigning top ratings to complex securities that later crumbled in value, the government should not be in the business of regulating [...]
Lloyds makes loss but sees a ray of light August 5, 2009 LLOYDS Banking Group sank to a £4bn pre-tax loss in the first half, due to writedowns on the property loan portfolio it inherited from HBOS, but said that it believed impairments had reached their peak and would decline rapidly. The bank saw impairment rise from £2.5bn in the first half of 2008 to £13.4bn, 80 [...]
Third rise for house prices July 30, 2009 HOUSE prices rose for the third month in a row in July in a further sign of stability for the UK property market, putting the average price of a UK home at £158,871. The Nationwide monthly survey showed a rise of 1.3 per cent on a seasonally-adjusted basis while the smoother quarter-on-quarter measure rose 2.6 [...]
A partial defence of banking bonuses July 30, 2009 FINANCIAL voyeurism has arrived with a splash – and it is unlikely to go away again. Yesterday’s report from New York, details of which can be found on our front page, make rivetting reading. The numbers for Goldman Sachs are fascinating and confirm its reputation as a money-making machine: read the raw data and marvel [...]
US new home sales rocket July 27, 2009 SALES of new homes in the US surged to a seven-month high in June, while the inventory of homes for sale fell to its lowest level in more than 11 years, official data showed yesterday, boosting hopes that the US housing market may finally be starting to stabilise. Government figures indicated an 11 per cent [...]