GENERAL MOTORS SELLS VAUXHALL September 10, 2009 CAR giant General Motors (GM) yesterday revealed it is selling a 55 per cent stake in Vauxhall and Opel to Canadian car parts maker Magna International. The announcement ends a long bidding war for its European arm between Magna, which is backed by Russian bank Sberbank, and Belgian group RHJ International and Beijing Automotive. The [...]
Koenigsegg inks Saab deal with BAIC September 9, 2009 LUXURY sportscar maker Koenigsegg yesterday said that China’s Beijing Automotive Industry Holding (BAIC) would take a stake in the group to help finance its purchase of Saab Automobile from General Motors. Koenigsegg said in a statement that the memorandum of understanding signed with BAIC would see the Chinese firm take a minority stake in Koenigssegg [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 2, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES OCH-ZIFF SET TO EARN PERFORMANCE FEES AGAINOch-Ziff, one of the largest hedge fund managers in the world, is set to start earning performance fees again across its $21.7bn (£13.3bn) of funds. The flagship Och-Ziff master fund is up 17.6 per cent this year, meaning it has almost completely recovered from losses incurred in [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS August 11, 2009 Piper JaffrayThe boutique investment bank has hired Richard Kirkham, formerly a partner at Oriel Securities, as a principal of European equity sales. Kirkham was previously a director of UK small and mid-cap sales at Teather and Greenwood. He will be responsible for developing business relationships with assigned institutional accounts. BarclaycardBarclaycard has appointed David Daniel as [...]
GM drives up sales via eBay August 10, 2009 RESCUED carmaker General Motors (GM) and online auction site eBay yesterday launched a test programme in California which will let consumers negotiate directly with dealers and buy vehicles online. The car shopping website – gm.ebay.com – marks a departure from the way new vehicles have been traditionally sold in the US and comes a month [...]
Land Rover wins debt lifeline August 9, 2009 Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has secured a £75m finance lifeline by mortgaging its stock of Land Rover parts.Burdale Financial, Bank of Ireland’s finance division, has granted a three-year debt facility of up to £75m to the carmaker, which is owned by Tata Motors, of India.The loan is secured on the inventory of Land Rover’s parts [...]
Car sales rise on scrappage August 6, 2009 NEW car sales went up for the first time in 15 months in July, as business secretary Lord Mandelson’s “cash for bangers” scheme trickled down to dealers, helping drive up sales by 2.4 per cent year-on-year. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said 157,149 new cars were registered in the UK last month, [...]
Jaguar hits 673.4m in losses as it inches towards loan deal July 26, 2009 CARMAKER Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) saw its UK operations tumble to a dramatic loss of £673.4m last year, down from a net profit of £641.5m in 2007. Accounts filed at Companies House show that total recognised losses – which includes money lost on pension schemes – hit almost £1.2bn for 2008. The news of how [...]
Berlin and US at loggerheads over GM July 16, 2009 GENERAL MOTORS (GM) and Berlin were at loggerheads yesterday, as the debate over who should buy the US company’s European arm, made up of Opel in Germany and Vauxhall in the UK. Germany said yesterday it may renege on its offer of state aid if the US company, which came out of bankruptcy last week, [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 14, 2009 Piper JaffrayThe international middle market investment bank announced the appointment of Martin Brennan as associate for its technology banking team, which is led by Eric Sanschagrin. Brennan was previously senior associate at FirstCapital, a boutique telecoms, media and technology investment bank. He advised on nine technology Venture Capital and Private Equity financings and six M&A [...]