WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
CIC IN €800M OFFER TO APAX
China Investment Corp, China’s sovereign wealth fund, is offering to invest as much as €800m (£723m) into Apax Partners’ €11.2bn private equity fund in a groundbreaking deal.
The move, which would see CIC acquire a small stake in the management company of one of Europe’s biggest equity funds, shows China is still eager to invest abroad in spite of being burned in the past.
RBS MOST EXPOSED UK BANK TO DUBAI WORLD
UK banks have total exposure to Dubai World of about $5bn, the Financial Times has learnt, confirming them as the biggest foreign creditor group at the crisis-hit emirate holding company. Bankers and their advisers said that Royal Bank of Scotland was the most exposed of the UK lenders, ahead of HSBC, Standard Chartered and Lloyds. Of the total $40bn of total Dubai World debt, they said RBS had between $1bn and $2bn of exposure, compared with about $1bn a piece for the other UK banks.
INDUSTRY FADES UNDER LABOUR
The importance of manufacturing to the economy declined more rapidly under labour administrations since 1997 than it did during the Margaret Thatcher era, according to a Financial Times study. The big winners in the same period were bankers, estate agents and public sector workers, whose share of output increased under the Labour governments of Tony Blair, the former prime minister, and Gordon Brown, his successor.
PIEDMONT DENIES CLAIMS IT TRIED TO UNDERMINE M&B BOARD
Mitchells and Butlers’ largest shareholder has broken its silence saying it had “at no stage” undermined the M&B board.
THE TIMES
AXE MAY FALL ON 5,000 CITY WORKERS
Another 5,000 lawyers could find themselves out of work next year as City law firms undergo a new round of swingeing job cuts, bankers close to the profession have forecast.
Royal Bank of Scotland, which handles the corporate bank accounts of 80 of Britain’s top 100 law firms, believes that the slump in demand for legal services will continue through next year, leading to further drastic cutbacks.
BARCLAYS BANKERS TO GET PAYRISE
Barclays is set to award its 22,000 investment bankers pay rises of up to 150pc in an effort to beat Government moves to clamp down on multi-million-pound bonuses. The pay rises at Barclays Capital (BarCap) are expected to be backdated to June this year as the bank looks to compensate staff following the bonus crackdown.
BLANCHFLOWER KEPT IN DARK
BoE Governor Mervyn King kept me in dark on economy, says David Blanchflower David Blanchflower, the former Bank of England policymaker, has accused Mervyn King of keeping “vital” information from him at the height of the financial crisis. Professor Blanchflower said he did not know about the £61.6bn in emergency loans granted to Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS last autumn until the Bank’s Governor revealed them last week.
EU DIGS HEELS IN OVER IMPORT?
DUTY ON SHOES
Import duties on Chinese and Vietnamese shoes are set to remain in place as it emerged that European Union (EU) ministers are set to back a plan to prolong the tariffs, which have added on average £1.60 to the cost of an imported pair of shoes.
The Daily Telgraphic
BARCLAYS BANKERS TO GET PAYRISE
Barclays is set to award its 22,000 investment bankers pay rises of up to 150pc in an effort to beat Government moves to clamp down on multi-million-pound bonuses. The pay rises at Barclays Capital (BarCap) are expected to be backdated to June this year as the bank looks to compensate staff following the bonus crackdown.
BLANCHFLOWER KEPT IN DARK
BoE Governor Mervyn King kept me in dark on economy, says David Blanchflower David Blanchflower, the former Bank of England policymaker, has accused Mervyn King of keeping “vital” information from him at the height of the financial crisis. Professor Blanchflower said he did not know about the £61.6bn in emergency loans granted to Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS last autumn until the Bank’s Governor revealed them last week.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
FORMER FORD EXECUTIVES REVISE VOLVO BID
A consortium led by two former Ford Motor Co executives submitted a revised bid this week for Ford’s Volvo unit in hopes of beating out a rival offer by China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., people familiar with the situation said. The so-called Crown consortium is led by former Ford director Michael Dingman and former Ford and Chrysler LLC executive Shamel Rushwin.
SEC UPS INSIDER TRADING PROBES
The Securities and Exchange Commission has sent at least three dozen subpoenas to hedge funds and brokerages within the past month in an expanding sweep of potential insider-trading violations, according to people familiar with the matter. Some of the inquiries are focused on health-care mergers.