WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
PAULSON ENJOYS $500M LEHMAN BOOST AS VALUE OF BOND RECOVERS
Paulson & Co, the hedge fund that made billions from betting on a collapse in mortgage-backed securities during the financial crisis, has made more than $550m from a recovery in the value of bonds it bought in failed investment bank Lehman Brothers.
BRUNSWICK TO CHANGE OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE
Brunswick, the public relations company co-founded by Alan Parker more than two decades ago, is preparing to change its ownership structure and hand over equity to its partners. The ownership changes reflect growing pressure from partners for a broader distribution of equity in Brunswick’s US operations, which are growing fast. The move will allow shares to be traded between partners, putting a value on the firm for the first time.
PRINCESS YACHTS SET TO INVEST IN NEW FACTORY
Britain may be braced for an age of austerity but Princess Yachts, the luxury boat maker, is planning to invest £35m in a superyacht construction facility in Plymouth. Yacht sales plummeted during the recession as the super-rich tightened their belts and shunned ostentatious signs of wealth.
CDB $10BN FUND TO TARGET ASIAN SMES
China Development Bank, one of the country’s largest state-owned banks, is emerging as an increasingly active overseas investor, using its $10bn CDB capital fund to take stakes in private equity and hedge funds. The CDB fund is seeking to develop its expertise in and understanding of intellectual property associated with lending to small and medium-sized companies, a market Chinese banks have never felt comfortable with due to the risk of default.
THE TIMES
HOW MANY CLUBCARD POINTS DO YOU GET FOR A CONSERVATORY?
The door-to-door double glazing salesman may finally have met his match: Tesco is inviting customers to add PVC windows and conservatories to their shopping baskets. In the latest chapter of Tesco’s voyage beyond groceries, Britain’s biggest supermarket group is to offer customers conservatories, windows and doors through a contract with Job Worth Doing, a home maintenance company.
THIS INVESCO FUND IS A FAKE, INVESTORS WARNED
Fraudsters are trying to sell bogus funds under the Invesco Perpetual brand name, the City regulator said yesterday. The FSA said that an organisation with the website, www.invescoperpetualfunds.com, has been marketing the “Invesco Asian Precious Metals Fund” – a fake.
The Daily Telegraph
SWITCHING BANKS IS TO BE MADE EASIER
Bank business and retail customers will be given a guarantee that they can switch banks hassle free within seven working days, the Payments Council has said. The industry body has said improvements can be made to the way that banks handle customers transferring to rivals and that reforms will take place over the next two years.
GOVERNMENT’S UK PATENT PROJECT IN AMERICAN ENGLISH
Concerns have been raised about the “poor implementation” of a Government patent website after it emerged that large sections have been lifted from an equivalent project in the US – without even changing the spellings in some cases. The UK “Peer to Patent” site calls the initiative a “program”, for example.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
TURKEY SEIZES ASSETS FROM LIBYAN BANK
Turkey seized control of Libyan bank assets yesterday, one day after recognising Libya’s opposition in Benghazi as the country’s legitimate government, in moves that effectively severed remaining ties to Col. Moammar Gadhafi. In a statement, Turkey’s Savings Deposit Insurance Fund said it had taken temporary control of Libya’s 62.37 per cent stake in A&T Bank, formerly known as the Arab-Turkish Bank.
IEA DEFENDS OIL RELEASE
The International Energy Agency says its release of strategic crude reserves is working, despite oil prices rebounding to the level they were before the stockpiles were tapped. The IEA said it decided to release 60m barrels of oil of emergency stocks to compensate for the loss of Libyan crude.