Shareta to bring up win number five in the Arc for leading owner Aga Khan October 4, 2012 THE defection of three of this year’s leading contenders in Snow Fairy, Nathaniel and 2011 winner Danedream has taken away some of the lustre from the prestigious Prix De L’Arc De Triomphe on Sunday (3.25pm). The trio, ruled out through injury or, in Danedream’s case, after a virus outbreak in her native Germany, should have [...]
Saga is latest consumer brand to seek a legal services licence October 2, 2012 SAGA has become the latest consumer brand to apply to become an alternative business structure (ABS), as it seeks to extend the legal services it can offer its over-50s customers. On Monday Saga launched a range of legal services including will writing and conveyancing – offered at a set price rather than solicitors’ usual hourly [...]
AA owner appoints bankers October 1, 2012 Acromas, the private equity backed owner of AA and Saga, has hired UBS and Lazard to help it draw up plans to sell, float or refinance the businesses. It follows the appointment of Ernst & Young at the end of last month to undertake due diligence to value its assets, as it mulls its options [...]
Entertainment One set to take over Alliance October 1, 2012 ENTERTAINMENT ONE yesterday announced it had won shareholder approval for its C$225m (£142m) takeover of movie distributor Alliance Films, and said it had seen an improvement in business in the first half of the financial year. London-listed Entertainment One, which distributes films and television series in the UK, US, Canada and several other countries, said it [...]
Entertainment One set to take over Alliance October 1, 2012 ENTERTAINMENT ONE yesterday announced it had won shareholder approval for its C$225m (£142m) takeover of movie distributor Alliance Films, and said it had seen an improvement in business in the first half of the financial year. London-listed Entertainment One, which distributes films and television series in the UK, US, Canada and several other countries, said it [...]
Xstrata shareholders have time to reread the fine print September 30, 2012 FOLLOWERS of the Glencore-Xstrata merger proposal will be aware that the £44bn deal itself has faded into the background in recent months, replaced instead by a seemingly endless boardroom melodrama. Perhaps today’s announcement will allow attention to return to the compelling logic behind the tie-up: the world’s biggest commodities trader and the world’s biggest miner [...]
Auto-enrolment will fail unless it fosters a broader savings culture September 26, 2012 WE ARE on the brink of a revolution in workplace pensions. From 1 October, new laws designed to address the dramatic decline in long-term saving will force all employers to provide pensions for their staff. Employers will automatically enrol them, and employees will have to opt out if they don’t want to contribute to pensions. [...]
AA owner gears up for mooted insurance sale September 23, 2012 ACROMAS, the private equity backed owner of AA and Saga, has taken the first step in a possible break up of its portfolio after appointing Ernst & Young to value its business – opening the door for a sale of the firms. The heavily indebted investment house has to liquidate or refinance its assets by [...]
Saga says QE harmed over 50s September 5, 2012 The older generation saw massive cuts in their real income due to the Bank of England’s quantitative easing (QE) programme, research released today claims. The report, commissioned by Saga and prepared by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), says that the boost QE gave to assets was not enough to outweigh the hit [...]
New captain stunned by Strauss exit August 29, 2012 INCOMING Test captain Alastair Cook admits he was shocked by the sudden nature of Andrew Strauss’s retirement from cricket. One-day skipper Cook only heard the news on Tuesday evening, with the rest of his 50-over colleagues, after his side’s defeat to South Africa in Southampton. “It was a sad dressing room when we found out,” [...]