BlackRock mulls takeover bid for Axa Private Equity September 29, 2011 BLACKROCK is among a host of global buyout funds considering a bid for the private equity arm of Axa. The world’s largest money manager by assets could make an offer of around £300m, but has not got as far as opening talks, City A.M. understands. French insurer Axa confirmed on Wednesday that it had begun [...]
Ross bails Cosalt out – until his offer ends December 7, 2011 DAVID Ross, chairman of safety gear supplier Cosalt, rode to the loss-making company’s rescue yesterday with a deal to provide it with £5m of emergency working capital to keep it afloat. Ross, whose grandfather founded Cosalt a century ago, has made the funds available from his Oval investment vehicle but warned that he would only [...]
Setting a match to the debate on petrol inflation November 14, 2011 INFLATION is now rising faster than wages, and Britain faces a cost-of-living crisis. Astronomical fuel prices are the number one issue in my constituency: they are creating a poverty trap, and are a major brake on economic growth. In real terms, adjusted for inflation, motoring fuel has never been this expensive – except for just [...]
Setting a match to the debate on petrol inflation November 14, 2011 INFLATION is now rising faster than wages, and Britain faces a cost-of-living crisis. Astronomical fuel prices are the number one issue in my constituency: they are creating a poverty trap, and are a major brake on economic growth. In real terms, adjusted for inflation, motoring fuel has never been this expensive – except for just [...]
RBC Capital Markets and City’s shifting sands October 31, 2011 OCCASIONALLY the move of a key employee from one investment house to another inadvertently sums up the varying fortunes of the two groups involved in the transfer. And so it is with James Eves, who has quit UBS after 11 years to join RBC Capital Markets in its pan-European financials team. Eves leaves UBS shortly [...]
Ronson targets Millbank flats September 4, 2011 BUSINESS magnate Gerald Ronson is to purchase yet more of the capital’s prime property, it has emerged. Riverwalk House, a series of luxury riverside apartments on Millbank, is set to be bought for around £70m. Ronson Capital Partners are in talks with vendors Derwent London. The deal will see Derwent share a portion of Ronson’s [...]
Trafigura moves closer to IPO for subsidiary September 29, 2011 TRAFIGURA, one of the world’s largest commodities traders, has sold a 20 per cent stake in its oil storage business Puma Energy to Angola’s state-owned oil company, as it prepares to bring the $3.5bn (£2.2bn) subsidiary to market. The Geneva-based company said it may float Puma within the next 18 months, reducing its role to a [...]
City sales set to net £250m for Ireland August 30, 2011 A NUMBER of major City property developments are expected to come up for grabs for £250m when a long-awaited sale by Irish investors begins next month. Among the buildings ready to be sold it 107 Cheapside, the upmarket development near St Paul’s Cathedral. The office and retail building, opened three years ago, was developed by [...]
Blackstone and US producer in Glaxo auction September 19, 2011 US PRIVATE equity house Blackstone has joined forces with a manufacturer to bid for a series of consumer products being sold by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Blackstone and Prestige Brands want to buy nearly 20 brands, such as sleep aid Nytol, nasal spray Beconase and Abtei vitamins, minerals and supplements, which the pharmaceuticals giant has decided are outside [...]
ROGUE TRADERS September 16, 2011 JEROME KERVIEL Former Société Générale trader Jerome Kerviel sentenced to three years in prison by a Paris court for his role in a trading scandal and ordered to reimburse the bank €4.9bn. The 33-year-old was found guilty of breach of trust, computer abuse and forgery. ALEXIS STENFORS Former senior trader at Merrill Lynch in London [...]