Top lady shot takes the helm at a new City member’s club October 11, 2009 CLAIRE Zambuni could be dangerous. A leggy blonde with Baywatch-style features and a big smile, I’d not be surprised to hear that men routinely fall at her feet. But its her way with a gun that makes her particularly worth buttering up – she’s the UK’s best lady shot, in the top three best shots [...]
Look beyond bricks and mortar and invest in the new generation of property funds December 3, 2009 IF YOU don’t want to blow your whole bonus in one go, or you don’t have the appetite for owning a buy-to-let, then there is an alternative: investing in a property fund. A number of new funds have recently launched, designed to capitalise on the steep losses seen across the board in residential and commercial [...]
Calzedonia swoops on undie store September 2, 2009 ITALIAN fashion company Calzedonia yesterday bought its flagship London underwear store Tezenis from landlords Great Capital Partnership for £22.9m. The Spirella House store, on the busy shopping corner of Regents Street and Oxford street, was sold at a price 12.5 per cent above its March 2009 book value. It comprises a retail unit over three [...]
Citi dumps more assets August 31, 2009 CITIGROUP yesterday said it sold three credit card portfolios representing $1.3bn (£798m) in managed assets, as part of a plan to unload weak businesses and troubled assets that caused huge losses. The group, which is about 34 per cent owned by the US government, did not disclose the terms of the deals, but said it [...]
Buyout firms circle Citi’s $1bn Tokyo call centre September 1, 2009 SEVERAL private equity firms are circling Citigroup after it announced its intention to sell off a Japanese call centre. Major buyout firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), Permira, Blackstone and Bain Capital are all understood to be interested in buying the centre, which is valued at up to $1bn (£620m). Sources familiar with the situation said [...]
Buyout firms circle Citi’s $1bn Tokyo call centre September 1, 2009 SEVERAL private equity firms are circling Citigroup after it announced its intention to sell off a Japanese call centre. Major buyout firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), Permira, Blackstone and Bain Capital are all understood to be interested in buying the centre, which is valued at up to $1bn (£620m). Sources familiar with the situation said [...]
AB InBev sells nine breweries for $3bn October 15, 2009 BEVERAGES giant Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) sold nine Central European breweries to buyout house CVC in a deal worth as much as $3bn (£1.8bn) yesterday. The sale, under which CVC will get the rights to sell brands like Stella Artois, Becks and Hooegaarden in the region, is the third by the firm in recent months. [...]
The power plant boss who is busy trying to clean up her firm’s act December 16, 2009 T he best way to describe the chief executive of Drax power station Dorothy Thompson is to say that she is poised – a quality that will undoubtedly come in handy when it comes to navigating a path through energy markets beset with low demand and ever more onerous climate change targets. When one meets [...]
Grainger: Property sector is over the worst of the slump August 12, 2009 GRAINGER, the residential property developer, yesterday added its voice to the growing number of firms who think the worst of the slump could be over, after it reported a rise in house sales turnover. Grainger, which has around £3bn of assets under management, said tough trading conditions in the residential sales market had eased in [...]
Sales outlook starts to improve for DSG… September 2, 2009 DSG, the electrical retailer behind Currys, Dixons and PC World, yesterday posted a smaller-than-expected fall in quarterly sales and said that the outlook had improved slightly. The firm also confirmed it had sold its loss-making Polish division for a nominal €1 (60p) to IDMSA Brokerage House, following the shedding of its other loss-making Swedish and [...]