Taxpayers set to profit from bank asset protection scheme July 22, 2010 THE taxpayer should make a healthy profit from an insurance scheme set up to handle billions of pounds worth of toxic bank assets, the head of the body organising the scheme said yesterday. The Asset Protection Agency – which insures some £230bn worth of risky assets held by Royal Bank of Scotland — was set [...]
FTSE weighed down by banks and UK economic data, despite energy surge September 16, 2010 BRITAIN’S top shares closed lower yesterday, weighed by banks which slipped after recent strength, while retailers fell on downbeat UK economic data, countering gains in energy stocks. The FTSE 100 closed down 15.42 points or 0.3 per cent, at 5,540.14, having fallen 0.2 per cent in the previous session. That was its first daily decline [...]
D-DAY FOR LIVERPOOL October 14, 2010 High Court orders reversal of restraining order Texan judge could endorse sale today LIVERPOOL’S future is likely to be decided this afternoon when a Texan judge delivers his verdict in the latest and possibly last of a series of increasingly bitter courtroom battles. Judge Jim Jordan will announce at 1pm British time – 7am in [...]
BHP Billiton takeover of Potash could cost Canada over £1bn in lost taxes October 4, 2010 BHP BILLITON’S $39bn (£24.6bn) hostile bid for Potash cleared a hurdle yesterday, as an independent report found that BHP is a more suitable owner than potential rival Sinochem. The report, commissioned by the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, said that BHP’s takeover could cost the area at least C$2bn (£1.23bn)?in lost taxes, though the government could [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 13, 2010 Secure Trust Bank Arbuthnot’s retail banking business has appointed Paul Lynam, a former senior banker at the Royal Bank of Scotland, as its new chief executive. Lynam, 42, was a managing director at RBS and was responsible for over 1m SME customers and almost 7,000 staff in the retail bank. He also previously held the [...]
Scottish & Southern poised to reopen the market for corporate hybrid bonds September 7, 2010 UTILITY Scottish & Southern (SSE) is poised to reopen the European corporate hybrid bond market this week, giving investors a rare chance to pick up yield and the company an alternative source of capital. Lead managers said the size and price of SSE’s planned issue would be decided following the end of a week-long roadshow [...]
JUDGEMENT DAY October 12, 2010 LIVERPOOL fans, players and directors are on tenterhooks this morning as they await a momentous and potentially historic High Court judgement that has huge ramifications for the club’s future. At 10:30am the judge, Mr Justice Floyd, is due to deliver his verdict on the civil war that has engulfed Anfield and now threatens to see [...]
FTSE ends lower in thin trade October 4, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index closed lower in thin volumes yesterday, ahead of key macroeconomic data later in the week, with BP hit after issuing a €2bn (£1.72bn) bond to help pay for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The FTSE 100 ended down 0.7 per cent at 5,555.97 points, after closing up 44.28 points, or [...]
Hicks’ Liverpool buyout hit by refinancing blow September 20, 2010 LIVERPOOL’S future is mired in uncertainty once again today after co-owner Tom Hicks’s attempt to refinance his debt and take full control of the club collapsed. GSO Capital Partners, the debt restructuring arm of private equity group Blackstone which had discussed loaning Hicks £280m, is thought to have walked away from talks with the American. [...]
RBS sounds out investment banks for Direct Line disposal August 30, 2010 STATE-OWNED Royal Bank of Scotland has begun sounding out advisers for the multi-billion pound disposal of its Direct Line business. RBS, 83 per cent backed by the taxpayer, has until the end of 2012 to offload the car and home insurance operation under European Union rules on accepting government aid. Sources said the Scottish lender [...]