Q&A: THE GOLDMAN SETTLEMENT July 15, 2010 Q.WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR OTHER BANKS? A.For any bank that already has a pending SEC investigation, it could open the door to more settlements. However, there is some speculation that it could also pave the way for further SEC investigations and action by US federal prosecutors. Q.WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR GOLDMAN TRADER FABRICE [...]
The housebuilder who is ready to take the long road back to recovery October 31, 2010 DESPITE the generally depressed state of the housebuilding and residential property market, Taylor Wimpey’s chief executive Peter Redfern says he is pretty pleased with business. But sitting in the boardroom of his London office, his mood appears more reflective than upbeat. “Prices are very stable at the moment,” says Redfern. “Stable is good for us. [...]
Poison pill still a headache for BHP’s bid August 18, 2010 BHP BILLITON’s $40bn (£25.6bn) bid for PotashCorp could yet hit a hurdle because of the Canadian fertiliser giant’s “poison pill” defence, it emerged yesterday. BHP is waiting on the details of the shareholder rights plan implemented by PotashCorp on Tuesday, but the global miner could have to go to court to overturn the measure if [...]
FTSE 100 climbs to a 10-week high as strong UBS results boost bank sector July 27, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index hit a 10-week closing high yesterday, as a buoyant banking sector boosted by strong results from Swiss lender UBS countered weak US consumer confidence data. The FTSE 100 closed up 14.55 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 5,365.67, its highest closing level since 13 May, having retreated from an intra-day peak [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS August 1, 2010 Association of British Insurers Alain Dromer will join the ABI’s investment committee as chairman on 15 September. Dromer, who is currently chief executive of Aviva Investors, takes over the position from Keith Skeoch, who has spent three years in office. Dromer has also spent time as head of global investment at HSBC, head of insurance [...]
RBS sells London’s Cumberland Hotel to US and UK joint venture July 1, 2010 ROYAL Bank of Scotland has sold Cumberland Hotel in central London for £215m to a joint venture of US private equity firm Starwood Capital and property investor London & Regional. “The Cumberland sale is the largest hotel investment deal in Europe for over a year,” said Derek Gammage, head of EMEA at CBRE Hotels, which [...]
Lloyds offloads private equity unit July 5, 2010 Lloyds Banking Group has agreed to sell its private equity unit to buyout firm Coller Capital, bringing sale proceeds in the past year to £750m. Under the deal, the 40 private equity investments held in Lloyds’ Bank of Scotland Integrated Finance unit will be transferred to a newly created joint venture owned 70 per cent [...]
HSBC in £1.7bn trains sale July 11, 2010 HSBC could be close to finalising a deal to sell its British rolling stock leasing business for £1.7bn to a consortium of City investors. Morgan Stanley Infrastructure, 3i and Star Capital are thought to have teamed up to make a bid for the business, which could see the transfer of one-third of the UK’s trains [...]
HSBC in £1.7bn trains sale July 11, 2010 HSBC could be close to finalising a deal to sell its British rolling stock leasing business for £1.7bn to a consortium of City investors. Morgan Stanley Infrastructure, 3i and Star Capital are thought to have teamed up to make a bid for the business, which could see the transfer of one-third of the UK’s trains [...]
RBS completes sale of Sempra to JP Morgan July 2, 2010 ROYAL Bank of Scotland (RBS) has completed the sale of its metals, oil and European energy business RBS Sempra Commodities to US bank JP Morgan in a $1.6bn (£1.1bn) deal. RBS was ordered by the European Commission last year to sell offload assets after being bailed out by the UK government. The bank was also [...]