JP Morgan Chase clinches deal for RBS Sempra assets February 16, 2010 ROYAL Bank of Scotland (RBS) has struck a deal with JP Morgan to sell off part of its RBS Sempra joint venture after months of negotiations. The US investment bank will pay around $1.7bn (£1.1bn) for the global metals and oil operations along with the European energy business. However, the deal excludes RBS Sempra’s North [...]
Santander’s float could repair losses February 8, 2010 SANTANDER may use capital raised from the mooted £15bn float of its UK operations to repair heavy losses on its loan book, analysts said yesterday. The Iberian lender is considering freeing up around £3.8bn by selling a quarter of Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley through a stockmarket listing. It has been suggested [...]
TRADER CALLS TIME ON SPOOF BAILOUT April 12, 2010 STRANGE happenings in cyber-space yesterday as a spoof charity site that has been causing much hilarity in the City was mysteriously whipped off the Web. The site in question was masterminded by Standard Bank bonds trader Jim Croft, who decided last week to set up a tongue-in-cheek JustGiving page to help raise £100m for crisis-stricken [...]
Gala Coral and creditors close to hammering out deal to ease debt January 18, 2010 GAMBLING group Gala Coral is understood to be days away from a deal to ease its £2.5bn of debts. Gala’s senior lenders — led by Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group and investment group Alcentra — are in advanced talks with the holders of its £540m mezzanine debt about a debt-for-equity swap. The mezzanine [...]
UK politicians join Goldman bandwagon April 18, 2010 UK POLITICIANS presented a rare united front yesterday as they called for the City regulator to begin its own investigation into securities fraud allegations against Goldman Sachs. Fabrice Tourre, the individual named in the case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US, is now based at Goldman’s Fleet Street headquarters after [...]
How AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes shrugged off the global recession September 5, 2010 IF Tony Fernandes, the chief executive of pioneering low-cost carrier AirAsia, ever suffered from shyness as child, he is certainly cured of it now. The UK-educated Malaysian entrepreneur, who founded the short haul airline in 2001 and its longhaul sister AirAsia X six years later, dominates the meeting room of his West End PR agency [...]
Italian directories publisher Seat joins the long list of corporate bond issuers January 18, 2010 ITALIAN yellow-pages publisher Seat Pagine Gialle yesterday revealed that it will be issuing a €650m (£573m) bond to help it refinance its debts. The group, which publishes ThomsonLocal in the UK, issued a prospectus following a refinancing deal reached last week with its senior creditor banks in an agreement managed by the Royal Bank Of [...]
Myners backs RBS on pay January 13, 2010 CITY minister Lord Myners yesterday voiced his opposition to pay restrictions at the Royal Bank of Scotland. He told a parliamentary hearing that the bailed-out bank could not compete if pay was curbed too much. “If we want RBS to compete in a global world…it has to equip itself appropriately to do that,” he said. [...]
WHAT DOES THE FED’S RATES DECISION MEAN FOR THE US POLICY OUTLOOK? January 28, 2010 BRIAN FABBRI | BNP PARIBAS While the FOMC left the federal funds rate at 0–0.25 per cent, this was the first time since emergency conditions were set in place that a formal dissent has been made. Moreover, the text exposed important nods in the direction of a more confident view of the economic recovery than [...]
Retail bonds launch online February 1, 2010 A NEW online trading platform will open up the corporate bond and gilt market to the retail sector. The launch of a new order book by the London Stock Exchange (LSE) yesterday will allow far greater access to private investors. Of an estimated 10,000 bond packages available, only 200 were readily available to retail investors. [...]