Kraft asks its bankers for exclusivity November 24, 2009 KRAFT has sealed “exclusivity” deals from the banks it is using to finance its £10.3bn ($17bn) bid for Cadbury – leaving other contenders with fewer lenders to bankroll their proposals. The US food giant has tied banks including Citigroup and Deutsche Bank into agreements where they cannot operate for its rivals. Family-owned Ferrero of Italy and US [...]
RBS builds on hiring in Asia October 25, 2009 Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) the part-nationalised bank, is hiring in Asia to build up its status in the region, in a controversial move which could lead to questions on its strategy on hiring. The Edinburgh-based group – part-owned by the taxpayer – has hired at least four bankers who will work in its Asian [...]
Santander able to bid for RBS assets November 1, 2009 Spanish bank Santander has been cleared to bid for Royal Bank of Scotland’s business-focused branches when the bank’s assets are divested under plans being drawn up. Competition rules agreed between London and Brussels will ensure that no purchase of the assets will push the buyer’s market share in the specific market past 15 per cent. [...]
Santander able to bid for RBS assets November 1, 2009 Spanish bank Santander has been cleared to bid for Royal Bank of Scotland’s business-focused branches when the bank’s assets are divested under plans being drawn up. Competition rules agreed between London and Brussels will ensure that no purchase of the assets will push the buyer’s market share in the specific market past 15 per cent. [...]
New politics even worse than the old May 9, 2010 IF that’s the new politics, I already miss the old kind, warts and all. What we witnessed yesterday was embarrassing: groups of exhausted men meeting in secret locations in Whitehall; behind-the-scenes discussions about the future of the country, with everybody tearing up their manifesto promises; and all the while Gordon Brown, who has been humiliatingly [...]
Governments to retain bank stakes for up to seven years November 11, 2009 GOVERNMENTS around the world will hold on to their stakes in bailed-out banks for an average of five to seven years in order to achieve a profitable exit, a new report has shown. The report, compiled by accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, said the complexity of individual banks’ situations, difficult market conditions and an unattractive disposal environment [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 14, 2009 Edison Investment Research Céline Saikali has joined the research firm as an account director, tasked with re-launching its investor access offering and focusing on European opportunities. Saikali previously worked at financial PR agency Redleaf Communications as an account director and head of the transaction team. Prior to that, she was at Dresdner Kleinwort, covering emerging [...]
Branson set to swoop on British bank assets November 2, 2009 VIRGIN is preparing to swoop on a string of UK banking assets to be put up for sale as part of a European Commission inquiry into competition in the sector, Sir Richard Branson confirmed yesterday. “We do plan to create a Virgin bank and we will be interested in looking at the three banks that [...]
Branson set to swoop on British bank assets November 2, 2009 VIRGIN is preparing to swoop on a string of UK banking assets to be put up for sale as part of a European Commission inquiry into competition in the sector, Sir Richard Branson confirmed yesterday. “We do plan to create a Virgin bank and we will be interested in looking at the three banks that [...]
Details of RBS pain revealed by Treasury December 7, 2009 The full extent of the Royal Bank of Scotland’s stricken assets were made public yesterday, when the government published details of the insurance scheme set up to stabilise the bank. The Asset Protection Scheme (APS), which will insure £282bn of the bank’s assets, covers £15.4bn of residential mortgages, £80bn of loans, £39bn of derivatives, and [...]