Thai tycoon snaps up HSBC’s £5.8bn slice of insurer Ping An December 5, 2012 A CONGLOMERATE controlled by Thailand’s richest man has bought a minority stake in China’s Ping An Insurance for $9.38bn (£5.83bn) from HSBC in a move that ranks as Asia’s second-largest deal this year. CP Group bought the 15.6 per cent stake in a deal that marks a departure from its core food businesses, such as [...]
Growth gap between Europe and Asia widens December 5, 2012 THE ECONOMIC gulf between Europe and many fast-growing emerging markets widened in November, data for the service sector revealed yesterday. Eurozone members suffered further declines in business activity in services, according to business surveys from Markit and HSBC, just as services firms in China, India, Russia and the UAE raced ahead. The Eurozone services purchasing [...]
Every little helps as Tesco boosts FTSE December 5, 2012 Tesco proved that every little helps by assisting the FTSE to a healthy rise in early trading. The supermarket group admitted last night that it is considering giving up on its struggling US venture, exciting investors who have grown exasperated with the company’s inability to transfer its success to the other side of the Atlantic. [...]
HSBC sells Chinese insurer for $9.4bn December 5, 2012 HSBC bank today announced that it has sold its stake in a Chinese insurer for $9.4bn (£5.8bn). The bank’s 15.6 per cent share in Ping An Insurance has been bought by CP group, a firm controlled by Dhanin Chearavanont, Thailand’s richest man. HSBC spent $1.7bn to build the 15.6 percent stake in China’s second-largest insurer [...]
Activist Bramson makes way for fresh blood in F&C shake-up December 4, 2012 ACTIVIST shareholder Edward Bramson yesterday announced he was stepping back from leading his current project F&C Asset Management after promoting a new chief executive to lead the firm. Bramson, who took over F&C through his Sherborne Investments company with a 20 per cent stake, is moving from his role as executive chairman to become non-executive [...]
Crunch week to set the tone for sterling in 2013 December 4, 2012 IT IS a crunch week for the great British pound. The currency will be pushed and pulled by both monetary and fiscal forces. The market has been waiting with bated breath for today’s Autumn Statement, when chancellor George Osborne will outline his fiscal strategy to kick-start the UK’s ailing economy. There is also a chance that [...]
Bank lending up on back of state aid plan December 3, 2012 BANK lending increased in August and September after the funding for lending scheme (FLS) got underway, according to Bank of England figures published yesterday. So far £4.36bn has been drawn down from the facility, with six of the 35 banks that have signed up taking money in the first two months. Overall lending to the [...]
Recovery hopes boosted by easing of manufacturing fall December 3, 2012 MANUFACTURING in the Eurozone contracted for a 16th straight month in November, data revealed yesterday, yet the pace of decline eased to its slowest in eight months. And factories are also suffering outside the single currency, with the manufacturing sector also shrinking in the UK. Yet British factories’ performances contracted at a much slower rate [...]
HSBC promotes strategy boss to wealth management head December 3, 2012 HSBC said its strategy and planning boss John Flint is to take over as head of retail banking and wealth management (RBWM) next year to replace veteran banker Paul Thurston, who is retiring. The bank said Flint will become chief executive of the wealth management unit on 1 January, one of the bank’s four global [...]
CWC rings the changes in sale of Monaco arm December 3, 2012 CABLE & Wireless Communications (CWC) has agreed to sell its operations in Monaco and a number of island nations for a sum of up to $1.025bn (£638m). The sale to Bahraini telecoms firm Batelco frees CWC from control of a range of dispersed assets in Monaco, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and a [...]