The City is back but under new management December 21, 2010 BRITAIN’S financial landscape has been transformed since we last shone a light on the City’s most powerful figures two years ago. The City A.M./CityJet Power Hundred 2011 list ranks the most influential figures in UK finance as we head into the new year. It should be no surprise that it is very different from 2009. [...]
The City is back but under new management December 21, 2010 BRITAIN’S financial landscape has been transformed since we last shone a light on the City’s most powerful figures two years ago. The City A.M./CityJet Power Hundred 2011 list ranks the most influential figures in UK finance as we head into the new year. It should be no surprise that it is very different from 2009. [...]
Shareholders in Cadbury to chew on offer January 19, 2010 CADBURY shares closed 3.6 per cent up at 836.5p yesterday after US food group Kraft announced its £11.7bn takeover bid had been recommended by the board. Under the offer, Cadbury investors will receive 500p and 0.1874 new Kraft Foods shares for every share, plus a special dividend of 10p. Shareholders have until 2 February to [...]
Forget Cadbury, entrepreneurs will save UK January 25, 2010 OCCASIONALLY on a Friday night as I review the remains of the week, I wonder why I put myself through it. Last week, one of my portfolio companies nearly hit a wall, and I had to coach the existing investors through their panic to send through an emergency bridge round. Another one of our companies [...]
Institute of Directors hits out at public interest test for takeovers July 26, 2010 THE Institute of Directors (IoD) has slammed the idea of a public interest test for takeovers which is being considered by the Takeover Panel. The IoD instead argued in favour of a requirement that all bids for major UK-listed companies should be conditional on achieving the support of the shareholders of the acquiring company, regardless [...]
Institute of Directors hits out at public interest test for takeovers July 26, 2010 THE Institute of Directors (IoD) has slammed the idea of a public interest test for takeovers which is being considered by the Takeover Panel. The IoD instead argued in favour of a requirement that all bids for major UK-listed companies should be conditional on achieving the support of the shareholders of the acquiring company, regardless [...]
A sad day as Cadbury bites the dust January 18, 2010 IT is a great shame that Cadbury’s management has succumbed so easily to Kraft’s advances. Ever since I can remember, the British confectioner had been stalked by predators; yet for years it defied the doubters and refused to go the way of that other Quaker giant, Rowntree, snapped up by Nestle in 1988. Under the [...]
August is an unlikely month for an M&A boom August 30, 2010 WHEN is a bank holiday not a bank holiday? When you are an M&A banker and your business is picking up again after years in the wilderness. They started this year with a big tasty takeover in the form of Kraft’s Cadbury bid, but that was an exception and since then the market for takeovers [...]
ANALYST OF THE YEAR | The Shortlist day 4 September 2, 2010 ANALYSTS are the heart and soul of the City, and the five on our list are legends in their own sectors. Whether it is looking at the future of the energy industry, pontificating on the biggest M&As, or just looking at the movements of the markets in general, when the members of our shortlist talk, [...]
Hershey bows out of race to win Cadbury January 21, 2010 HERSHEY yesterday conceded defeat in the battle to win Cadbury, admitting the recommended bid of 840p per share, plus a 10p dividend, is too high for it to top. The decision follows a unanimous vote by Hershey’s board of directors late on Wednesday against a competing offer. The decision by Hershey was widely expected. “It [...]