SocGen ready to repay aid October 6, 2009 SOCIETE Générale launched a €4.8bn rights issue yesterday as it seeks to repay €3.4bn (£3.1bn) worth of state aid and build a war chest for possible acquisitions. The bank joined French rival BNP Paribas in seeking to exit government support, saying that the cash call would allow it to pursue “external growth opportunities”. However, SocGen [...]
RSAmulls buyout of stricken Fortis, AIGunits with cash call September 6, 2009 RSA Insurance is thought to be considering snapping up stricken units of Dutch bank Fortis and US insurer AIG, with the proceeds of a $1bn (£610m) cash call. Andy Haste, chief executive of the insurance giant, is understood to have told financial advisers to investigate the potential acquisitions as part of his controversial expansion plans. [...]
BLUE-BLOODED CAZENOVE AND THE MYSTERY OF A TRUE ANCIENT RELIC November 19, 2009 BLUE-blooded City stockbroker Cazenove might have officially agreed to surrender the rest of itself to US investment bank JP Morgan, but something tells The Capitalist the die-hards won’t be ready to forget the firm’s noble heritage in a hurry. Lunch yesterday was with a City chum who remembers Caz’s days at its old headquarters in [...]
PRINCELY NEWCOMER JOINS CITY CLUB SCENE October 21, 2009 WORK hard and play hard has long been the City’s mantra, so dedicated party-goers will be happy to hear that a new club is coming to town. It’s not just any old dive, either – we’re talking about a true A-list hotspot, from the people behind Prince Harry’s favourite nightspot Mahiki. Clubowners Nick House and [...]
PRINCELY NEWCOMER JOINS CITY CLUB SCENE October 21, 2009 WORK hard and play hard has long been the City’s mantra, so dedicated party-goers will be happy to hear that a new club is coming to town. It’s not just any old dive, either – we’re talking about a true A-list hotspot, from the people behind Prince Harry’s favourite nightspot Mahiki. Clubowners Nick House and [...]
DELL SNAPS UP PEROT FOR $4BN September 21, 2009 PCGIANT Dell announced yesterday that it plans to buy computer services firm Perot Systems for about $3.9bn (£2.4bn), in a bid to compete with Hewlett-Packard and IBM. Dell intends to pay a steep 67.5 per cent premium to expand its technology services business into higher margin IT services, thereby securing more stable and recurring revenues [...]
Balfour raises 380m to buy rival US firm September 17, 2009 CONSTRUCTION firm Balfour Beatty yesterday said it has agreed to buy US project management firm Parsons Brinckerhoff for $626m (£380m), in a deal partly funded by a surprise rights issue. The group said it was launching a fully underwritten £353m cash call to fund the acquisition, which it believes will give it a leading position [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 1, 2009 Martin CurrieThe investment management firm has appointed Alastair Barrie as global head of hedge fund sales and Clayton Cheek, pictured, as US head of hedge fund sales. Barrie joins from RBS, where he was a director of institutional business. He has also worked as director of global hedge fund sales at Henderson. Clayton, who will [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 6, 2009 ThreadneedleThe asset management firm has appointed Kris Haber as global head of hedge funds and head of the North American business. Haber, who will report directly to the firm’s chief executive Crispin Henderson, joins after a 13-year spell working for Lazard Asset Management, where he was most recently a managing director for global alternative investments. [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 8, 2009 Religare Capital MarketsThe broking and investment banking group has appointed Martin Newson as its new chief executive of global investment banking. Newson will be tasked with bringing together the firm’s Indian capital markets franchise with its international investment banking operation. He was previously head of global equities at Dresdner Kleinwort, where he also led the [...]