F&C snapped up by Canadians in £700m deal January 28, 2014 ONE of the City’s oldest fund managers was acquired by Canadian financial giant Bank of Montreal yesterday, despite a top F&C shareholder delaying its backing for the deal. F&C Fund Management, which traces its roots back to 1868, said it had agreed to the 120p a share offer from Bank of Montreal’s Canadian backer BMO [...]
Bottom Line: Canadian deal is a good end to this era January 28, 2014 AS SOON as activist investor Edward Bramson took the helm of F&C in 2011, the future of the 145-year-old firm – founded in 1868 by solicitor Philip Rose and Lord Westbury – was up in the air. Yesterday’s move by BMO Financial Group, part of Canada’s mammoth Bank of Montreal, makes sense for both parties. [...]
Water firms asked to take lower returns January 27, 2014 OFWAT yesterday put pressure on water companies to accept a lower rate of return on investment during the 2015 to 2020 price cycle. The regulator suggested a 3.85 per cent weighted average cost of capital – the combined returns on debt and equity – compared to an average 4.2 per cent submitted by the companies [...]
Guidance is in tatters, the City warns Carney January 22, 2014 THE BANK of England’s forward guidance, brought in last summer, has failed already according to City analysts, many of whom expect governor Mark Carney to move the goalposts in a bid to keep the policy alive. “Forward guidance is effectively dead,” said James Ashley of RBC Capital Markets yesterday, adding that the Bank must decide [...]
Euro recovery lifted by strong factory growth January 14, 2014 SURGING industrial output in November gave the troubled Eurozone economies a shot in the arm yesterday. The currency area has been struggling with weak output across all sectors since the financial crisis, but factory output jumped 1.8 per cent in November compared with October. The sudden growth spurt more than reversed the 0.8 per cent [...]
City Moves for 13 January 2014 | Who’s switching jobs January 12, 2014 Smith & Williamson The accountancy and wealth management group has announced the appointment of Tina Riches as national tax partner. She was most recently at the Chartered Institute of Taxation, where she was a technical director. Royal Bank of Canada The bank has recruited Tim Houghton as head of business development in its wealth management [...]
Analyst Views: What does Nick Luff’s move mean for Centrica and Reed Elsevier? January 7, 2014 JOHN MUSK | RBC CAPITAL MARKETSNick Luff is widely regarded as one of the best finance chiefs in the European utility sector. He has been responsible for the transformation of Centrica from an asset light and inefficient energy supplier to a more balanced entity. We see Nick Luff’s departure as a slight negative for Centrica. [...]
A Merry Christmas and thanks for your support during 2013 December 19, 2013 AFTER months of speculation about how the markets would react to the gradual phasing out of monetary stimulus in the US, we got part of our answer over the last 36 hours. And, it has to be said, it’s so far so good. Some assumed that even a hint of a tightening of monetary policy [...]
UK momentum to continue into fourth quarter December 10, 2013 THE BRITISH economy is still growing at the robust pace set during the third quarter of the year, as official statistics record another boost to industrial production. A forecast released by the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (Niesr) suggests that the British economy grew by 0.8 per cent in the three months to [...]
City Moves for 10 December 2013 | Who’s switching jobs December 9, 2013 AshurstThe law firm has hired Francis Kucera as a partner in its capital markets practice. He joins from Linklaters, where he was co-head of its Central and Eastern Europe office and the Commonwealth of Independent States region, and co-managing partner of Linklaters' Warsaw office. RBC Capital MarketsThe corporate and investment banking arm of the Royal Bank [...]