FSA hires grandees to help vet banking appointments November 26, 2009 THE FSA has appointed Nomura chairman Colin Marshall as chairman of its five-strong panel on corporate governance.Marshall joined Nomura as chairman in 2004 and is a senior City figure. The FSA has also appointed Sir David Scholey as one of its new team. He is also an adviser to UBS and a former member of [...]
Morgan Stanley hit by Tarp repayments January 20, 2010 MORGAN Stanley yesterday posted net losses for the year of $907m (£557m). Income from ongoing operations at the bank reached $1.15bn – up from a $246m loss in 2008 – but Tarp repayments and preferred share dividends to Mitsubishi pushed them back into the red. Total losses applicable to Morgan Stanley shareholders were $907m, with [...]
UK hints at go-ahead for £6bn French power bid January 17, 2010 THE UK government has told City A.M. it would give the green light to a mooted £6bn takeover of British utility International Power by French energy giant GDF Suez. Energy secretary Ed Miliband’s department indicated last night it would wave through a merger, which would see the French operator gain a strong foothold in the [...]
Business needs to win back public trust February 24, 2010 LET’S be blunt: there’s a serious problem with corporate governance. Corporate trust is being eroded and unless something is done, this trend will continue. Edelman PR publish an annual Trust Barometer, which tracks public trust in major institutions across all sectors. The latest barometer shows – unsurprisingly – that trust in politics was “volatile”, while [...]
BID TIMETABLE November 9, 2009 7 SeptemberKraft goes public with a proposed offer for Cadbury of 745p per Cadbury share, or £10.2bn. Cadbury rejects it as undervaluing the group and its prospects. 13 SeptemberCadbury’s chairman Roger Carr (pictured) says offer is “unappealing” and “unattractive” in an open letter toKraft’s chairman Irene Rosenfeld. 21 SeptemberCadbury asks the UK Takeover Panel to [...]
FOOTBALL FUND LAUNCHES OUT TO CHAMPION THE BEAUTIFUL GAME February 7, 2010 GIVEN the City’s penchant for all things football-related, it’s something of a miracle that the new London Nominees Football Fund has managed to keep its launch virtually entirely under wraps – particularly as it’s got some of the beautiful game’s best known names on board. The fund officially launched at the beginning of the month, [...]
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 [...]
TAKING THE BISCUIT November 9, 2009 CADBURY last night dismissed a hostile £9.8bn takeover offer from the world’s second largest food company Kraft, accusing it of “irritating” its shareholders by making a low-ball tactical bid. Kraft’s hostile offer, which landed just hours before a deadline set by the City’s Takeover Panel, was made on the same terms as first mooted back [...]
Ferrero family divisions threaten to melt the deal November 18, 2009 DIVISIONS in the Ferrero family could mean that the Italian chocolatier does not end up launching a joint bid for Cadbury with its USrival Hershey. The head of the family-owned company Michele Ferrero – who took control of the firm from his father and uncle in the 1950s – is said to dislike leveraged deals. [...]
OFFICE CHIC GETS A SPORTING MAKEOVER February 9, 2010 HERE in the City, we are used to enjoying state-of-the-art office luxury, so it always comes as a surprise when a landlord manages to offer something quite out of the ordinary when it comes to luring in the tenants. David Saul, the managing director of serviced office firm Business Environment, is no stranger to bizarre [...]