WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 7, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES APAX PAYS £975M IN MARKEN BUY-OUTApax Partners will today announce the £975m buy-out of Marken, the provider of distribution services to the pharmaceutical industry, generating big profits for its management and Intermediate Capital Group, which acquired the company in 2007. The acquisition of Marken is the biggest private equity deal in the UK [...]
Anglo American snaps up Hampton to boost board November 9, 2009 MINING company Anglo American yesterday confirmed the appointment of RBS chairman Sir Philip Hampton to the board. Sir Philip joins as non-executive director in the latest of a series of senior changes at the precious metals group. Seen as a heavyweight figure in the City, Sir Philip was previously chairman of J Sainsbury, a position [...]
Killing the goose that lays Golden eggs December 7, 2009 HERE are a few facts that Chancellor Alistair Darling should bear in mind as he prepares to hit the financial services industry and high earners with even higher taxes on Wednesday. The top 10 per cent of earners are already set to pay 53.6 per cent of income tax in 2008-09; the top five per [...]
Branson ups ante with launch of Virgin Bank October 26, 2009 SERIAL entrepreneur Sir?Richard Branson is back with another audacious venture. This time, he is applying to City watchdog the FSA for permission to turn his Virgin Money business into a fully fledged bank – but the move has divided the City. Virgin has been trying to boost its financial services presence for some time now. [...]
FTSE 100 remains steady despite the political rout and a bit of profit taking June 8, 2009 THE FTSE 100 shed 1 per cent, or 33.34 points, to close at 4,405.22 yesterday, weighed down by weak energy and mining stocks, while banks fell as recent bullish sentiment soured. “Caution is creeping back into financial markets after what was largely a positive week for equities,” said David Evans, market analyst at BetOnMarkets.com. “There [...]
JPM Caz sells Ross’s shares worth 75m June 11, 2009 STRUGGLING entrepreneur David Ross raised around £75m yesterday through the sale of shares in Carphone Warehouse and Big Yellow Group. Sources said that JP Morgan Cazenove sold the vast majority of Ross’s 9.02 per cent shareholding in storage group Big Yellow for around £36m and 2.6 per cent of Carphone Warehouse, which he co-founded with [...]
CITY VIEWS: WOULD YOU EXPECT CO-OP BANK TO PROSPER IN THE DOWNTURN? October 12, 2009 CHRIS CLARKE BRITISH LAND FINDERS“It would be interesting to see where the people opening the new accounts are coming from. Are they people who cannot get accounts elsewhere, or is there a north/south divide? I think the man on the street probably sees that the Co-op is doing well and has not had any bad [...]
Cable urges UKFI to keep bank stakes May 19, 2009 UK Financial Investments (UKFI) should not be too hasty in disposing of the government’s stakes in banks, Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman Vince Cable said yesterday, after it emerged that the organisation was already sounding out potential buyers. It is understood that UKFI has been talking to sovereign wealth funds and other institutional investors about taking [...]
UKFI mulls options on bank stakes May 18, 2009 UK Financial Investments, which manages the government’s 43.5 per cent stake in Lloyds Banking Group and 70 per cent stake in Royal Bank of Scotland, last night confirmed it was sounding out options over the sale of its stakes in the part-nationalised banks. UKFI is believed to have contacted a number of parties including mainstream UK [...]
THE LONDON REPORT June 22, 2009 THE FTSE 100 ended 2.6 per cent, or 111.88 points, lower at 4,234.05 yesterday as falling commodity prices pressured miners and oil majors. Bucking the trend, Anglo American was the biggest blue chip gainer, rising 4.6 per cent, after rival Xstrata said it wanted talks about a proposed merger of equals. Xstrata shed 6.7 per [...]