Media stocks are starting to look very cheap February 11, 2010 A COMMON joke in media circles is that anyone with a pound burning a hole in their pocket can become a newspaper proprietor. Russian tycoon Alexander Lebedev picked up the Evening Standard for £1, while it is said that some buyers offered just $1 for BusinessWeek (Bloomberg eventually paid $5m). Of course, these publications were [...]
Fresh blow to BP over TNK November 18, 2009 TNK-BP is likely to stay under the effective control of Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman until 2011. The chief executive’s post at the joint venture between oil giant BP and four Russian tycoons will soon pass to Maxim Barsky, the candidate agreed by both sides several months ago. But Fridman will stay at the helm of [...]
SPORT | IN BRIEF January 26, 2010 Manchester to host Haye return BOXING: Britain’s David Haye will make the first defence of his WBA world heavyweight championship against John Ruiz in Manchester on 3 April. American Ruiz is the mandatory challenge for Haye, who clinched the title with a crushing defeat of Russian giant Nikolay Valuev in November. “It’s been 10 years [...]
Comeback queen Henin in last four January 26, 2010 JUSTINE HENIN’S fairytale comeback continued as she moved one step closer to a dream Australian Open title with a quarter-final victory over Nadia Petrova. The former world No1, playing in her first Grand Slam since coming out of retirement, showed her battling qualities to come through a tough match 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 and book a [...]
HSBC launches Russian project June 9, 2009 HSBC is moving into retail banking in Russia, in a bid to take advantage of the country’s burgeoning middle class, which the bank said was “relatively undamaged” by the recession. Europe’s largest bank opened its first retail branch in Moscow yesterday and is planning three more in the Russian capital and another in St. Petersburg. [...]
Federer marches on but Djokovic crashes January 27, 2010 WORLD No1 Roger Federer overcame a shaky start to see off nemesis Nikolay Davydenko and reach a 23rd consecutive Grand Slam semi-final. The Swiss star recovered from a set and 3-1 down with a storming run of 13 consecutive games before coming through 2-6, 6-3, 6-0, 7-5 against the Russian, who had beaten him in [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS February 1, 2010 GMT Communications Partners The private equity group has promoted Natalie Tydeman, pictured, to partner and Vikram Krishna to principal. Tydeman joined the group in 2007 as a senior adviser from Fremantle media, where she was a senior vice president. Krishna has been at GMT since 2005. He was formerly a manager at PwC, focusing on [...]
Deripaska’s plan for Rusal flotation hits a setback December 2, 2009 RUSSIAN tycoon Oleg Deripaska’s plan to float his aluminium business UC?Rusal hit another hurdle yesterday, when the Hong Kong Stock Exchange delayed a ruling that needs to go in the firm’s favour before it can list. Rusal, the world’s largest aluminium company, is poised to secure a $17bn debt restructuring package that it hopes will [...]
MORE DELAYS FOR DERIPASKA December 7, 2009 RUSAL, the world’s leading aluminium producer that is controlled by Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, will delay its long-awaited $3bn (£1.8bn) IPO until next year, after the Hong Kong Stock Exchange asked it to meet certain undisclosed conditions. The delay is another blow to Deripaska’s long-held aim of floating the business.
BROKER WILLS & CO OPENS FIRE ON FSA’S REGULATORY CRACKDOWN January 18, 2010 WHEREAS most City firms are content to whinge ineffectually about the Financial Services Authority’s new heavy-handed approach to regulation, it seems that others are starting to put their money where their mouth is. Rumours have been busy swirling in the Square Mile over the regulatory status of private client stockbroker Wills & Co, which can [...]