BLANK’S CHELSEA APPEARANCE SETS CITY TONGUES WAGGING ON HIS HEIR May 18, 2009 ANY idea that the downturn would affect corporate hospitality at the Chelsea Flower Show, traditionally one of the biggest, most important corporate schmooze-fests of the year, was smashed to smithereens at last night’s gala preview opening. Chelsea veterans including Marks & Spencer boss Sir Stuart Rose, WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell, ICAP billionaire Michael [...]
Why next year will be critical for London’s army of M&A dealmakers October 18, 2009 WHEN Tim Jones, the London managing partner of global law giant Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, walks into a room, one is immediately struck by the fact that he still looks every inch the Wales B rugby prop forward he used be. However, as he settles down in one of his firm’s sixth-floor, oak-panelled meeting room, he [...]
CITY CELEBRATES TOP 50 LADIES IN BUSINESS October 1, 2009 TO Borough Market last night for the launch of the FT Top Fifty Women in World Business, held in the sumptuous surroundings of Roast restaurant. Not many of the illustrious ladies made it to sample the corking canapés, mind, since most – including PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi, the top-ranked world businesswoman, and Kraft boss Irene Rosenfeld, [...]
CITY CELEBRATES TOP 50 LADIES IN BUSINESS October 1, 2009 TO Borough Market last night for the launch of the FT Top Fifty Women in World Business, held in the sumptuous surroundings of Roast restaurant. Not many of the illustrious ladies made it to sample the corking canapés, mind, since most – including PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi, the top-ranked world businesswoman, and Kraft boss Irene Rosenfeld, [...]
Aviva plans Dutch listing of Delta Lloyd August 6, 2009 INSURER Aviva saw its shares rocket yesterday after it said profits recovered strongly in the first half as it unveiled plans to offer 25 to 30 per cent of its Dutch unit Delta Lloyd to markets in a move that could raise €1bn (£855m). Shares of the firm surged by 9.7 per cent after the [...]
Retail banking is struggling to get off the canvas August 19, 2009 AS Britain’s retail banking sector fractures and polarises, it is beginning to resemble a boxing match: two heavyweight contenders are preparing to slug it out in the main event with the prize nothing less than commercial success. In the red corner are the grizzled veterans – the traditional banking groups HSBC, RBS, Lloyds and Barclays. [...]
CBA profits drop but number of bad debts starts to fall August 12, 2009 COMMONWEALTH Bank of Australia, the country’s third-largest lender, saw full-year pre-tax profit fall nine per cent to A$5.8bn (£2.9bn) yesterday, compared to A$6.4bn in 2008. However second half profit at the bank registered an 18 per cent improvement, rising to A$3.2bn from $2.7bn in the first half of its fiscal year, which ended on 30 [...]
Lehman Bros bondholders may be owed up to 44bn September 14, 2009 THE trustee holders of collapsed Lehman Brothers’ senior bonds said the debt holders may be owed as much as $73bn (£44bn), after losing their investments when the bank filed for bankruptcy protection a year ago, according to court documents. Wilmington Trust Company claims that holders of the senior debt of the failed bank are estimated [...]
TORIES PLEDGE TO ABOLISH THE FSA July 19, 2009 A CONSERVATIVE government would abolish the “failed” tripartite system of financial regulation and hand chief responsibility for supervision back to the Bank of England, shadow chancellor George Osborne will confirm today. Osborne will outline plans to dismantle the regulatory architecture designed by Gordon Brown in today’s response to chancellor Alistair Darling’s white paper on financial [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 1, 2009 FANANCIAL TIMES NATIONAL EXPRESS BID RETHINKThe Cosmen-CVC Capital Partners team bidding for National Express is looking for ways to make its offer more attractive after the rejection of a conditional all-cash 450p takeover proposal. Stagecoach, a rival transport group that had been in exclusive discussions with the Cosmen-led consortium about buying some of the assets [...]