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 [...]
PARTY STALWART TEBBIT HAPPY TO STICK HIS NECK OUT FOR THE CITY October 8, 2009 TO ONE of the City’s favourite haunts, Boisdale of Bishopsgate, last night for a special members’ game dinner hosted by Lord Tebbit, staunch Thatcherite and eternal bearer of the beacon of those on the right of politics. Tebbit, as is his wont, was happy to wax lyrical about the issues facing the Tories in the [...]
PARTY STALWART TEBBIT HAPPY TO STICK HIS NECK OUT FOR THE CITY October 8, 2009 TO ONE of the City’s favourite haunts, Boisdale of Bishopsgate, last night for a special members’ game dinner hosted by Lord Tebbit, staunch Thatcherite and eternal bearer of the beacon of those on the right of politics. Tebbit, as is his wont, was happy to wax lyrical about the issues facing the Tories in the [...]
THE LONDON REPORT August 5, 2009 The FTSE 100 closed down 0.5 per cent yesterday, after weaker than expected economic data in the US dragged equities lower, with oil producers and miners leading the losers. The index ended 24.24 points lower at 4,647.13, shy of Monday’s close when it hit its best closing level since the collapse of Lehman Brothers late [...]
Get ready to profit from an autumnal pullback in indices August 31, 2009 OPTIMISM has been returning to the markets recently, but it would be foolhardy to believe that the worst is over. Last week, David Buik at BGC Partners pointed out that after the initial crash in 1929, the markets staged a powerful rally that retraced 60 per cent of these losses. Since the 6 March 2009 [...]
Hypocrisy at the heart of banking policy July 27, 2009 PATHETIC. That is the only way to describe Alistair Darling’s ridiculous, stage-managed, utterly fake “row” with Britain’s top banks yesterday. It is the mark of a desperate, dying government that it feels obliged to resort to such a ridiculous piece of make-believe, rather than engaging in proper policy-making. To demand of the banks that they [...]
Paulson faces ethics spat over Goldman August 9, 2009 FORMER US Treasury secretary Hank Paulson was in constant contact with former employer Goldman Sachs during the depths of the banking crisis, according to telephone records obtained under freedom of information law. Paulson, who spent 32 years at Goldman, spoke with his successor as chief executive Lloyds Blankfein on two dozen occasions last September, in [...]
RSA cash call fears trigger share slump September 1, 2009 RSA INSURANCE saw its shares fall by five per cent yesterday after it refused to quell fears that it is considering asking markets for $1bn (£619m) in a cash call. Shares in the group slumped 4.75 per cent to a close of 124p as the size of the potential rights issue shocked investors. The stock [...]
DARLING THREATENS LAW TO CURB CITY BONUSES August 16, 2009 CITY bankers are on a collision course with politicians over multi-million pound bonuses after chancellor Alistair Darling yesterday pledged to intervene to curb excessive pay and risk-taking in the Square Mile. The Treasury is ready to consider legal action on bonuses if they pose a “systemic risk” to the banking system, which Darling and many [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS August 12, 2009 RSAThe insurer has appointed Christian Torkington as its new UK chief operating officer. Torkington joins from Scottish Widows, where he was managing director of operations. Prior to that, he worked at Barclays in a variety of senior roles, and was also the chief executive of an economic development agency. RSIM Rensburg Sheppards Investment Management has [...]