It’s a deal: Amundi pays €3.5bn to Unicredit for Pioneer Investments December 12, 2016 Shares in Unicredit jumped over three per cent this morning after French asset manager Amundi sealed the deal to buy Pioneer Investments from the Italian lender for €3.5bn (£2.9bn) Before the transaction even closes, Unicredit's cash coffers will be bolstered by a €315m payment from Pioneer to its soon-to-be former parent. Amundi has moved quickly in agreeing [...]
Successor to John Key is confirmed in New Zealand’s top post December 12, 2016 New Zealand has a new prime minister, with frontrunner Bill English confirmed as the person to succeed John Key after his shock resignation last week. Telling reporters he was "both excited and humbled", English announced Paula Bennett as his deputy and economic development minister Steven Joyce as the person to take over his old job [...]
DFS chairman to step down having overseen stock exchange return December 12, 2016 The chairman of one Britain's best loved sofa firms will relax and pop his feet on foot stool from next Spring after it was announced he was stepping down. DFS's chair Richard Baker will leave the post next year after six years in the role. Read more: FTSE reshuffle: Travis Perkins, DFS and Countrywide are on [...]
Southern rail make late attempt to appeal Thursday’s High Court Aslef ruling December 9, 2016 Southern rail has lodged an eleventh hour attempt to avert trains grinding to a halt next week. The rail firm is under unprecedented pressure from two trade unions: joining forces with the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), members of drivers union Aslef will walk out for nine days starting next Tuesday. Whereas previously Southern has managed to [...]
21st Century Fox in talks to buy Sky, valuing UK firm at £18.5bn December 9, 2016 Sky’s share price leapt by more than 30 per cent on Friday afternoon after the company said it was in talks to be taken over by Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox. The directors of both companies have reached an agreement at £10.75 per share in cash – putting an overall value of Sky at £18.5bn. Fox [...]
A median of £0? Well, that’s what the ONS says one sector’s workers are putting into their pension pots December 9, 2016 Work in the tourism sector? Are you putting money away for retirement? If the answer is no, then you aren't alone. The latest numbers from those clever boffins over at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggest the median pension savings reported in the tourism sector is a mighty… well, diddly-squat. That's right, the ONS said the median reported [...]
A bananas deal: Fyffes is bought for €751m, so here’s a few things about bananas industry you might not know December 9, 2016 Who would have thought bananas could be such a lucrative investment? Shareholders in Irish banana giant Fyffes certainly found their investment into the firm rather a-peeling, netting a healthy 50 per cent plus return from today's share price uplift alone. Read more: Sumitomo goes bananas for bananas The rocketing share price was a result of the board of [...]
An overwhelming number of responses to the FCA’s latest PPI consultation slows down the process December 9, 2016 The UK's financial regulator said it needs more time to finalise a deadline for payment protection insurance (PPI) complaints. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a consultation paper in August. It included a timetable for making a decision on the deadline for PPI complaints as well as providing more guidance on how City firms should [...]
Auto delay repay? No way: Southeastern won’t automatically refund customers using its celebrated ticketless smartcard, says bidder December 9, 2016 One of the bidders in the running for the Southeastern train franchise says it will not provide automatic compensation to delayed customers, despite a sector-wide push to ensure passengers are more swiftly and fairly compensated, City A.M. can exclusively reveal. Govia, which is in line to team-up with Network Rail to run the Southeastern franchise, [...]
Fyffes’ shares rocket after bananas deal from Sumitomo December 9, 2016 A lot people seem to think 2016 was the year when the world went bananas. And today, investors in them will be going bananas too. Sumitomo, one of Japan's largest conglomerates, revealed it was splashing out €751m (£631m) to buy Irish banana giant Fyffes. Read more: How bananas could one day cure the flu Offering shareholders €2.23 [...]
