What the other papers say this morning – 16 April 2014
FINANCIAL TIMES
Market troubles dent Moelis flotation
Boutique investment bank Moelis raised $163m from its US initial public offering after last-minute investor concerns forced it to shrink the size of its share sale and cut the price of the deal below its expected range. The IPO is the latest to come under pressure on the US market after a sharp correction in high-flying sectors such as internet and biotechnology led to greater risk aversion among investors. Moelis sold 6.5m shares at $25 each, down from the 7.3m shares it had hoped to sell between $26 to $29.
BT loses claim for refund of VAT
A bid by BT, the communications company, to claim a refund of £65.2m of value added tax dating back more than 20 years has been rejected by the Court of Appeal, in a ruling likely to stem a flood of other backdated claims. HMRC is still fighting a number of multibillion pound cases over claims for refunds of tax businesses believed they wrongly paid decades ago.
Detroit agrees to full pension deal
Detroit has struck a deal that will keep whole the pensions of most of its retired police and fire fighters – among the city’s biggest creditors – an important step as it navigates the biggest municipal bankruptcy in US history. The deal is contingent on $816m in state and charitable foundation funding that has been pledged to shore up the city’s pension gap.
THE TIMES
Barclays agrees Somali payment deal
Barclays has settled a legal dispute with money transfer business Dahabshiil in a move that extricates the bank from damaging claims that it was trying to stop Somalis from sending cash back home. They have agreed an out of court settlement that means Dahabshiil has agreed to find an alternative banker at some point this year.
BP robust in support of Rosneft
The chief executive of BP has vowed to stand by Rosneft, the Russian state-owned oil company it part owns, as the United States weighed tougher sanctions against Moscow over the escalating conflict in Ukraine.
The Daily Telegraph
Amazon staff offered $5,000 to quit
In a letter headed “Please don’t take this offer”, Amazon is offering people who have worked in its warehouse for less than a year $2,000 to walk out the door. That figure rises $1,000 for every year worked, up to a maximum of $5000. the firm hopes the Pay to Quit initiative will weed out workers who are bringing down morale.
Buy-to-let rental returns falling
Private landlords are experiencing a decline in rental returns across most of the country, latest data shows. Estate agent Chesterton Humberts calculates that yields have fallen in nine out of ten of the most popular regions over the past year.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Boom for Italian asset management
Record amounts of money are pouring into the coffers of Italy’s asset managers, prompting a deep reshuffling of the industry as the big banks seek to better exploit the sector in order to offset problems elsewhere. Italian asset managers attracted net inflows of €48bn last year, the best result in 14 years, according to Assogestioni, an association of Italian asset managers.
GM unveils plan to improve safety
General Motors’ chief Mary Barra said the auto giant is creating a new global product integrity organisation within its product development team that will include GM’s new safety unit.