News

Your daily news update straight from the City PM newsroom in London

Pensions body opposes McCreevy’s EU directive

September 23, 2009

THE National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has hit back of the proposed Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive, branding parts of it “misguided”. In a letter to the European commissioner for internal market and services Charlie McCreevy, NAPF chief executive Joanne Segars opposed the directive, saying it would reduce investment returns, boost costs and increase [...]
BlackRock deal for BGI gains approval of EC

September 23, 2009

FUND manager BlackRock has won regulatory approval from the European Commission (EC) for its $13.5bn (£8.2bn) purchase of Barclays Global Investors (BGI). The Commission said the deal did not raise competition concerns, despite overlaps between the two firms in areas such as retail asset management. It said the new entity, BlackRock Global Investors, would be [...]
Business activity picking up across the eurozone

September 23, 2009

PRIVATE sector output in the eurozone increased for the second consecutive month in September, as the services sector returned to positive territory, according to data released yesterday. Markit’s purchase managers index (PMI) for the eurozone rose to a 16-month high of 50.8 in the period, up from 50.4 in August, though this was a smaller [...]
WILL YELL’S REFINANCING PROPOSALS BE ENOUGH TO SECURE ITS FUTURE?

September 23, 2009

ALEX DEGROOTE PANMURE GORDONBased on what was said today, the plans seem fairly well-advanced. I think it is a step in the right direction, but it has been well-trailed and the news has already been priced into the shares, which have been hit today by the underwhelming trading outlook given by the firm. ANDY VINER [...]
Construction firms accused of bid rigging

September 22, 2009

CONSUMER watchdog the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) yesterday dealt out fines adding up to £129.5m to some of the UK’s biggest building companies, punishing them for colluding while bidding for work on projects such as hospitals, schools and housing refurbishments. Balfour Beatty, Carillion, Connaught, Interserve, Kier and Galliford Try were among the 112 named [...]
Chime eyes sports marketing growth with 18.23m takeover of Essentially

September 22, 2009

BRITISH marketing services group Chime Communications said yesterday that it has agreed to buy Essentially Group for £18.23m to boost its sports-marketing business. Based on FTSE Small Cap firm Chime’s Monday closing price of 177.75p, the offer values each Essentially share at 8.08p, a premium of about 7.7 per cent to Essentially’s closing price of [...]
NICK WESTLAKE

September 22, 2009

Numis Securities acted as corporate broker and sponsor to Chime in the execution of its acquisition of Essentially. EPL Advisory were Chime’s financial adviser, while Cenkos Securities was financial advisor to Essentially. Numis has advised Chime for five years, and previously advised on its acquisition of advertising agency VCCP – of Comparethemeerkat.com fame – and [...]
Suntory bids for Schweppes

September 22, 2009

JAPANESE brewer Suntory has made a binding bid for soft drinks maker Orangina Schweppes, its private equity owners said, in a sign buy-out houses may find it easier to exit investments. Suntory will pay €2.6bn (£2.4bn) for Orangina, two sources familiar with the situation said, allowing Blackstone Group and Lion Capital to double their money [...]
Goldshield management fail to trump AIT’s offer

September 22, 2009

THE TAKEOVER battle for drug firm Goldshield was believed to be in its final stages yesterday. It now seems unlikely that someone will table a better bid than the £162m being offered by AIT, the investment vehicle of former chief executive Ajit Patel. Goldshield management, who own 9.62 per cent of the firm, on Monday [...]
Singapore’s GIC profits on Citi stake sale

September 22, 2009

SINGAPORE’S sovereign wealth fund GIC has sold half of the nine per cent stake in Citigroup it acquired amid the banking crisis, booking a profit of $1.6bn (£980m) on the back of the rally in the markets. GIC offloaded the stake after the conversion earlier this month of $6.8bn worth of its convertible preferred stock [...]