Morrisons shares are buzzing on this takeover rumour February 12, 2014 Morrisons shares jumped over five per cent this morning on rumours that the founding family is planning to take the company private. According to Bloomberg, a number of private equity firms have been approached to see if any is interested in a buyout, which would be valued at over £7bn. Reported names include CVC Capital [...]
SocGen hikes 2013 dividend on fourth quarter profit February 12, 2014 Societe Generale, France’s second-biggest bank, has said this morning that a strong performance by its domestic retail banking unit helped it turn €322m (£267m) profit in the fourth quarter. A year earlier, SocGen made a loss of €471m. It confirmed that, by mid-May, it’ll present a ‘roadmap’ for achieving a 10 per cent return on equity [...]
Blackstone rips past estimates as floats deliver January 30, 2014 WALL Street titan Blackstone shot the lights out with its quarterly results yesterday, shattering analysts’ profit expectations after prospering from a bout of multi-billion deals including the UK float of Legoland owner Merlin Entertainments. The group, which offers an array of private equity and real estate funds for the world’s biggest investors, said pre-tax profits [...]
Google and Samsung sign up for a 10-year patent licensing deal January 26, 2014 Google and Samsung Electronics, which are frequently involved in patent infringement lawsuits but not against each other, yesterday announced they have reached a global patent cross-licensing agreement. The deal covers patents currently owned by the companies, as well as any filed in the next 10 years, the companies said in a release. Financial terms were [...]
Santander floats US car finance arm as private investors sell up January 23, 2014 SANTANDER Consumer USA successfully floated yesterday as the parent banking group and a range of private equity firms sold stakes in the unit. The initial public offering sold 21.6 per cent of the car finance unit in a deal valuing the whole business at $8.3bn (£5bn). Banco Santander sold a four per cent stake and [...]
Floats are stacking up on Aim as pallet maker RM2 makes debut January 6, 2014 PALLET manufacturer RM2 joined the junior stock market yesterday after raising £137.2m to finance its expansion plans. The IPO is one of the biggest floats of the past year on the Alternative Investment Market. RM2 designs, makes and supplies pallets for transporting goods, using materials it claims are much stronger than the traditional wooden designs. [...]
Bottom Line: Bubble fears will always haunt Dubai floats December 3, 2013 PEOPLE have short memories. Except, that is, about situations where they’ve lost a lot of money. Since the financial crisis there are a lot more investors in the market who’ve been burnt before – and they’ll never forget that time Dubai property prices fell over 50 per cent between 2008 and 2010. So it’s no [...]
Iceland moves back into white goods market with online tie-up November 27, 2013 FROZEN food specialist Iceland is moving back into white goods by starting an online appliances store in partnership with DRL Limited – the parent company that launched Appliances Online more than 10 years ago. Iceland stopped selling non-food products in 2009 when chief executive Malcolm Walker decided to close its in-store electricals showrooms and use the [...]
Airbnb doubles bookings June 19, 2012 US home rental site Airbnb said yesterday it had seen a dramatic rise in bookings in the last five months. The number of nights booked on its site has doubled to 10m as the number of properties listed also doubled to 200,000. Brian Chesky, Airbnb’s chief executive, has highlighted international expansion as the reason for [...]
Connaught debt to reach £100m after bills found November 7, 2010 Collapsed property services firm Connaught’s debts could pass £100m after the administrator KPMG discovered 50,000 additional invoices. Bills for everything from Dairy Crest milk to RBS bank loans have been left unpaid, according to a report by KPMG following Connaught’s collapse in September. Unsecured lenders exposed to the firm’s social maintenance arm will recover at [...]