WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
CARLSBERG SEEKS TO EXTEND REACH IN ASIA
Carlsberg, the Danish brewer, is planning further expansion in Asia to help reduce its substantial exposure to the volatile Russian beer market. “We do see Asia as being a place to expand and invest in,” Jørgen Buhl Rasmussen, chief executive, told the Financial Times in an interview. He said a stronger business in Asia would “balance” the company’s exposure to Russia.
PENSION BUY-OUTS FALL SHARPLY
Buy-outs of company pension scheme liabilities fell sharply in the first quarter of 2009, as the fallout from the collapse of Lehman Brothers last September and the consequent sharp rise in corporate bond yields made new deals too expensive for employers, according to research to be released today.
NOL PLANS S$1.4BN RIGHTS ISSUE TO CUT DEBT
Singapore’s Neptune Orient Lines, whose APL subsidiary operates the world’s seventh-largest container ship fleet, became the largest company in the sector to announce a rights issue since the global economic crisis struck. NOL, which has S$400m ($278m) in cash reserves, said it would use the proceeds of the S$1.4bn issue to pay off nearly all of its debt.
EUROPE’S FINANCE DIRECTORS REMAIN GLOOMY
European chief financial officers are far more pessimistic than US and Asian counterparts about economic prospects, according to a survey published by CFO magazine. Sentiment among finance directors rose worldwide in the second quarter. But the pessimists still outnumbered the ranks of optimists in Europe while there was a swing towards optimism in Asia and the US, the survey found.
THE TIMES
MEDIA MOGUL EDGAR BRONFMAN STAGES OWN ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK
Edgar Bronfman, the billionaire heir to the Seagram fortune and the chief executive of Warner Music, is leaving his native New York for a house in Kensington, West London, with his wife, Clarissa, and four young children from his second marriage.
LLOYDS INVESTORS FORECAST DEPARTURE OF ERIC DANIELS
Leading shareholders in Lloyds Banking Group have predicted that Eric Daniels, the chief executive, will be forced out when the part-nationalised bank appoints a new chairman.
One leading shareholder said: “Eric Daniels is there because there isn’t anybody else. If you were to present to shareholders an AN Other who was credible, they would probably go for it.”
The Daily Telegraph
GOLD NEARS $1,000 AN OUNCE
Gold climbed to the highest price in more than three months in London as a weaker dollar increased demand for the metal as an alternative investment. The US Dollar Index dropped as much as 0.7pc to the lowest level since December 18 after posting its biggest monthly loss this year in May. Gold, which typically moves inversely to the US$, added 10 per cent last month, the most since November.
‘FIVE BUILDING SOCIETIES TO FAIL WITHIN A YEAR’
A leading building society commentator reckons that at least five mutuals will fail within 12 months and 15 will be forced to merge. Ralph Silva of TowerGroup, the leading financial services research firm, said up to 15 building societies may be forced to merge within the next year or so but at least five others would fail.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
PALLOTTA, NOBLE TO CLOSE FUNDS
Two prominent Boston money managers are winding down their biggest funds, another sign of the relentless shakeout in the hedge fund industry.
James Pallotta, who runs the $800 million Raptor fund, has decided to return money to outside clients, people familiar with the matter said. George Noble, a former mutual-fund manager who controls some $550 million across two funds named Gyrfalcon, intends to refund clients this month.
TRADE GROUPS WANT US TO KEEP BACKING HOME LOANS
The US government should continue to intervene in the home-mortgage market after the current foreclosure crisis ends, real estate brokers, home builders and mortgage bankers said in testimony prepared for a congressional hearing today.