Monday newspaper round-up: Betfair, UBS, Recession

Mon 24 Aug 2009

LONDON (SHARECAST) - Betfair has called in Credit Suisse to advise on a potential deal boom in the gambling sector. Experts predict that the US ban on online gambling could be lifted in as little as a year by the Democrat-controlled Congress with the backing of President Barack Obama, who is a keen poker player, says the Independent.

Governments around the world are still sitting on multi-billion dollar losses from their direct shareholdings in banks, in spite of a strong rebound in equity markets in recent months. In contrast to Switzerland, which sold its 9 per cent UBS stake for a SFr1.2bn ($1.1bn) gain last week, the world’s other large economies – except the US – are sitting on combined losses of $10.8bn relating to their holdings in the equity of listed banks they bailed out over the past 12 months, writes the FT.

Britain is set to move out of recession and record growth in GDP of 0.5 per cent in the current quarter, the Institute of Chartered Accounts in England & Wales will say this morning, reports the Independent.

Up to five UK building societies could be pushed into mergers over the next couple of years, predicts KPMG, the professional services firm. Simon Walker, partner at KPMG Financial Services,said: ‘More consolidation is inevitable,’ according to the FT.

Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, has rounded on his US critics over charges that he has been too cautious in the way he has handled the economic and financial crisis in the eurozone, says the Telegraph.

Leading institutional investors are to push for tighter rules for executive pay consultants

A leading American private equity company will face accusations today that it lied to HBOS, the bank that backed one of its biggest acquisitions in Britain. Martin Grant, who was dismissed by GI Partners as chief executive of Park Resorts, the caravan park operator, will claim at an industrial tribunal that GI misled HBOS, the bank taken over by Lloyds Banking Group last year as part of a life-saving Government bailout, reports the Times.

London’s Aim market might have recorded one of its worst performances in 2008 but that appeared to have had little damping effect on the pay packages for directors of companies listed on the junior exchange, according to the FT.

GM is taking a tougher line in negotiations over the sale of its Opel and Vauxhall business in Europe and is seeking further concessions from the German government on support for any deal, says the Telegraph.

British workers are marginally less worried about the state of their pensions than three months ago according to a survey published today by Aon Consulting, one of the UK’s largest pension administrators, writes the Independent.

Listed private equity and hedge fund vehicles are increasingly being targeted by investors looking for either portfolio liquidations or a share price rebound, reports the FT.

Corus is preparing to bring a steelworks at Llanwern in South Wales back to life as ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steelmaker, begins to relight fires at blast furnaces from Ohio to Ukraine, according to the Times.

An unprecedented attempt by the intelligence community to provide a wishlist of anti-terror technology to defence manufacturers has been heralded as a “huge step forward” by industry, says the FT.

Steadily rising commodity prices and improving economic confidence are buoying oil and gas stocks hammered by last autumn's unprecedented downturn, writes the Independent.

Nokia has pledged to strike back at Apple and produce mobile phones that will compete effectively with the US technology company’s iPhone, reports the FT.

Britain's biggest commercial landlords will back a deal to save DIY chain Focus at a creditors' meeting today, according to the Independent. because they say a code of conduct the advisors have proposed would not do enough to curb boardroom excess, writes the FT.