Date: Monday 19 Jul 2010
Mark Tucker, the former chief executive of Prudential, has been parachuted in as the new boss of AIA, the Asian insurer that its British peer tried and failed to buy for $35.5bn.In a surprise coup for AIA, Mr Tucker will be executive chairman and chief executive of the embattled group, which is owned by the American state-controlled insurer AIG, the Times reports.
GDF Suez has resumed talks with International Power about a £6.4bn merger deal that is set to trigger a cash payout for shareholders in the British power station developer. The two companies are poised to announce details of the talks today, which revolve around the creation of a new London-listed group, comprising the assets of International Power folded in with GDF Suez’s portfolio of foreign power stations., the Times reports.
European equity and credit markets are braced for a volatile day of trading after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Union dramatically withdrew a €20bn (£17bn) financing deal for Hungary over the weekend. The move, which was described by economists as “very rare”, means that Hungary will not have access to standby funds that were secured as part of a 2008 loan deal. The credit line was suspended on Saturday after the European Commission voiced concerns over the newly-elected Hungarian government’s budget plans, the Telegraph reports.
Meanwhile, the yen’s surge to its highest level of the year against the dollar has put investors on alert for possible currency intervention by the Japanese authorities this week. If Japan acts to shield its stock markets and exporters from the rising yen, it will be the first time Tokyo has intervened in the foreign exchange markets since April 2004, the FT reports.
Unilever is expected to announce the sale of its Italian frozen food business to Birds Eye Iglo, the private equity-owned group famed for its fish fingers and frozen peas, in a deal worth more than €800m. The purchase of Findus Italy, which makes frozen Italian dishes such as carbonara and bolognese, is being financed with about €500m of debt. Permira, which bought Birds Eye from Unilever for €1.7bn four years ago, is providing €300m of equity, the FT reports.
Vince Cable has attacked bank claims that they are approving at least four out of every five small business loan applications as "misleading" ahead of the launch of Government ideas to improve the flow of finance. The Business Secretary said that the banks had made it more difficult for businesses to apply and that they were failing to meet demand, the Telegraph reports.
BT will compete with the country’s largest mobile phone operators for lucrative smart metering contracts after signing up Arqiva, a broadcast and mobile masts company, and Detica, the IT services provider, to bid for business. It said that it intended to “be at the heart” of the Government’s plan to install smart meters in 28m homes and businesses by 2020, the Times reports.
Britain may have just enjoyed its strongest quarter of growth since before the Northern Rock crisis. After a downbeat set of first-quarter growth figures last week, the Office for National Statistics will offer on Friday its first estimate of the performance of the economy between April and June. Those figures are likely to show a doubling in the quarterly rate of growth to 0.8%, from 0.3% in the period from January to March, according to predictions from the investment bank Citigroup, the Times reports.
Toy Story 3 is on course to become the biggest-grossing animated film released by Walt Disney after generating $630.2m in its first month in cinemas, with the film yet to screen in about half of the world’s movie markets.Disney held back the launch of the film in big European markets to avoid it clashing with the football World Cup. It launches in the UK on Monday and will be released in Spain, Germany and Scandinavia over the next month, the FT reports.
One of the world’s largest oil companies has broken its pledge to stop funding groups that promote scepticism about man-made climate change. ExxonMobil, parent company of Esso, gave almost £1m last year to organisations that campaign against controls on greenhouse gas emissions. Several made outspoken attacks on climate scientists at the University of East Anglia and argued their leaked e-mails showed that the dangers of global warming had been grossly exaggerated, the Times reports.
Ocado is expected to press ahead with its planned IPO later this week despite growing disquiet in the City about the true value of the grocery delivery group and its business plan. Shares in the company are likely to begin trading on Wednesday, valuing Ocado at about £800m, after management meetings with investors in Amsterdam and London today and tomorrow, the Independent reports. 
No comments:
Post a Comment