Lunch Wrap is a round up of the top news and views on FT Alphaville and FT.com as at noon, London time.
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This morning on FT Alphaville,
- We published a letter saying that elusive US investor Edward Pastorini, would, as of tomorrow morning, 17 April, be making an offer to acquire South Africa’s Gold Fields for $15bn, plus the assumption of all of Gold Fields’ debt. This is the clown who last week sent Gold Fields’ share price 11 per cent higher before the South African authorities announced they would investigate what was clearly a hoax.
- After several days of speculation, Sallie Mae, the US education lender, has agreed to be sold to two private investment funds and banks JPMorgan and Bank of America for $25bn, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday on its website.
- Hargreaves Lansdown, the UK financial adviser, has opted for an IPO after in January appointing Lexicon Partners, a boutique investment bank, to explore options for the group.
- Shares in ABN Amro shot straight through €35 in early trade in Amsterdam on Monday — a 5.7 per cent move that puts the Dutch bank at a price beyond which many analysts have said its original suitor, Barclays, can afford to pay.
- Top performing market this year? Look to southern Africa. Bizarre as it may sound, thanks to the debilitating polices of President Mugabe, the local market in Zimbabwe is up more than eight-fold since the beginning of the year. Since January last year, the Zimbabwe Industrial Index has risen from 1,019 to 4,345,200.
- Back across the Atlantic in Pastorini’s supposed home country, New York City is emerging as the new home of America’s mega-rich hedge fund traders – stealing a bit of the thunder from Greenwich, Connecticut. Five of the 11 highest-earning hedge fund traders — who the Post has named the “Gotham Five” – call the Big Apple home, according to Trader Monthly.
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