. . . and before you ask that isn’t a reference to the late Michael Jackson’s pet chimp, but China’s latest runaway IPO.
From FT.com:
Bawang International, a Chinese herbal shampoo maker, shined on its market debut in Hong Kong on Friday,
Elsewhere on Friday,
- So much for those ‘green shoots’.
- How to read US employment figures.
- Smells like deflation.
- How AIG FP brought down the world.
- Statistics and basketball for beginners.
Breaking pre-market news on Friday,
- Bank of Ireland sees impairment charges of €6bn in 3yrs to 2011 - statement.
- Friends Provident completes demerger of stake of in F&C Asset Management - statement.
Private equity that want to buy troubled banks would have to maintain significant capital levels and promise not to “flip’’ investments for at least three years, under proposals by US regulators.
Two of China’s biggest oil groups have approached Repsol YPF, the Spanish oil company, over possible asset purchases and joint ventures worth billions of dollars. Repsol is discussing a possible sale of its 75% stake in YPF,
The International Petroleum Investment Company, which is wholly owned by the Abu Dhabi government, on Thursday said it had raised $5bn in syndicated loan facilities to help finance a recent multibillion dollar spending spree.
This is Frank Timis.
And if you thought he was just some two bit share promoter on London’s junior casino market, with a couple of convictions for possession of heroin, you’d be wrong. How do we know this? Because we have been reading Frank’s website.
Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,
- Intermediate Capital announces rights issue to raise net £351m — statement.
- Carpathian completes €235m debt restructuring — statement.
- Rio Tinto rights issue receives acceptances for 96.97 per cent of rights issue — statement.
The prospect of a bidding war for T-Mobile UK loomed on Wednesday night as it emerged that Telefónica of Spain is considering a bid for the UK’s fourth largest mobile phone operator. Telefonica fears competitive threats to O2,
Standard Chartered and ANZ have both entered exclusive talks to acquire separate parts of the Asian retail and commercial assets being sold by Royal Bank of Scotland. Both bidders were last week granted preferred bidder status for different RBS assets,
And so to the Melbourne Mining Club on Monday evening, where Xstrata’s Mick Davis was telling us how he was once the youngest cricketing umpire in South Africa, explaining along the way the “intellectual purity”
Breaking pre-market news on Wednesday,
- Tesco is a “potential bidder” for Northern Rock — Times.
- Cattles terminates employment of six senior execs after independent review — statement.
- Greg Hutchings to step down from Lupus following negotiation of new banking arrangements — statement.
ANZ, one of Australia’s top banks, may buy Royal Bank of Scotland Group’s units in at least five Asian countries as the government-controlled bank splits its assets in the region to attract buyers,
Nomura, Japan’s largest brokerage, may announce Wednesday a deal to buy Citigroup’s Japanese trust banking unit reports Bloomberg. Nomura Trust and Banking is in final talks to buy NikkoCiti Trust and Banking for about Y20bn ($208m).
Bank of America’s asset management business is drawing lukewarm bids now that BlackRock, once its likeliest suitor, has opted to pay $13.5bn for Barclays Global Investors. BofA wants at least $3bn for Columbia Management,
Tesco has emerged as a potential bidder for Northern Rock as the government races to sell the state-owned lender before a general election, reports The Times. The UK supermarket chain has shown provisional interest in buying the bank,
Shinsei and Aozora, two lossmaking Japanese banks backed by US buyout groups JC Flowers and Cerberus, are on Wednesday of their merger. The deal will create Japan’s sixth-largest banking group and help consolidate the Japanese government’s holdings.
Richard Bowker, chief executive of National Express, the struggling UK bus and rail operator, on Tuesday night announced his resignation just hours before a crucial trading statement. Bowker is set on Wednesday to update the market on the company’s lossmaking East Coast rail franchise.
Viacom’s Paramount Pictures studio is seeking to merge its home entertainment division with a rival and is in advanced talks with Sony Pictures and News Corp’s Fox studio, signalling a possible wave of consolidation in Hollywood.
Now here’s something we don’t get to see every day, a chief executive carrying the can for very nearly bringing a large listed company to its knees through a series of ill-judged acquisitions at the top of the market.
Elsewhere on Tuesday,
- The paradox of strategic defaults.
- Madoff: 150 years is not enough.
-Western pension funds love stocks too much.
- Inflation and you: partners in freedom.
- “Australia - I like it.
Breaking pre-market news on Tuesday,
- Nationwide says house prices rose by 0.9 per cent in June — statement.
- Yell Group starts refinancing, Q1 revenue to be 20 per cent lower — statement.
- Aminex announces placing to raise $11.5m and open offer to raise $3m — statement.
Enterprise Products Partners, a publicly traded oil and natural gas energy partnership, said on Monday it would merge with Teppco Partners in a $3.3bn deal to create a lower-cost pipeline and logistics group.
The tug-of-war over Porsche intensified on Monday when it rejected a bid from Volkswagen worth up to €4bn ($5.6bn) for half the German sports carmaker, saying the offer had been sent to the wrong address.
General Motors has stepped up negotiations with rival suitors to offload a stake in Opel, its European business, and could sign at least one MoU this week as talks with Magna International, the preferred bidder,
Carlyle, Primus and MBK Partners may seek to buy Nan Shan Life Insurance, the Taiwanese unit of US insurer AIG, reports Bloomberg. KKR, Affinity Equity Partners, Cathay and Chinatrust have also asked AIG for information about the sale and may take part in a first round of bids scheduled for July 3.
Corporate governance activists decried a merger of Watson Wyatt Worldwide and Towers Perrin, saying conflicts of interests could arise if executive compensation consultants are hired by the same managers to advise on human resources issues,
Shares in Candover rose on Monday after the ailing UK buyout group said it was still considering splitting itself up after ending takeover talks with potential buyers. Candover received proposals for an outright takeover or minority stake sale from rival groups including Blackstone,
Vodafone was trying to lie low on Monday night, refusing to comment on its interest in Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile UK, after the FT reported on Monday that the world’s largest mobile phone operator by revenue was considering an offer to buy T-Mobile UK.
Hugh Osmond’s Pearl Group will be acquired by Liberty, a Euronext-Amsterdam listed acquisition vehicle, in a €1.3bn (£1.1bn) deal. Liberty, which is controlled by two private equity investors, will take the Pearl name and move its primary listing to London in the fourth quarter.