Posts tagged 'Competition Commission'

How not to speak to your regulator

Paul Murphy is the founding editor of FT Alphaville.

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| Feb 19 10:31 | Comment |

We don’t often write about ferries and transport infrastructure here, but this statement demands an exception.

Eurotunnel is not surprised at the position of the Competition Commission, but will challenge the provisional findings which conclude that the addition of the new operator, MyFerryLink, would be detrimental to competition and could lead to an increase in prices.

You see’s it’s the tone. Snark is our job. It’s not becoming of a listed entity that only exists because of the billions of tax payers £s poured into it. Read more

The BSkyB can kicked into the long grass

| Jul 11 2011 16:35 | Comment |

This must be the fastest moving corporate story of recent times.

Just hours after Jeremy Hunt, UK culture secretary, fired off a letter to media regulator Ofcom asking them to help kick the buyout into the long grass, News Corp has responded. Read more

Snap news

| Mar 30 2011 07:57 | Comment |

Breaking pre-market news on Wednesday,

- Dixons Retail warns on profits; same store sales down & per cent in past 11 weeks — statement. Read more

Snap news

| Jan 27 2011 07:53 | Comment |

Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,

- OFT will not refer equity underwriting market to the Competition Commission for investigation — statement. Read more

All we are saying, is give Murdoch a chance

| Jan 25 2011 08:15 | Comment |

Amazing.

Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, has decided to bend over backwards to help News Corporation win control of BSkyB. Read more

Snap news

Joseph joined FT Alphaville way back in March 2010. He likes all the politically and legally fiddly bits of finance. He also likes credit, rates, global macro, tail risk, and all that stuff. (You should email him story ideas. He’ll take anything.)

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| Jan 25 2011 07:48 | Comment |

Breaking pre-market news on Tuesday,

- UK still intends to refer News Corp/BSkyB merger to Competition Commission, but will consider remedies from parties — statement. Read more

Cable guy unplugged

| Dec 22 2010 09:19 | Comment |

The market has delievered its verdict on Cablegate (Vincegate?) by marking shares in BSkyB higher on Wednesday morning:

 Read more

Snap news

Joseph joined FT Alphaville way back in March 2010. He likes all the politically and legally fiddly bits of finance. He also likes credit, rates, global macro, tail risk, and all that stuff. (You should email him story ideas. He’ll take anything.)

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| Jun 18 2010 07:45 | Comment |

Breaking pre-market news on Friday,

- Santander announces offer for 300 RBS branches — statement. Read more

Watchdog supports UK banking inquiry

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| May 03 2010 02:34 | Comment |

A competition probe into the banking industry is justified in the wake of the financial crisis, the chief of the official watchdog has said in comments signalling a potential post-election battle over the industry’s future, says the FT. The Competition Commission chairman said there was a “compelling logic” to arguments that the sector needed to be investigated to see whether the state bail-out and other emergency measures resulting from the financial crisis had distorted the market. Read more

Rights issue fees: underwriting angst

| Oct 28 2009 10:15 | Comment |

An interesting sideshow to Lloyds Banking Group’s ongoing wrestling match with the UK Treasury has been the debate over what slice of the proceeds investment bankers should get.

The Guardian on Wednesday, for example, reported that the £300m in underwriting fees to be shared by the six investment banks working on the Lloyds deal was slashed by£100m following some successful lobbying by the biggest activist investor of them all — the UK Treasury. Read more

A radically changed media landscape?

| Sep 15 2009 10:00 | Comment |

ITV says it welcomes Tuesday’s provisional report from the Competition Commission and its recognition of the case for the reform of Contract Rights Renewal, the very complex mechanism which governs how much the broadcaster can charge advertisers. But is ITV really being honest? The answer has to be no.

First some background on the CRR, courtesy of the FT’s media correspondent, Ben Fenton: Read more

Time for another Toxic Pub Co investigation

| May 13 2009 10:00 | Comment |

That’s the conclusion of the House of Commons Business & Enterprise Committee report on pub companies published on Wednesday morning.

MP’s on the committee are of the opinion that abuse of the tenant occurs under the “tied” business model and they want something done about it. Read more

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| Aug 20 2008 07:09 | Comment |

The latest on Wednesday,

- Empyrean [EME] appoint John Laycock CFO – statement Read more