At Thursday’s ECB press conference, Mario Draghi unveiled plans to introduce a new series of euro bank notes. And there was a little video to accompany the news… Read more
Almost $20bn of real estate funds are to be launched this week as equity raising for property investment shows no sign of slowing, despite apparent difficulties in global property markets. MGPA, the London-based private equity real estate investor part-owned by Australia’s Macquarie Bank, has closed its third real estate fund with total equity commitments of $5.2bn. When borrowings are added to the fund, they would take its potential spending power to more than $15bn. The MGPA Fund III is split into two regional private equity real estate funds, one focused on Europe, the other on Asia. Meanwhile, west London-based property fund manager Europa Capital has raised €750m (£590m) of equity commitments for two new funds for European property investment. Read more
Northern Rock’s charitable foundation, which would have a 15% stake if the UK bank was bought, has appointed financial advisers to protect its interests. Shares in the troubled bank rose 12% to 151.8p, valuing it at £630m, as it emerged JC Flowers, the private equity group, had secured about £15bn of financing, which could be used for a takeover. Cerberus is also interested in buying the bank. Northern Rock on Wednesday hired Citigroup as adviser alongside Merrill Lynch. Citigroup is expected to provide a financing package to offer to prospective bidders. On Wednesday, the Northern Rock Charitable Foundation appointed Europa Partners, the independent corporate finance house, as adviser. Read more
1Bernanke weighs in on robot wars; brings Keynes for backup
2Secret liquidity and Scottish independence
3Spain's awful unemployment
4Pump up, debase
5S&P 2,100, by Goldman Sachs
Show more6Buyback to enrich
7Collateral crunch-counting gets sophisticated
8Everlasting credit, the long view
9Apple Operations International, facts (?) du jour
10In which the FTSE puts the crisis behind it
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