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    Glencore to float stock worth up to $11bn

    Glencore, the world’s largest commodities trading group by revenue intends to sell between $9bn-11bn in shares in its IPO on the Hong Kong and London stock exchanges, the Swiss company announced on Thursday. The group will use in the next three years around $5bn of the profits from the IPO for capital expenditure and around $2.2bn toward debt reduction and the increase in its stake in mining firm Kazzinc, it said. Glencore, which owns a major share of the global trade in raw materials including corn, copper and coal, is planning to sell between 15 and 20 percent of its stock, which would value the company at around $60bn. Ivan Glasenberg, G...
    On April 14, 2011 / By
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    JPMorgan Q1 profits up 67%

    JPMorgan Chase, the second largest bank by assets in the US, beat forecasts from Wall Street analysts by reporting a 67 percent rise in Q1 profits, bringing figures to $5.56bn compared with $3.33bn in the same period last year. The jump in results was attributed to an increased performance from the credit card group and its investment banking and trading businesses, which helped offset losses from the retail bank. Net revenue fell 8.5 percent year-on-year to $25.79bn from $28.2bn and was blamed on lower income from mortgage fees and a decrease in securities gains. Jamie Dimon, CEO and chairman of JPMorgan, said: “The firm’s results reflec...
    On April 13, 2011 / By
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    BP Rosneft deal grows uncertain

    The Russian half of the Russian-British TNK-BP joint venture is threatening to file a law suit for up to $10m against its parent company BP, saying BP breached its shareholder agreement for going straight to state oil company OAO Rosneft rather than through TNK-BP, sources said. Rosneft and BP signed a share swap deal in January which agreed the joint development of the Russian Arctic shelf and entitled Rosneft to 5 percent in BP in exchange for 9 percent of its own shares. The deal however was blocked by AAR, the company representing the interests of four billionaires in TNK-BP, because it felt the contract with Rosneft had broken their own ...
    On April 13, 2011 / By
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    COO of Renault to step down over espionage claim

    The COO of Renault, Patrick Pélata, resigned on Tuesday following an internal and external audit which showed ‘a chain of failures’ in the manner the car manufacturer handled a scandal which alleged industrial espionage by its employees and led to three unjust dismissals. The audit especially blamed ‘the supervision and control of activities of management of the company’s security department’. It is not yet clear when Pélata will leave the company or who is to replace him. The company, which is 15 percent government owned, confessed last month it was deceived into wrongfully dismissing three executives following an erroneous compa...
    On April 12, 2011 / By
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    UK and Dutch to sue Iceland for Icesave money

    The Netherlands and Britain are planning to take Iceland to court for refusing to repay money paid to Icesave depositors following the collapse of the country’s banking system in 2008, said chief secretary of the treasury, Danny Alexander. Icelandic voters have rejected the government backed deal to pay back to Britain and the Netherlands $5.8bn worth of losses, the government of Iceland said in a statement. This is the second time the country voted in a referendum against the payment of the money. The referendum, which had a voter turnout of around 75 percent, indicated 59.7 percent of voters said no to the “Icesave deal”, while 40.1 p...
    On April 11, 2011 / By
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    Precious metals reach record high in 31 years

    Gold futures traded at a new record high on Friday and silver hit $40.04 an ounce for the first time since 1980 as concerns about the dollar weakening draws investors towards precious metals. Gold for June delivery was up $8.60 and hit a trading high of $1.468.30 SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed ETF said on Thursday its holdings rose to 1.217.209 tonnes, their peak since mid-March. The ishares Silver trust, the largest silver-backed ETF noted its holdings hit another record at 11.192.80 tonnes on Thursday. Investors will be watching government spending developments in the US closely to see whether there could be a last minut...
    On April 8, 2011 / By
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    Portugal asks for EU bailout

    Portugal’s caretaker government under José Sócrates last night requested an EU bailout, making Portugal the third EU member, after Ireland and Greece, to seek financial assistance. The move comes after the country’s long term government bond rating was downgraded by Moody’s on Tuesday by a notch from A3 to BAA1 and the credit agency said Portugal would have to look for external help to resolve its debt crisis. The decision to seek a bailout will end several months of continual pressure to resolve its increasingly weak public finances. Commenting on the bailout, Sócrates addressed the nation late on Wednesday, saying: “We must al...
    On April 7, 2011 / By
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    Commerzbank to repay 14.3bn euro aid by June

    Commerzbank, Germany’s second largest lender said on Wednesday it plans to repay 14.3bn euro in state aid by June through the sale of new shares and the use of excess capital. The bank said it is to pay back €14.3bn of the €16.2bn in “silent participation”, a type of non-voting capital received by the German government at the height of the economic crisis.   A total of €8.25bn is to be raised directly from capital markets and €2.75bn of the silent participation are to be converted into shares to redeem around €11bn of the government’s capital injection. A further €3.27bn the bank said will be paid from surplus regulato...
    On April 6, 2011 / By
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    Portugal moves closer to bailout

    Portugal’s long term government bond rating has been downgraded by Moody’s by a notch from A3 to BAA1, the credit agency said. Moody’s cautioned that it expects Portugal to have to look for external help to resolve its debt crisis.  In a statement the agency said: “The limited migration of the rating to BAA1 in today’s action reflects Moody’s assessment that assistance would be provided by the other members of the Euro zone if Portugal needs financing on an expedited basis before it can obtain funds from the European Financial Stability Facility.”  The action, which follows comparable ratings by Fitch and S&P, moves the ...
    On April 5, 2011 / By
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    Vodafone to earn €7.95bn from SFR sale

    Vodafone shares opened 2 percent higher this morning after the company announced it has agreed to sell its entire 44 percent stake in French mobile phone group SFR to Vivendi for a cash consideration of €7.75bn. The agreement includes a final dividend worth €200 which Vodafone will receive on completion of the transaction. In addition, Vodafone and SFR will enter into a Partner Market agreement which will maintain their commercial co-operation. Following the deal’s completion in June, Vivendi will own 100 percent of SFR. Vodafone said it will continue its affiliation by entering into a partner market agreement with SFR to maintain its c...
    On April 4, 2011 / By