Parmalat banks fight back 16 Nov 2004 They have already persuaded the bust dairy group to readmit E1bn in claims and are now trying to convince the courts to admit another E4bn. But Parmalat, for its part, is still hounding the banks. The disputes are virtually certain to linger after its planned relisting next year.
ORA may be key to breaking Lazard deadlock 16 Nov 2004 This peculiarly French form of quasiequity could be a way of buying out the capitalists without loading the bank with too much debt. As such, it might just resolve the dispute between DavidWeill and Wasserstein which threatens to tear Lazard apart.
UK smoking laws set to tighten 16 Nov 2004 Banning smoking only in pubs where food is served is unlikely to affect pub or cigarette companies much directly. That such a ban can be contemplated is a sign of changing social mores. And that will hurt tobacco company sales in future.
LSE may force brokers to reveal short positions 16 Nov 2004 Disclosure to the wider world would spell increased dealing costs and reduced liquidity. This should be avoided. But limited disclosure of short stock positions to the Exchange would aid UK market stability and reduce the risk of outright chaos.
Auna’s E2.4bn bid for ONO may unleash Iberian M&A 16 Nov 2004 Auna is a telecom firm. ONO is a cable company. But the merger offer affects more than the TMT world. It touches energy and banking too. A successful deal could help unlock one of Spain s more complex logjams, at the centre of which lies SCH, Spain s biggest bank.
Glazer left without advisors in putative Man Utd bid 15 Nov 2004 His bank dropped him like a hot potato after he voted off three Man Utd nonexecutives, against its advice. But is that really so bad? Clients often don t take advice. Perhaps the bank abandoned Glazer because he was struggling to finance any bid.
Hedge funds seek votes with their CFDs 15 Nov 2004 That sounds like cheating. After all, CFDs avoid UK stamp tax precisely because they don t carry the voting rights of real shares. But there is a silver lining. This is evidence that hedge funds are real investors who care about voting shares when it matters.
Kraft sells $1.5bn of sweets 15 Nov 2004 But how Wrigley can justify paying three times sales for the business while retaining its market premium is hard to fathom. The curiously high price bodes well for Kraft and parent Altria's streamlining plans.
Harmony’s clever tactics look like prevailing 15 Nov 2004 The South African miner is close to snaffling the larger Gold Fields, despite offering its own unattractive shares. Harmony has exploited Russian and South African politics, and a regulatory loophole. But Gold Fields' own errors made it easier.
This may be a good way to avoid selling assets at a poor price. But it will further stretch Karstadt’s balance sheet. 15 Nov 2004 The German retailer is reportedly talking to banks to raise an extra E500m in loans, just weeks after announcing a restructuring plan.
Bouygues reaches watershed 15 Nov 2004 The French conglomerate has sold its water business for E1bn. That is a wise move. Yet Bouygues faces little pressure to break up its ungainly business structure. This doesn't mean it shouldn't.
BNL to launch E1.1bn rights issue 15 Nov 2004 The new cash, amounting to over 25% of the bank's current market value, will be used to fill a hole exposed by upcoming accounting rules. The issue will also achieve a secondary objective: forcing BNL's rebel shareholders to stump up more money or get diluted.
Dell success more Tesco than technology 12 Nov 2004 It's time to start thinking of computers as undifferentiated consumer goods. Success comes from quick turnover and selling cheap. Like the successful UK grocer, Dell has entered a virtuous circle of increasing profits via scale and costcutting.
Murdoch Min’s report card on year one at BSkyB 12 Nov 2004 The headmaster writes: Well done, James, on a betterthanexpected set of Q3 results. That s good news management ahead of a tricky AGM. But you need to work harder on the share price. It has sunk. The media playground is rough. You won t have Murdoch Snr s protection forever.
Oracle lines up takeover targets 12 Nov 2004 There are other fish in the sea for Oracle, regardless of the results of its drawnout bid for PeopleSoft. Oracle has even named some candidates, including a few for whom the financial logic stacks up better than PeopleSoft for shareholders.
Wind/E.Biscom deal might just fly 12 Nov 2004 But, at a pinch, it might satisfy Enel's financial criteria as well as Italian political demands. Reversing Wind into a former dotcom darling may not seem the most obvious way for Enel to extract value from its telecoms subsidiary.
Allianz ups Dresdner guidance 12 Nov 2004 The task now is for Dresdner to earn its cost of capital. That will require a stepup in the performance of investment banking unit DKW. The German insurer s troublesome bank is going to break even this year even if you include restructuring costs.
Areva IPO a step in right direction 11 Nov 2004 Partial privatisation of the French nuclear group, previously used as a tool for intervention in groups like Alstom and Sagem, is healthy. But don t get overexcited. The state doesn t need full ownership to engage in dirigisme.
Europeans try to stop the euro’s ascent 11 Nov 2004 Italy's finance minister may have "corrected" comments that intervention is imminent, but European concerns about the weak dollar are real. Words and maybe some action might help hold up the dollar for a while. But a big currency alignment is inevitable.
Unicredito deputy jumps ship to SanPaolo 11 Nov 2004 The departure of Pietro Modiano is the latest and most serious highlevel defection from the Milanese bank. For SanPaolo, hiring a strong director may be good news but only if Modiano has the necessary authority to implement change.
Deutsche Telekom’s E2.6bn divi is great stuff 11 Nov 2004 This is a regular dividend, not a oneoff. The stock now yields more than most peers while offering superior growth. That said, the momentum behind profits looks set to fade. This might, in fact, explain the generous payout.
Coke ratchets down expectations 11 Nov 2004 The drinkmaker's profit warning is the latest lightning bolt to strike the consumer goods sector. But investors should have seen it coming. Indeed, the fact that Coke s warning took so long only enhances its newlydeserved reputation as an industry dawdler.
Repsol ex-chairman gets monster goodbye deal 11 Nov 2004 Alfonso Cortina has reportedly received an E19m payoff after he was forced to quit from the Spanish oil group last month. This is hardly a reward for success: Cortina led Repsol s disastrous YPF acquisition. It s the price of political interference in Spain.
Scottish Power bodes ill for European utilities 10 Nov 2004 Utilities are trading at a premium to the broad market yet utilities are a mature business. This makes no sense. Scottish Power s problems ram home growth risks. Either utilities are overpriced or European markets are cheap.
FSA calls time on soft commissions 10 Nov 2004 The UK regulator has made softing, under which brokers seduced fund managers with perks subsidised by trading commissions, redundant. This may have been a long time coming, but at least it will help create a level playing field in the equities business.
Zurich must take Converium litigation seriously 10 Nov 2004 Trying to prove the Swiss insurer is liable for the problems of Converium, the reinsurer it spun off in 2001, is a highly ambitious task. But the materiality of Converium s problems strengthens the hand of litigants, especially if they can mobilise its institutional investors.
C&W restructures management, returns cash 10 Nov 2004 The telecoms group has finally dealt with its legacy problems and on betterthanexpected terms. Hence the £250m return of capital. That said, UK conditions remain tough. This may be why CEO Francesco Caio is slimming management and taking direct control of the core unit.
Malone manoeuvres to cut Liberty discount 10 Nov 2004 So far, his game of poker with Rupert Murdoch has helped to do that by highlighting the strategic value of some of the cards he holds. But there is plenty more to do. Even after recent gains, Liberty suffers a wide discount to the sum of its parts.
Oil prices may have peaked 10 Nov 2004 Three times this year oil prices have lurched downwards as investors called the top of the market, each time mistakenly. Now there s been another drop. This time, though, the fall in the oil price seems to be supported by fundamentals.
Vodafone faces acid test with 3G launch 10 Nov 2004 3G technology gives the mobile operator a chance to extract synergies from its panEuropean assets thereby validating its strategy. But getting them will be tough. And 3G brings risks as well as opportunities. Arun Sarin's reputation hangs on how he manages the shift.