The royal family of Qatar is moving up its investment in Europe’s banking sector with plans to acquire private banking arms of Dexia and its Belgian competitor KBC. Private lender KBC said it was to sell its Luxembourg division to Qatari investment group Precision Capital for €1.05bn. The sale will allow the bank to reduce…
Sinopec Group, a unit of China’s state-backed energy company China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, late on Sunday signed a deal to acquire Canada’s oil and gas explorer Daylight Energy for C$2.2bn. In its largest acquisition this year Sinopec offered a 43.6 percent premium to Daylight Energy’s 60-day weighted average trading price, or C$10.08 a share,…
Sony Corporation has reportedly secured financing from Abu Dhabi’s investment fund, Mubadala, to help compete for British music label EMI Group. The Middle Eastern investment funds’ backing, and additional financial support from media investment bank Raine, will assist Sony to better compete with the other bidders which are said to include Warner Music Group and…
A quick recapitalisation of European banks is necessary to steady markets and avert the economy from falling into another recession, IMF Europe Director, Antonio Borges, said late on Wednesday. The price tag for such a move was estimated in the range between €100bn and €200bn, he said. According to the IMF report, the eurozone debt…
Stock markets in Europe bounced higher early on Wednesday as traders decided to pick up stocks trading down at discount levels following three days of losses and Italy’s credit downgrade late on Tuesday. Moody’s cut Italy’s credit rating from Aa2 to A2 with a negative outlook, blaming “material increase in long-term funding risks for the…
Shares in Europe slumped on Monday after the Greek governments’ Finance Ministry announced its draft budget figures showing the country’s deficit is likely to reach 8.5 percent of GDP for 2011. Greece will miss the terms of the bailout, originally agreed with Troika, which obliged it to meet a 7.6 percent target for 2011. The…
Minmetal Resources, a unit of Chinas largest metal trader, China Minmetals Group, on Friday launched a C$1.3bn ($1.29bn) friendly takeover bid for Congo-focused copper producer Anvil Mining. The move by Hong Kong-listed Minmetal Resources is the second attempt to acquire a copper producer with operations in Africa as it unsuccessfully bid C$6.3bn for Equinox Minerals…
Italian, Spanish and French financial market regulators late on Wednesday extended the temporary bans on the short selling of selected financial stocks and banks in a bid to curb market volatility. The ban, which was originally implemented on August 12, will now last until November 11 for France and Italy owing to “continued market instability…
European stocks decreased in early trading Wednesday as markets await Troika’s evaluation on Greece’s progress in reducing its debt levels. The ECB, EU and IMF, collectively known as Troika, hold the key to discharging the next tranche of the bailout money, a sum of €8bn from a total of €109bn, to Greece. Optimism about a…
Stocks across the board rose in early trading Tuesday as markets remained hopeful that discussions between German chancellor Angela Merkel and Greek prime minister George Papandreou will resolve Greece’s bailout and avert default. In Europe the FTSE 100 index climbed 2.28 percent to 5,205.38, the Stoxx Europe increased by 2.31 percent to 225.37, the German…
