Synthes reports merger talks with Johnson & Johnson
Swiss medical device manufacturer Synthes said on Monday it is in preliminary takeover talks with health conglomerate Johnson & Johnson. The deal could be worth up to $20bn and if completed would be one of the largest healthcare takeover deals in recent years, according to sources familiar with the process. The company said in a statement: […]
Nestlé sales fall 9% but growth up 6.4%
Nestlé, the world’s biggest food group by sales, saw a 9 percent drop in Q1 sales to CHF22.26bn compared to CHF22.34bn the previous year, the company announced on Friday. The decrease in sales were due to the sale of its Alcon eye care business and foreign exchange rates by the Swiss franc which has been trading […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
