Spain downgraded as banks face €112bn hit
Fitch sliced its rating on government debt three notches from A to BBB, barely above junk status, blaming the enormous projected cost of cleaning up the country’s troubled banking sector, the deep recession and soaring national debt. The downgrade came after it emerged European officials were weighing up a bailout programme for Spain that would […]
Facebook investors eat humble pie
The social media giant was plagued with technical problems on its first day of trading, marring it’s highly anticipated stock offering last month. Computer glitches at the Nasdaq delayed the opening of trading by half an hour and kept some investors from buying shares in the morning, selling them later in the day, or even […]
Diageo raises toast to Brazil
Drinks group Diageo is toasting its success in the Brazilian market through the acquisition of spirit brand Ypióca for $469m. The UK-based company who make Guinness, Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky and Smirnoff vodka has agreed to buy the brand of cachaça from the family-owned Ypióca Agro-industrial group, as it continues to expand in emerging markets. […]
Dewey & LeBoeuf files biggest Chapter 11 in US history
New York-based corporate law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf has filed for bankruptcy protection in what is widely perceived to be the largest law firm collapse in US history. The international firm, which at one stage employed close to 1,300 lawyers in 12 countries, announced it has filed for Chapter 11 and is seeking for approval […]
Supreme Court rules Finance Act 2007 in breach of EU law
The US Supreme Court late on Wednesday handed down a long awaited judgement which upheld the appellants’ claim in the FII group Litigation v HM Revenue & Customs. The judge ruled that a section of the Finance Act 2007 has been in breach of EU law. The court specifically found that the Treasury breached European […]
Alibaba to buy back half of Yahoo stake
China’s biggest e-commerce provider, Alibaba Group Holdings, has come to a $7.1bn agreement after years of negotiations with Yahoo! to buy back half the 40 percent share owned by the American internet giant, the companies have announced. As part of the agreement, Yahoo! will sell half its stake for an estimated $6.3bn in cash and […]
Dreyfus set to debut capital markets
Global commodities giant Louis Dreyfus announced late Sunday it is planning to issue bonds for the first time in its 160-year history, according to its CEO Serge Schoen. The firm is intending to boost investments by around 40 percent when weighed against the volume of ventures made between 2006 and 2011. The privately held food […]
China sees off sea claims with independent deep water drilling
China National Offshore Oil Corp (Cnooc), China’s biggest offshore oil producer, late on Wednesday commenced its first unaided deepwater exploration in the South China Sea. Cnooc’s independent deep water oil drilling marks the beginning of a new era, as it typically relied on foreign partnerships such as the one established with Canadian Husky Energy. The […]
Unemployment rate hits record high
Unemployment figures for March within the 17 nations of the eurozone rose by 169,000 or at a rate of 10.9 percent, the highest level since the euro launch, said statistics agency Eurostat. The worse numbers came out of Spain at 24.1 percent, Portugal at 15.3 percent and Greece, where the unemployment rate hit 21.7 percent. […]
Voting now open for World Finance Legal Awards
It’s with great pleasure that World Finance announces the opening of voting of the 2013 Legal Awards. Now in its sixth year, the World Finance Legal Awards are fast becoming the global benchmark for the industry. Celebrating the best firms and individuals working within the sector, the objective of the awards is to capture and […]
