Tom Frew

Real estate fund to raise 65 million euros The real estate fund NEXPONOR promoted by the Associação Empresarial de Portugal (AEP), the Portuguese Entrepreneurial Association, with assets from Exponor, will be admitted to listing on NYSE Alternext on 3 June 2013 with over 65 million euros raised, thus becoming the largest operation registered this year […]

News from the Treasury As part of ongoing efforts to wind down and recover the remaining Capital Purchase Program (CPP) investments under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), the U.S. Department of the Treasury today announced that it intends to auction its warrant positions (the CPP Securities) in the following 16 institutions: Banner Corporation, Walla […]

Unknown whether Sir Jonathan will introduce himself to clients as “Evans, Sir Jonathan Evans”. Sir Jonathan Evans has been appointed a Director of HSBC Holdings. He will be an independent non-executive Director and a member of the Financial System Vulnerabilities Committee. Sir Jonathan’s career in the Security Service, known as MI5, spanned 33 years, the […]

European Union rate at 11.0% The euro area, comprised of seventeen countries, seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 12.2% in April 2013, up from 12.1% in March. The EU27, comprising the members of the European Union, unemployment rate was 11.0%, unchanged compared with the previous month. In both zones, rates have risen markedly compared with April 2012, […]

Deal set to be completed next week. Lloyds Banking Group has announced that it has agreed the sale of a portfolio of US RMBS (residential mortgage backed securities) to a number of different institutions for a cash consideration of £3.3 billion. The transaction is part of the Group’s continued capital accretive non-core asset reduction. The […]

British chamber of Commerce revise 2013 growth figure to 0.9% The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has upgraded its growth forecasts for the UK economy over the next three years from 0.6% to 0.9% in 2013, from 1.7% to 1.9% in 2014, and from 2.2% to 2.4% in 2015. In its Q2 economic forecast, the […]

National Securiry deals resolved. Sprint and SoftBank have announced that they have received notice from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) that it has completed its investigation of a proposed takeover of mobile operator Sprint by Japanese telecommunications giants SoftBank and has concluded there are no unresolved national security issues relating […]

GDP figures revised down. Real gross domestic product, the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States, increased in the United States at an annual rate of 2.4 percent in the first quarter of 2013 (that is, from the fourth quarter to the first quarter), according to the “second” […]

Fitch Ratings has assigned an ‘AAAmmf’ rating to the JPMorgan U.S. Government Money Market Fund managed by J.P. Morgan Investment Management Inc. (JPMIM). The main drivers that Fitch have assigned to the ‘AAAmmf’ rating include: -The fund’s investment guidelines mandating overall credit quality, diversification and maturity profile; -Minimal exposure to interest...

Kingfisher, owner of leading brands including B&Q and Screwfix, reports Q1 total sales down 0.4% (-4.2% LFL) and retail profit of £114 million. The owner of B&Q has seen a nearly 30% fall in profits in Q1. Kingfisher Plc argue that Sales improved at the end of the quarter, following a return to more normal […]