Friday Papers: Li Ka-shing pays £5.8bn for UK utility - bid news and gossip

KBC Peel Hunt unveils £74m staff-led buy-out from its Belgian parent

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by Himanshu Singh on Jul 30, 2010 at 03:23

Financial Times

* EDF of France is set to sell its UK electricity networks business to Cheung Kong Infrastructure, controlled by Li Ka-shing, the Hong Kong billionaire, for £5.8bn.

* Oaktree is readying a counter-proposal for a restructuring of the German alumina business, in a last ditch attempt to wrest control from Dubai International Capital.

* Korea National Oil Corporation is close to arranging the loans needed to launch a formal £1.7bn offer for Dana Petroleum as the UK oil explorer battles to convince its shareholders to push for a higher offer.

* Aegis, the media agency is to make its largest acquisition for a decade by offering about £207m for Mitchell Communication Group, Australia's largest media-buying agency.

* KBC Peel Hunt, the City stockbroker, unveiled a long-awaited £74m staff-led buy-out from its Belgian parent.

* US banks are taking advantage of improving earnings and growing investor demand to raise billions of dollars in debt at historically low interest rates.

* Revenue at Collins Stewart remained broadly flat at £96.1m in the six months to June 30.

* The world’s biggest banks will continue to trade over-the-counter derivatives in much the same way as they did before the financial crisis, in spite of the recently enacted legislation on US financial reform, the CME Group said on Thursday.

* Citigroup is to target wealthy US consumers in big cities with a revamped offering of accounts and credit cards.

* The Russian government gave on Thursday initial backing to plans for $29bn in state asset sales.

* US regulators on Thursday charged Samuel and Charles Wyly, two billionaire brothers whose interests range from software to restaurants, with reaping more than $550m in undisclosed gains by trading shares in companies on whose boards they sat.

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2 comments so far. Why not have your say?

It is interesting that Li Ka-Shing is buying into the EDF UK electricity networks.

The 1997 debacle where Britain was reluctant to issue British passport to the people of Hong Kong, with entrepreneurs like him Britain would have been a thriving and prosperous country instead we open Britain to scoungers and fundamentalist who wants to destroy the British way of life.

Welcome Mr Li Ka-Shing!!

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Suspicious one.

Jul 30, 2010 at 11:23

Well said Patricia. I fully agree. Anyone who has seen the work ethic in the East, where people want to improve themselves and education is a first and prized prority, wonder at the foolish decisions made by the British Government. Some recent immigrants have made their mark without fuss (again anyone having a knowledge of the business acumen within that influx would have expected such an outcome). Mr Li-Ka-Shing is indeed most welcome and probably has a better standard of the English language than many here.

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