Thursday Papers: ICBC plans to raise $6.6bn in rights issue - other news

Three former executives of units of GE Capital charged with fraud

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by Himanshu Singh on Jul 29, 2010 at 03:34

Financial Times

* Industrial and Commercial Bank of China said on Wednesday it planned to raise up to Rmb45bn ($6.64bn) in a rights issue in Hong Kong and Shanghai to shore up its capital base.

* St James’s Place, 60%-owned by Lloyds Banking Group, said pre-tax profits attributable to shareholders’ returns rose 82% from £20m to £36.3m; net asset value per share gained 8% to 116.3p; it would increase its interim dividend 10% to 2.025p after operating profits rose 60% in the first half to £162.1m.

* Three former executives of units of GE Capital - Dominick Carollo, Steven Goldberg and Peter Grimm - were charged on Tuesday with fraud and conspiring to rig bids for municipal finance contracts from 1999 to 2006, the US Department of Justice said.

* Russia is aiming to raise up to $29bn (€22.3bn) through asset sales on the open market over the next three years.

* Italy’s centre-right government on Wednesday secured final parliamentary approval of its €25bn austerity package.

* The FTSE All-World stock index fell 0.2 per cent from its highest point since mid-May; Wall Street’s S&P 500 index is 0.7 per cent lower and the Eurofirst 300 index is off after touching a five-week high, down 0.3 per cent; the UK’s FTSE 100 index was down 0.9 per cent, and Germany’s Dax was down 0.5 per cent; the FTSE Asia-Pacific index was up 1 per cent, led by the 2.7% gain for the Nikkei 225.

The Daily Telegraph

* Profits at British Gas jumped by more than three-quarters to £842m – but its parent company, Centrica, still warned consumers that bills will rise this winter.

* George Osborne, the Chancellor, has urged the Indian government to deregulate the insurance market by allowing UK insurance companies to own far bigger stakes in Indian companies.

* UK steps up offshore rig inspections as US probe begins.

* Bank of England Governor Mervyn King has warned that high inflation will continue to erode earnings power through next year as the economy faces the threat of 'stagflation'.