|
IN BRIEF (Page 17)
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-18 07:58 Lehman sues Barclays Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc has filed a lawsuit against Barclays Capital Inc alleging the British bank took control of excess assets in collusion with Lehman executives when it bought its US brokerage business a year ago, court documents show. Lehman filed for bankruptcy on September 15, 2008, in the largest US bankruptcy in history. Its flagship US brokerage business was sold to Barclays less than a week later in a hurriedly assembled deal. Lehman said in September this year that Barclays Capital got an $8.2 billion "windfall profit" due to the fire sale of its business for an undisclosed $5 billion discount off the book value of securities transferred to Barclays. Fed 'weak', says TARP The Federal Reserve Bank of New York used a weak negotiating strategy that failed to wring concessions from AIG trading partners last year, allowing them to reap nearly $30 billion in payments from US taxpayers, a government audit report said. The New York Fed had little room to maneuver after bailing out American International Group in September but failed to use what leverage it had when it later cut a deal with AIG counterparties, according to the report by the Troubled Asset Relief Program's (TARP) special inspector general. EasyJet FY profits slump British low-cost airline easyJet reported a 64.5 percent fall in full-year profit, hit by rising fuel costs and lower interest income, but said it expected profit to be substantially higher in 2010. The carrier yesterday posted an underlying pretax profit of 43.7 million pounds ($73.6 million) on revenue up 12.9 percent at 2.66 billion pounds for the year ending September. EasyJet said the reduction in profit was driven by a fuel cost increase of 86.1 million pounds and interest income, which was 30.5 million pounds lower. Ferrero woos Cadbury Italian chocolatier Ferrero might be considering an offer with friendly investors for an alliance with British confectioner Cadbury, the subject of a hostile bid from Kraft, an Italian newspaper reported yesterday. Business daily Il Sole 24 Ore said Ferrero, which makes Nutella chocolate spread, could join financial investors and private equity players considered friendly to Cadbury for a possible alliance. The newspaper did not quote any sources. Portugal Telecom bleeds Portugal Telecom posted a 36 percent fall in third-quarter net profit, hit by lower mobile call charges and rising financial and depreciation costs after investment in new networks and equipment. But the net profit of 115.9 million euros ($173.4 million) exceeded analysts' average forecast of 108 million euros. Soros ups stake in Ford Billionaire investor George Soros' hedge fund reported holdings of $6.2 billion during the third quarter, an increase of $2 billion, after taking a stake in automaker Ford and boosting his holdings in communications services stocks. Agencies (China Daily 11/18/2009 page17) |
