Word: northerner
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...even as the takeover bid was welcomed by the Northern Rock board and the British government, shareholders small and large indicated they may block Branson's bid, a move that could protract efforts to save this high-profile casualty of the global credit crunch, and cause a full-blown political crisis for Chancellor of the Exchequer-turned-Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, who has already seen his reputation for fiscal prudence damaged by the affair...
...Branson, whose consortium includes U.S. billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, hedge fund Toscafund and the First Eastern Investment Group, proposes an injection of $2.69 billion of new cash into Northern Rock, with half of that investment from the consortium. The remainder would be raised through an offer to existing shareholders to buy new shares for 25 pence (52 cents) each?as opposed to a share price that reached 110.1 pence ($2.28) on Monday during turbulent trading. The offered price values Northern Rock at $413 million, which is considerably less than its current market value of $960 million...
...Many shareholders aren?t happy. According to Robin Ashby of the Northern Rock Small Shareholders Group, an "overwhelming majority" of shareholders at a meeting on Monday in the northern English city of Newcastle where the lender is based, agreed in an informal vote that Branson?s offer undervalued the company. Shareholders still have the power to block a sale because the bank has not officially been declared insolvent, despite its reliance on an approximate $47 billion bail out made by the Bank of England in September, when Northern Rock revealed its financial difficulties. "The directors need to be aware that...
...bigger worry for Branson is that some larger shareholders are coming out against the deal. Philip Richards, CEO of the hedge-fund RAB Capital, which owns 6.5 % of the bank, released a statement saying, "We do not believe that this proposal reflects the true value of Northern Rock and we would expect either that this proposal be improved or that alternative proposals be brought forward...
...proposed buying a minority stake while parachuting new management in, a plan that would keep share prices at higher levels. But with the British government having already plunged billions of dollars into the bank, it will want to retain a say in any potential deal. Which means that Northern Rock shareholders might not like Branson's proposed deal, but it may prove the best offer they...