A roundup of today's other business news in brief
Resolution seals £1.86bn deal for insurer
Britain’s Resolution, an acquisition vehicle founded by tycoon Clive Cowdery, clinched the first of a hoped-for trio of deals with the £1.86 billion (€2.2 billion) takeover of insurer Friends Provident.
Resolution, created last year to buy life insurers and asset managers, said Friends Provident’s management had backed an improved bid giving shareholders 0.9 Resolution shares per Friends share, a month after rejecting an initial offer.
Mr Cowdery said Resolution was looking for at least two more acquisitions which would be merged with Friends and floated on the stock market after two to three years. – (Reuters)
Ex-AIG chief says job was not ‘easy’
Former American International Group (AIG) chief executive Edward Liddy, who returned the bailed-out insurer to profitability, did not know what he was getting into when he joined the firm, he wrote to employees. “I had no idea what I was in for when I accepted this assignment, but I am glad that I came,” he said in a letter dated August 7th. “It hasn’t been easy and, goodness knows, it hasn’t been pretty.”
Mr Liddy (63) handed over control of AIG on Monday to chief executive Robert Benmosche (65), leaving behind a $1-a-year salary.
He came out of retirement to run AIG in September after the insurer needed a US government rescue. – (Bloomberg)
Irish Nationwide's €245m debt swap
Irish Nationwide generated about €245 million of loss- absorbing capital in its debt swap this week, according to an estimate by Davy stockbrokers. This will add to the building society’s reserves of €1.2 billion at the end of last year to protect against mounting loan losses on its €8.2 billion commercial property loan book.
The society offered to swap Government-guaranteed debt for €900 million in senior notes at an exchange price of 78 per cent, £250 million (€291 million) in senior notes at a price of 78 per cent, and £250 million lower tier-two capital notes at a price of 55 per cent.
Record contraction in Russian economy
Russia’s economy contracted at a record rate last quarter as rising unemployment sapped consumer demand, bank lending stalled and the government was slow to respond with supports.
Gross domestic product contracted an annual 10.9 per cent in the second quarter, the federal statistics service said, citing preliminary data. – (Bloomberg)
Hotel recovery ‘may be two years away’
InterContinental Hotels said a recovery for the industry might be two years away after reporting first-half profit that fell but beat forecasts.
The British group, which operates the Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn chains in the Republic, declined to call the bottom of the downturn in the market.
