Search

The U.K. government has established a state energy company called Great British Energy, which aims to invest £8.3 billion in renewable projects over the next five years. The goal is to accelerate the adoption of green energy and achieve the government's target of decarbonizing the electricity grid by 2030. However, industry executives are divided on whether this plan can be successful. While some companies are scaling back their green-energy ambitions, others are hopeful that the government's investment will attract more funds and accelerate funding for low-carbon projects. There are concerns about the size of GB Energy's budget and the challenges of connecting green-energy projects to the U.K.'s electricity grid. Additionally, there is debate over potential limits to oil and gas production in the North Sea. [Extracted from the article]

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into whether Harbinger Capital Partners misled investors by not disclosing in a timely fashion a personal loan of $113 million extended to the hedge fund's founder Philip Falcone. The SEC is also investigating alleged preferential treatment to some clients.

Hedge fund managers bet that natural gas prices would continue to languish because of increased production and weak consumption, but gas prices increased 15% in June, sparking a string of losses for leading funds. Prices were driven up by expectations that natural gas demand to generate electricity would increase in the summer months.

Nacco Industries Inc. claims that hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners received confidential information related to Nacco's 2006 bid for appliance manufacturer Applica Inc. Nacco alleges that Harbinger used the information to accumulate a large stake in Applica and launch a bid to rival Nacco's offer.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating at least nine possible violations of insider-trading laws related to recent mergers and acquisitions. Among others, the following transactions are being investigated: Pfizer Inc.'s takeover of Wyeth Corp., Merck & Co.'s purchase of Schering-Plough Corp., Abbott Laboratories' acquisition of Advanced Medical Optics, and Eli Lilly & Co.'s purchase of ImClone Systems Inc.

American International Group Inc.'s efforts to sell its $100-billion asset-management business has been complicated by client capital withdrawals and declining asset values. AIG, which expects to close the sale by the end of May, has received offers ranging between $400 million and $800 million, but may cancel the sale if the offers aren't high enough. AIG's unit is valued at between $1 billion and $2 billion.

Byline: JENNY STRASBURG AND CAROLYN CUI HOLDING COMPANIES AIG asset sale hampered by low prices About a half-dozen bidders have emerged for American International Group Inc.'s AIG-N asset management business, [...]

Byline: JENNY STRASBURG AND PETER LATTMAN Some high-profile Bain Capital credit-investment funds are choking on losses of as much as 50 per cent, said people familiar with the matter, the [...]

Prompted by a precipitous 21% drop in stock value, $6.95, to $21.75 on Wednesday, investment bank Morgan Stanley has initiated preliminary merger negotiations with Wachovia Corp. Morgan Stanley is also exploring deals with foreign financial institutions such as HSBC Holdings PLC and Spain's Banco Santander S.A. Other investment banks have sought to shore up their finances by linking themselves to more-stable retail banks. Article discusses Wachovia's financial standing, and possible investor opposition to a large acquisition in an unstable market.

In an effort to boost investor confidence, Morgan Stanley rushed out its quarterly results posting a 7.7% net income drop to $1.43 billion, or $1.32 per share, while net revenue rose 1.1% to $8.05 billion in the quarter ended August 31. Morgan Stanley's shares dropped 11% to close at $28.70 on the New York Stock Exchange. In related news, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reported a third-quarter net income of $845 million, a 70% drop from the previous year while net revenue dropped 67% to $2.7 billion. The company also reported $1.1 billion in losses stemming from the mortgage and financial market crisis. Goldman's stock dropped 1.8% to close at $133.01 on Tuesday.

Chinese government enterprise Sinosteel Corp. has raised its 70.2% stake in Australian iron ore company Midwest Corp. by acquiring 13.1% of the company from former Midwest director David Law. The company continues to negotiate with Harbinger Capital Partners to acquire its 15.2% stake in Midwest. Sinosteel needs to own at least 90% of Midwest before the company is required to buy the remaining shares and complete its acquisition of Midwest.

Byline: RANDALL SMITH, JENNY STRASBURG AND KARA SCANNELL; Mark Gongloff and Tennille Tracy contributed to this article The U.S. federal crackdown on short selling is causing a scramble on Wall [...]

Byline: KEVIN J. DELANEY AND JENNY STRASBURG Billionaire investor Carl Icahn's effort to unseat Yahoo Inc.'s board has picked up new backers, including Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens, but Yahoo [...]