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05/11/07

Qatar fund drops $22 billion bid for UK's Sainsbury

LONDON (Reuters) - A Qatari fund has dropped plans for a 10.6 billion pound ($22.1 billion) bid for Britain's J Sainsbury , blaming worsening credit markets and the cost of winning support from the firm's pension trustees. Traders said shares in Britain's third-biggest supermarket group were set to open down around 15 percent on Monday.

Citigroup CEO quits, bank may face $11 billion writeoff

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Charles Prince resigned on Sunday as chairman and chief executive of Citigroup Inc, as the bank said it may write off $11 billion of subprime mortgage losses, on top of a $6.5 billion write-down last quarter. Robert Rubin, the former U.S. Treasury Secretary who had chaired Citigroup's executive committee, was named chairman, while Sir Win Bischoff, who runs Citigroup's European operations, was named acting chief executive.

Oppenheimer to buy part of CIBC's capital markets

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Canada's CIBC said on Sunday it would sell a major part of its U.S. capital markets business to Oppenheimer Holdings Inc as it focuses on its core operations. The businesses to be acquired by Oppenheimer employ over 700 people and had annualized revenues of about $400 million, Oppenheimer said.

Credit worries weigh on Asian stocks

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Asian stocks fell to one-week lows on Monday, dragged down by financial shares as persistent credit worries offset an influential U.S. report that suggested the world's biggest economy was coping with a housing slump. Those concerns are set to weigh on markets in Europe, where financial bookmakers expect Britain's FTSE 100, France's CAC 40 and Germany's DAX to open lower.

Kraft close to $2.8 billion Post cereals sale: report

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Kraft Foods Inc is close to agreeing to a deal to sell its Post cereals business to store-brand food maker, Ralcorp Holdings Inc , for about $2.8 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. Kraft and Ralcorp were considering a stock-based deal to spin off the Post business, then merge it with Ralcorp, leaving Kraft holders with equity in the merged entity, and freeing both parties from tax liability, the Journal said, citing unnamed sources.

PetroChina shares more than double in Shanghai debut

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Shares in PetroChina <601857.SS> more than doubled in their market debut on Monday after raising $9 billion in the world's biggest IPO this year, surging past analysts' expectations as China's top producer enjoys soaring crude prices. The strong debut gave PetroChina a market value of around $1 trillion, double the world's second biggest company, rival oil giant Exxon Mobil , at $488 billion, although only 2 percent of its shares are traded on the Shanghai market.

Oil falls over $1 on credit worries

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Oil prices fell over a dollar on Monday, dragged down by fears of an escalating fallout in top energy consumer the United States from the subprime crisis and by easing tensions in the Middle East. U.S. light crude for December delivery fell $1.17 to $94.76 a barrel by 0320 GMT, partially reversing previous session's $2.44 surge.

RIM launches software aimed at smaller firms

TORONTO (Reuters) - BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd is rolling out a professional software package aimed at small and medium businesses with up to 30 wireless users, the company said on Monday. The BlackBerry software will let small or mid-sized companies have secure wireless access to e-mail, as well as Internet and intranet applications, "while meeting the need for an in-house solution that is affordable, simple to install and easy to manage," RIM said in a statement.

CIBC analyst got death threats on Citigroup: report

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The analyst whose downgrade of Citigroup Inc sparked a broad stock market sell-off on Thursday said she has received several death threats stemming from her research, the Times of London said. Meredith Whitney of CIBC World Markets Inc late Wednesday downgraded Citigroup to "sector underperformer," saying the largest U.S. bank by assets might need to raise more than $30 billion of capital and cut its dividend.

U.S. to boost testing of imported Canada meat

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Meat and poultry products being imported from Canada will be subjected to increased testing and inspection after an outbreak of E. coli in several U.S. states traced to beef from a Canadian company, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Saturday. The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service said it would increase testing for salmonella, listeria monocytogenes and E. coli O157:H7. The agency said it would require the products be held until testing shows they do not contain any of those pathogens.

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