One of the advantages of a long summer break was that it gave me time to reread Barbarians at the Gate, the seminal tale from 20 years ago of the takeover battle for RJR Nabisco, which came to define the grotesque excess of 1980s Wall Street ... more
A giant-sized welcome is in order to Bruce Wasserstein, the Lazards chief and legendary New York banker who is leading the Kraft takeover bid for Cadbury... more
Investment bank advisers, lawyers and accountants could end up sharing fees of more than $75 million (£45.2 million) if the deal between Barclays and BlackRock goes through ... more
Banking: Failed investment bank Lehman Brothers is said to have reached an agreement in principle to sell its merchant banking business, made up of two private equity funds, to management of the funds... more
The oil price ticked up as Hurricane Gustav headed for the oil installations in the Gulf of Mexico. Now it appears to be losing strength and passing through without inflicting anything like the damage we saw in 2005 when Katrina flooded New Orleans, prices seem to be sliding down again... more
ANALYSIS Jerry Yang, chief executive of Yahoo, will be feeling hot under the collar now that Carl Icahn has set his sights on the internet company... more
Gordon Brown's credit crisis meeting with the bankers and financiers was one giant photo-opportunity; an Action Man prime minister being seen to be in charge... more
Monaco-based multimillionaire Jon Wood is an unlikely champion of the dispossessed - and even allies in the fight against nationalisation seem wary of him
... more
French bank BNP Paribas said yesterday that its board had not discussed the possibility of a bid for Société Générale, its high-stepping rival recently bought low by a rogue trader who cost it e4.9 billion (£3.6 billion)... more
Sound check: German industrial metal band Rammstein literally play with fire in their live performances - and now they are about to unleash their singeing spectacle on London. Watch out for your eyebrows
Morning:
6°c
