| Friends Provident to hold on to F&C
Today is crunch time for embattled insurer Friends Provident. It is due to unveil a review of its business following the collapse of a nil-premium merger with Resolution Life last year. The company is expected to say its 52pc stake in fund manager F&C, worth about £700m, is up for sale. About 17pc of F&C stock is held by another asset manager -Dawnay Day - and the remainder is freely floated. In the past year, the share price has oscillated wildly as bid rumours came and went. But it is now trading flat compared to six months ago when Questor tipped it as a Sell. More recently, the price has been inflated by expectations that a bidder could emerge and one or two are tipped to be interested. Simultaneously, however, about 27m of the 45m F&C shares available on the stock market are being "shorted" by those expecting bad news.
Government allows setting of LPG auto-gas stations
ISLAMABAD: The government has allowed the private sector to set up Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Auto-Gas station throughout the country, a government notification said. An official said, the federal government has finally decided to allow setting of LPG auto-gas stations...
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Knight: We’ve got a cup!
Just a few days ago, I wrote a whimsical blog item about starting a cup competition open to every pro, semi-pro and amateur soccer team in Canada. So now here comes CONCACAF, announcing an exciting new format for a Champions Cup involving every country in North and Central America and the Caribbean. This was going to happen anyway, of course – but we didn't know Canada was going to get an automatic qualifying spot. Here's roughly how it works. Twenty-four teams, including one from Canada. Eight teams are seeded, and the Canadians play a two-leg home-and-home qualifier for a spot in group play, which will commence in the late summer and fall. The big question now – how will Canada's representative be selected? This is a country which has one and only one first-division professional men's team: Toronto FC. The simplest thing? Just hand them the spot, and wish them well.
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