On Wednesday, Bank of America Merrill Lynch also gave preliminary approval to help Blackstone or BC Partners with a €2bn financing package to buy Iglo group, maker of Birds Eye Fish Fingers. Credit markets in Europe have been massively volatile in recent weeks as the euro crisis has looked to be on the verge of implosion. Dixons’ chief executive Sebastian James, who has been advised by Rothschild, had been in talks with banks over the last few months regarding a financing package. The new facility, which will last until 2015, will help the company pay a £150m bond due in November and a £65m currency hedge that needs to be closed. Dixons saw its sales fall 3pc in the year to April 28 but the ... Continue reading →

By Carlos Ruano MADRID | Fri May 25, 2012 9:36am BST MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish lender Bankia will ask the state for more than 15 billion euros (US$19 billion) to bail it out when its new management team presents a restructuring plan on Friday, a financial sector source said late on Thursday. Bankia, partially nationalized by the government earlier this month, is the weak spot in Spain's fragile banking system where loan losses stemming from a 2008 property crash threaten to push the country into seeking international assistance."The help needed to clean up the bank will be more than 15 billion euros," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.Neither Bankia, the country's fourth-largest bank with 10 percent of Spaniards' deposits, nor the government ... Continue reading →

A DREAM job being advertised at Tottenham Hotspur was blasted yesterday — because it comes with NO PAY. The Premier League club wants a “highly motivated” intern to spend a year working in its press office and alongside its stars for free. Furious TUC official Mick Gosling branded it “a disgrace”. He stormed: “The top stars get tens of thousands a week. How can this be justified?” Harry Redknapp’s club is in the capital’s worst unemployment blackspot — with 25 people chasing every job. Local MP, Tory Nick de Bois admitted he was “surprised” at the length of the internship. Three months is more usual. Fan Darren Abbot, 37, who lives near the club, said: “I think this is awful.” Spurs insisted it would be ... Continue reading →