UK Business News

Pensions adviser in £200m buyout

Xafinity is in talks with Advent International which is interested in acquiring the pensions and employee benefits consultancy

Green tycoon’s eco supercar

Dale Vince, who is Britain's richest green entrepreneur, building a £85m fortune on wind power, is to launch an eco supercar

• Dale Vince: Hippy blowing in the wind

• Business big shot: Dale Vince

Hedge fund chiefs share £55m bonus

Managers at London hedge fund Marshall Wace collect a reward of £54.8 million for improving profits during the credit crisis

• ‘Bad boy’ Odey nets £30 million

• Hedge fund manager in line for $2.5bn payday

Reuben brothers eye £2.7 billion float

David and Simon Reuben are in talks with HSBC, Barclays and Deutsche about listing Global Switch in the third quarter of 2010

• Premium Bars investors face Reuben wipeout

• David and Simon Reuben

World Business News

Apple shares rocket on iSlate hopes

The device is expected to be similar to an iPod Touch but with a larger 10-inch screen, making it more convenient to watch videos

Channel tunnel firm blasts Eurostar

Eurotunnel has launched an attack against the train operator, accusing it of having a 'total disregard for safety procedures'

• Eurostar executive’s promotion ‘absurd’

• Eurostar to resume service after 'fluffy snow' debacle

Barclays curtails overseas ambition

The banking giant is curtailing its international expansion plans under a crackdown imposed by its new head of retail banking

• Barclays chief 'laments' bonus supertax

• Barclays Capital rethinks plan for big pay rises

Smiths Group in Brazil bribery probe

The FTSE 100 technology firm is also accused of using industrial sabotage to win a contract for security scanners

Analysis  

Debt will continue to dominate 2010

There was one thread running through 2009 that we can follow to divine likely trends in the coming 12 months. That thread is debt

A record breaking year – for the wrong reasons

The biggest annual slide in the economy since the 1930s caught forecasters by surprise. We review their predictions

Eating houses take a hit as belts tighten

The chunks being taken out of the restaurant industry in the United States show just how deep this recession has bitten

Law  

Camra calls on consumers in pub fight

Campaign for Real Ale vows to launch legal challenge to OFT ruling that big pub companies are not behaving anti-competitively

Dickensian ‘logbook loans’ to be banned

Kevin Brennan, the Consumer Minister, says lenders are able to seize cars from vulnerable borrowers without court orders

• How to find the cheapest loan

• Time to crush loan-shark revival

Kuwait Airways edges closer to restitution

New development in 19-year battle by airline over the loss of half its fleet after invasion by Saddam Hussein in 1990

Money  

OFT drops case against banks' overdraft fees

Watchdog will not pursue legal action but admits it is still concerned about high charges

• Dickensian ‘logbook loans’ to be banned

• Bank customers in line for £6bn refund

Pension projections are ‘too optimistic’

Savers in closed with-profit pension funds are being given optimistic assumptions as to what they will receive in retirement

• Retirement planning just got trickier

• Third company snubs government pension work

Where next for the soaring price of gold?

Half the fund managers recently surveyed said the precious metal was overvalued and would fall next year

business travel  

How business travellers take their holidays

With Christmas upon us, we look at how frequent business travellers approach leisure travel

US introduces hand luggage restrictions after alleged bomb plot

Transatlantic passengers will only be able to take one item on board

Flybe raises threshold for lounge access

Airline to nearly double the number of points required for a Premiercard but will allow a named guest from 1 January