Lloyds TSB Is in Talks to Buy Mortgage Lender HBOS (Update1) By Ben Livesey and Jon Menon
Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Lloyds TBS Group Plc, the U.K.'s biggest provider of checking accounts, is in talks to buy British mortgage giant HBOS Plc, according to two people familiar with the situation. HBOS shares plunged as much as 52 percent in early trading today before recovering on a report from the BBC that Lloyds was considering a takeover. The shares were down 20 percent at 145.1 pence as of 10:15 a.m., valuing the bank at 7.6 billion pounds ($13.6 billion). Russia Offers Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank $44 Billion of Loans By Alex Nicholson Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Russia's government will loan the country's three biggest banks, OAO Sberbank, VTB Group and OAO Gazprombank, as much as 1.13 trillion rubles ($44 billion) for at least three months to boost liquidity. The ruble-denominated Micex Index fell 17 percent to 881.17 yesterday in Moscow, after trading was suspended for an hour and then reopened for three minutes. Yesterday's decline was the biggest since Bloomberg started tracking the gauge in May 2001, and the largest fluctuation among equity indexes included in global benchmarks. Central Banks in Japan, Australia Pump $33 Billion Into Financial Markets Central banks in Japan and Australia injected $33 billion into their financial systems amid ongoing efforts to calm markets roiled by the demise of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and crisis at American International Group Inc. Europe Trade Deficit Widens to Record on Exports, Energy Costs By Fergal O'Brien Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Europe's trade gap widened to a record in July as a cooling global economy damped exports and crude oil's advance to a record boosted the energy deficit. The 15-nation euro region had a seasonally adjusted deficit of 6.4 billion euros ($9.1 billion), compared with a 3.5 billion-euro trade gap in June, the European Union's statistics office in Luxembourg said today. The July deficit is the largest since the euro was introduced in 1999. http://www.bloomberg.com/intro3.html --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
