Kroenke becomes Arsenal’s biggest shareholder by increasing stake to 28.3 percent

October 10th, 2009 Qatar fund boosts stake in London property companyDUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Qatar's sovereign wealth fund said Saturday it has become the biggest shareholder in the company that owns much of London's Canary Wharf business district, highlighting a renewed appetite by Gulf investors for property in well-established markets. Qatar Holding said it has increased its holding to 24 percent of the ordinary shares of the real estate company, Songbird Estates PLC.

September 30th, 2009 IAEA chief hails US, Russian move to cut n-weaponsNEW DELHI — The International Atomic Energy Agency chief on Tuesday welcomed recent moves by the United States and Russia to resume talks on reducing their nuclear arsenals, saying it would contribute to efforts to rid the world of such weapons. Mohamed El-Baradei told an international conference that he was glad that "after a couple of ...

September 9th, 2009 NYSE Euronext to sell stake in Amex options unitPARIS — NYSE Euronext Inc. said Wednesday that it plans to sell a "significant" stake in its NYSE Amex options unit to seven Wall Street brokers.

August 27th, 2009 National Express receives takeover approachLONDON — National Express Group PLC, the train and bus operator that is handing back its loss-making London-Edinburgh rail franchises to the government, received Thursday a 688.5 million pound ($1.12 billion) takeover approach from its largest shareholder and CVC Capital Partners Ltd. The offer from CVC and the Cosmen family of Spain, which holds an 18.5 percent stake in National Express, values the company at 450 pence per share.

August 5th, 2009 News Corp boosts stake in Sky DeutschlandNEW YORK — News Corp., the media conglomerate controlled by Rupert Murdoch, has boosted its stake in German pay TV company Sky Deutschland AG to 39.96 percent. Sky Deutschland was formerly known as Premiere AG.

July 24th, 2009 Spanish shareholder joins bid for National ExpressLONDON — A major shareholder in National Express Group PLC has joined with private equity group CVC Capital Partners in a bid to take over the bus and rail company, CVC said Friday. CVC said it was working with the Cosmen family of Spain, which holds an 18.5 percent stake in National Express, on a possible all-cash bid.

June 8th, 2009 Russian bailiffs set to sell Telenor stakeMOSCOW — Russian bailiffs said Monday they are preparing to sell most of Norwegian telecom company Telenor's 29.9 percent stake in VimpelCom, Russia's No. 2 mobile phone operator, to recover $1.7 billion owed in damages.

June 8th, 2009 Russian bailiffs prepare to sell Telenor stakeMOSCOW — Russian bailiffs said Monday they are preparing to sell most of Norwegian telecom company Telenor's 29.9 percent stake in Vimpelcom, Russia's No. 2 mobile phone operator, in order to recover $1.7 billion owed in damages.

June 2nd, 2009 Middle Eastern investor to sell Barclays sharesLONDON — A major Middle Eastern shareholder in Barclays bank said Tuesday it intends to sell part of its stake — at least 1.3 billion shares — potentially taking a big profit on its seven-month investment and sending Barclays shares down more than 13 percent. The shares traded at 274 pence in early trading on the London Stock Exchange following the announcement by International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) of Abu Dhabi.

May 13th, 2009 AIB investors OK bailout, pelt chairman with eggsDUBLIN — Angry investors in Allied Irish Banks have voted to approve a euro3.5 billion ($4.75 billion) taxpayer bailout at an emergency meeting — during which one livid shareholder pelted the chairman with eggs. Bank chairman Dermot Gleeson announced Wednesday's approval of the deal following a tense question-and-answer session with furious AIB shareholders.

April 29th, 2009 Fortis shareholders back bank sale to BNP ParibasUTRECHT, Netherlands — Fortis Holding shareholders gave the final go-ahead Wednesday for the sale of Belgium's largest bank to France's BNP Paribas, in a deal that makes Paribas the largest bank in the euro zone by deposits. The proposal won 77 percent support of the shares cast at a shareholders meeting that was tame compared with an uproarious gathering Tuesday in Ghent, Belgium.

April 28th, 2009 Richest English Premier League clubs deep in debtLONDON — The most successful clubs in soccer's richest league have some of the biggest debts in the sport. A report by British lawmakers last week accused Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea — the top three teams in the Premier League — of "financial doping," or reckless borrowing to maintain their domination.

April 27th, 2009 Watchdog warns arms transfers to Mideast risingSTOCKHOLM — The volume of weapons exported to the Middle East has risen sharply in the last four years, threatening to destabilize the volatile region further, a leading Swedish think tank warned Monday. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said arms exports to the Middle East increased 38 percent in the period 2004 to 2008, compared with 1999 to 2003.

April 27th, 2009 Russian tycoon to return stake in Austrian companyMOSCOW — Embattled Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska will return his 25 percent stake in Austria's Strabag construction company to its shareholders, Deripaska's Basic Element holding company said Monday. Under a deal to be signed this week with Strabag's shareholders, Deripaska will transfer his stake while retaining one share and two seats on the supervisory board.

December 27th, 2008 LONDON - Lakshmi Niwas Mittal and Anil Agarwal head a league of British super-rich who have seen their collective fortunes nosedive by more than 200 billion pounds in the economic downturn, a report here said Sunday. According to research to be published by the Sunday Times Rich List next year, the fortunes of the richest 1,000 people in Britain have fallen from 412.8 billion pounds in the 2008 List to 200 billion pounds.