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Has Gartmore’s public mulling of the possibility of an IPO in the past few months been nothing more than an attempt to attract takeover bids? Statements from the fund manager now pour cold water on the notion of an IPO but concede that the firm is open to acquisition enquiries. The latest buyer to be mentioned in the rumours is Lehman Brothers.

Relational Investors, which in order to try to convince other shareholders why Spanish bank Santander’s purchase of a 19.8% stake in US Sovereign Bancorp for $2.4 billion shouldn’t go ahead and why two directors should be replaced, hired a specialist company to make a professional promotional video. “Apart from me talking for two-and-a-half hours, it’s actually rather interesting,” said Ralph Whitworth, principal at Relational Investors, at a recent New York conference. “It’s not quite as compelling as a Game Boy, but it’s kind of cool.”

Dresdner Bank has sent out a request for proposals for a sale and leaseback of its retail banking network in Germany. The deal involves some 300 banks and will raise an estimated €2 billion. In mid-December four buyers were left in the auction process – Babcock and Brown, Carlyle, Citigroup Property Investment and Fortress.

Market dismisses concentration risk claims.

After earlier forecasting that European share prices would rise in 2006, Standard & Poor’s equity research now expects a 7% fall. The change in outlook is the result of the European Central Bank’s decision to jump on the bandwagon of global monetary policy tightening.

The general picture’s good and the four biggest economies are simultaneously on a growth path.

Just as Schroders Investment Management joins the ranks of company pension funds to dramatically cut equity exposure, the debate about the merits of such moves is heating up.

With their core jobs as trustees and paying agents commoditized, corporate trustees are relishing the chance to carve out a new role for themselves on structured credit deals.

As economic growth slows in 2006, more businesses are expected to fail, with the biggest increases likely in Germany, Japan, the UK, and the US.

A trader at Mizuho Securities in Tokyo accidentally sold 610,000 shares in J-Com for ¥1 instead of one share for ¥610,000.

ABN Amro bit off more than it could chew when it tried to sell a 4.9% stake in Dutch Telecom company KPN for the Dutch government in December. The bank was unable to offload the entire €883 million block and was left with stock on its books that rivals estimate could be worth hundreds of millions of euros. At least ABN Amro was in good company. Lehman Brothers and HVB also bungled a pre-Christmas trade. Lehman and HVB Corporates & Markets tried to sell an €804 million block of Munich Re shares, equivalent to about 3% of the company’s outstanding shares, at a price range of €116.75 to €117.50 a share, but the deal, on behalf of HVB’s parent, closed at just €116.30. Rivals believe the two might be facing seven-digit losses.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is helping to develop securitization structures in central and eastern Europe. Sudip Roy reports.