Exxon Mobil said to have abandoned £70 billion BP takeover deal - part 2

Wow - these "old" or "stale" deal stories are becoming quite fashionable.

Reuters has just unveiled an "exclusive" scoop revealing ChemChina made a multi-billion takeover approach for BG Group, which has just been bought by Royal Dutch Shell. Here is the link:

Top of the market? - part 6

I know I should probably reign in the chest beating but global stock markets are down almost 20pc since last spring's highs, so perhaps my "top of the market" series was useful to readers after all.

And I couldn't help but notice that a company that was taken private at the top of the last bull market (i.e in 2007) is floating just as the stock market (potentially) flirts with its the latest "top".

HSBC takeaway - part 2

Readers might recall that earlier this week HSBC was quick out of the blocks to boast how it was the "sole" financial advisor to ChemChina on its $43 billion purchase of Sygenta, sending out a release on topic in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Well, it turns out that might not be the case. According to Bloomberg, some chap called Ze'ev Goldberg was never "far from the side" of ChemChina chairman Ren Jianxin during the heated negotiations with Syngenta.

HSBC takeaway

Ping! An email arrives from HSBC with the headline:

HSBC sole financial advisor to ChemChina on Syngenta acquisition