raising money

It was announced that Australia and New Zealand Banking Group was raising $2.5 billion ($1.95 billion) partially to fund a possible purchase of some of Royal Bank of Scotland's Asian assets.

ANZ stated it had made a non-binding bid for the assets. There were some other institutions such as HSBC Holdings and Standard Chartered who have also expressed interest in buying the assets put up for sale with the aim of retreating to home markets and exit or shrink in up to 36 of the countries where RBS operates. 

Ron Dennis, the former head of the McLaren Formula One team, has announced he had appointed Credit Suisse, the investment bank, to find needed £250 million to launch a range of road-going sportscars. He said he plans to start production within two years. 

Mr Dennis left the company as a result of the speculation that he is distancing himself from F1 after the scandals related to the Woking-based team. He will be replaced by Richard Lapthorne, the chairman of Cable & Wireless.