• LSE’s Indian adventure gives hope for future
    Thursday, 29th July 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    Stock exchanges continue to be a hot topic for debate both in the City and the wider global markets. Global equity issuance may be at its lowest point since 2005, with just $309bn (£198.2bn) raised... [Read more]

  • Motivation is more than a bulging pay packet
    Thursday, 22nd July 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    MORALE among employees is reported to be at an all time low in Britain as we drag ourselves out of one of the worst recessions on record. Job cuts, lack of pay rises and bonuses and the snail’s pace... [Read more]
  • Class of 2010 will find rewarding City career
    Thursday, 15th July 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    AS the latest crop of graduates takes the first tentative steps into the world of work this summer, thousands of college and university-leavers who are desperate for a job will look towards the City... [Read more]
  • London’s bonus culture is already overhauled
    Thursday, 8th July 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    EVEN before yesterday’s vote by European Union lawmakers to restrict bankers’ bonuses, City institutions had been working to address regulatory concerns about the role of the bonus culture in the... [Read more]

  • Corporate events are valuable if chosen well
    Thursday, 1st July 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    DURING these dark times of austerity and bank bashing, those halcyon days of lavish corporate hospitality have come to seem like a long time ago. It has been noticeable watching the Word Cup in South... [Read more]
  • New forms of finance will drive UK’s growth
    Thursday, 24th June 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    THE need to restructure corporate debt and find new sources of financing is germinating a new breed of so-called “equity solutions” that, it could be argued, will be absolutely vital to the UK in the... [Read more]
  • Get ready for a flood of debt restructurings
    Thursday, 10th June 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    WITH continued volatility in world markets expected to continue for at least the next two years, many companies are going to find it necessary to restructure their borrowings as debts reach maturity... [Read more]
  • Mezzanine funds in vogue during debt drought
    Thursday, 3rd June 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    MIDDLE-market companies are facing a refinancing gap unprecedented in modern times as they struggle to raise much-needed capital for expansion. With banks currently unwilling to lend following the... [Read more]
  • For corporate advisers, small can be beautiful
    Thursday, 27th May 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    BEING a mergers and acquisitions (M&A) banker in one of the bulge bracket banks used to be a fast-track way to find yourself labelled one of the elite Masters of the Universe. But these days it... [Read more]
  • The City must stop talent trickling overseas
    Thursday, 20th May 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    CONFIRMATION that the UK is slipping down the list of the world’s most competitive countries comes as no surprise but is a situation that surely must be remedied before irreparable damage is done to... [Read more]
  • The right advisory team makes the difference
    Friday, 14th May 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    PRUDENTIAL’S clumsy attempts to raise $21bn (£14.3bn) to part-finance a planned acquisition of Asian insurer AIA have lurched from one embarrassing stumbling block to another. But could the process... [Read more]
  • Can hybrid platforms give brokers the edge?
    Friday, 7th May 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    ELECTRONIC trading technology has come a long way in a short space of time. It is now crucial to the broking business and, according to research from Execution Noble, offers operating margins of 40... [Read more]
  • Solid first quarter boosts private equity hopes
    Thursday, 29th April 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    IT is not all doom and gloom for private equity. That’s how one senior private equity partner described the current outlook to me over breakfast earlier this week. Yet it is an argument that has... [Read more]
  • Private client managers enjoy time to grow
    Thursday, 22nd April 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    PRIVATE client investment managers and stockbrokers have had a good recession but challenges remain as they seek to strengthen their positions against future uncertainties such as increased... [Read more]
  • Vintage year beckons for recruitment market
    Thursday, 15th April 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    WHISPER it quietly or you may be beaten to the chase, but the City is suffering a shortage of candidates for good jobs – a situation not seen since the economic downturn began. Now that those bonuses... [Read more]
  • Shareholders take a tougher line with firms
    Thursday, 8th April 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    ARE institutional shareholders finally getting tougher with the companies in which they invest? Investors have taken their share of the flak for being too weak to intervene when things were turning... [Read more]
  • Drought of small firms listing could cost jobs
    Thursday, 1st April 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    QUOTED companies outside London’s FTSE 350 have rarely faced such challenging times. Equity markets are fragmenting while regulations are increasingly onerous and markets illiquid, making it harder... [Read more]
  • US resistant to open skies agreement
    Friday, 26th March 2010
    AVIATION
    HARRY BANKS
    EUROPEAN negotiators said yesterday European ownership of US airlines was in sight after three days of “Open Skies” talks but reaction from the US suggested agreement remained distant. The US?... [Read more]
  • Giving investment clubs the personal touch
    Friday, 19th March 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    IN these difficult economic times wealthy individuals have become intensely focused on wealth preservation, circling the wagons to protect what they have while continuing to look for opportunities to... [Read more]
  • Ignorance about bribery laws is no defence
    Friday, 5th March 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    WHAT does bribery mean to you? How about corruption? Is greasing palms an essential part of doing business or an illegal and ethically unsound practice that needs eradicating? It sounds like a simple... [Read more]
  • Changing the private equity model for good
    Thursday, 25th February 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    THE shift in investors’ attitudes towards private equity has been stark, with the relationship in some cases approaching complete breakdown. It is clearly an emotive subject – as evidenced by the... [Read more]
  • IPO failures give private equity a bloody nose
    Friday, 19th February 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    THE keenly anticipated flood of initial public offerings slated for early 2010 has failed to materialise as investors become increasingly wary of over-leveraged businesses coming to market.... [Read more]
  • Encouraging signs for job-seeking graduates
    Thursday, 11th February 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    THE number of opportunities for graduates remains in decline, but not by as much as previously expected. And for those hoping to enter the City after university, prospects remain good, according to... [Read more]
  • Business must get prepared for new bribery laws
    Friday, 29th January 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    BRIBERY and corruption is big business. Just ask a lawyer. With anti-bribery legislation passing through Parliament, a raft of corporate investigations, litigation support and crisis management... [Read more]
  • Minerva asks investors to vote again on chairman
    Tuesday, 26th January 2010
    PROPERTY
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    THE NEXT round in the protracted battle to reinstall Oliver Whitehead as chairman of Minerva is set to take place in early March when the property group will again seek shareholder approval for the... [Read more]
  • City advisers gearing up for a flood of M&A
    Thursday, 21st January 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    ABBEY National, Rover, Corus. Just three Great British companies that have fallen prey to foreign predators in recent years. You can add Cadbury to that list now that the board has recommended the... [Read more]
  • Insider trading: the crime no-one will discuss
    Thursday, 14th January 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    ASK any market participant where they stand on insider trading and you’re likely to be met with an awkward silence – particularly if you’re a financial journalist. As a criminal offence it is obvious... [Read more]
  • Business as usual in City as Britain grinds to halt
    Thursday, 7th January 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    FREEZING weather, heavy snow and iced-up roads may have given many Londoners the perfect excuse to avoid work yesterday but thankfully the City of London continued to function as normal with the... [Read more]
  • Time for City to dig in and prepare for 2010 battles
    Friday, 18th December 2009
    CITY COMMENT
    BEN GRIFFITHS
    AS the year draws to a close thoughts are inevitably turning to the City’s prospects in 2010, a year which will feature economic uncertainty, new legislation and taxes and a general election which... [Read more]