The Capitalist

  • LAWYERS MAKE A KILLING IN COURT SPAT
    Friday, 19th March 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    YESTERDAY saw sighs of contentment all round at inter-dealer broker Tullett Prebon, as judge Justice Jack ruled in its favour after almost a year of wrangling with rival BGC about a staff poaching operation. Though of course, after seven months of advisory work and a trial lasting the best part of four months, it’s the lawyers who’ll really walk away from the whole affair with a smile on their faces. No less than nine barristers graced the courtroom over the 45 days on which the court sat, instructed by four separate firms of solicitors. Jeffery Onions QC and barrister Daniel Oudkerk stepped... [Read more]

  • CITY EYE
    Friday, 19th March 2010
    FANCY headgear was out in force yesterday on the third day of this year’s Cheltenham Festival, Ladies’ Day. The splashes of colour over the racecourse grounds marked a change from the usual dress... [Read more]
  • CITY BIDS FAREWELL TO ANCIENT BROKER
    Thursday, 18th March 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    AFTER over 200 years providing services to the City of London, it was a sad farewell yesterday to the oldest stockbroking name in the Square Mile. The origins of Hichens Harrison can be traced back... [Read more]
  • CHELTENHAM BRINGS THE CITY OUT IN FORCE
    Wednesday, 17th March 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    TO Gloucestershire yesterday for the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival, the favourite corporate entertainment jolly of the year for many a self-respecting racegoer. Bucking the austere trend of... [Read more]

  • CELEBRITY LAWYER CEMENTS HIS STATUS
    Tuesday, 16th March 2010
    “Snoop Dogg is one of a list of Trott’s past high-profile clients, who have included P Diddy, Busta Rhymes and 50 Cent”
    VICTORIA BATES
    CELEBRITY LAWYER CEMENTS HIS STATUS SHOWBIZ and the somewhat more drab world of the law aren’t usually professions that share column inches, but a City immigration lawyer is doing his level best to... [Read more]
  • THE KNIVES ARE OUT AS THE CITY VIEWS GRAND MILITARY GOLD CUP
    Monday, 15th March 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    THE Capitalist travelled in style to Sandown Park racecourse for the Grand Military Gold Cup, where the City types in attendance were busy whetting their appetite for this week’s Cheltenham... [Read more]
  • BILL OF THE WEEK
    Monday, 15th March 2010
    JUST St James obviously ticked the right boxes for one of its loyal Mayfair regulars. with the introduction of a Best of British menu. On the day the 10-year-old favourite relaunched its basement bar... [Read more]
  • DIAMONDS ARE AN INVESTOR’S BEST FRIEND
    Friday, 12th March 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    WE’VE all heard a lot of novel investment advice over the course of the last two bumpy years, but investing in your own diamond mine has got to be a new one. Investment firm Capital Alternatives has... [Read more]
  • CAUGHT IN THE THROES OF A NIGHT OF PASSION
    Thursday, 11th March 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    AS AN elite bunch of the City’s most successful ladies and gentlemen left the Mansion House last night after a fundraising “Passion and Performance” evening hosted by Lord Mayor Nick Anstee, they... [Read more]
  • FELIX DENNIS OFFERS UP A LESSON IN THE WAYS TO GET RICH QUICK
    Wednesday, 10th March 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    WHOOMPH. On The Capitalist’s desk lands a blood-red copy of the latest money-getting guide from eccentric publishing magnate Felix Dennis, “88: The Narrow Road”. Many readers will be familiar with... [Read more]
  • YANKEE RED KNIGHTS LAY CLAIM TO A NAME
    Tuesday, 9th March 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    MANCHESTER United’s would-be “Red Knights”, the group of City businessmen currently attempting to wrest the club from the grasp of its US owners, the Glazer family, may well be in for a bit of a... [Read more]
  • CITY EYE
    Tuesday, 9th March 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    Window models at Austin Reed on Regent Street get a City slicker makeover [Read more]
  • AMBITIOUS SQUARE MILE LADIES APPOINT THEIR NEW AMBASSADOR
    Monday, 8th March 2010
    Victoria Bates
    MUCH has been made of the significance of today – International Women’s Day – for ladies in the City, so it seems fitting that the appointment of the latest high-flying president of the City Women’s... [Read more]
  • BILL OF THE WEEK
    Monday, 8th March 2010
    OFF to Froggy favourite Papillon in Chelsea for a slap-up dinner à trois. Our diners feasted on scallops, foie gras, succulent fish, fillet of beef and a decadent chocolate pudding, washed down with... [Read more]
  • THE NAME GAME IS ON FOR MANCHESTER UNITED’S RED KNIGHTS
    Friday, 5th March 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    IS A setback in the offing for the self-styled “Red Knights”, the group of City businessmen plotting to seize control of Manchester United from current owners, the Glazer family? The Capitalist only... [Read more]
  • CITY BROKER ISN’T JUST HORSING AROUND WITH NEW POLO VENTURE
    Thursday, 4th March 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    IT’S SET to be a good year for Daniel Fox-Davies, the jovial boss of City stockbroker Fox-Davies Capital. Foxy, you see, is a bit of a dark horse when it comes to his extra-curricular hobbies – along... [Read more]
  • BOND GURU FALLS FOUL OF PARTY CIRCUIT
    Wednesday, 3rd March 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    CRUMBS, the fixed income social scene can’t be much cop if Pimco’s resident investment guru-cum-scrooge Bill Gross is anything to go by. Gross – a founder and 38 year veteran of the distinguished... [Read more]
  • FIRST LADIES OF THE CITY GET TOGETHER FOR A GOOD OLD GOSSIP
    Tuesday, 2nd March 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    FORGET austerity and po-faced über-networking – get a bunch of ladies in a room together and we all know what’s going to happen. It was gossip galore up at the top of the Lloyds Banking Group... [Read more]
  • THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION: DO YOU SIT AT A ROUND TABLE?
    Monday, 1st March 2010
    Justin Urquhart Stewart
    DESPITE suffering from something akin to man flu, I managed to speak (apparently sounding more like Barry White – in sound not size) at the annual convention of the Million Dollar Round Table at... [Read more]
  • BILL OF THE WEEK
    Monday, 1st March 2010
    With a successful bonus season showing all the right numbers on their calculators, six lucky City accountants celebrated with a long, long lunch at renowned fine restaurant Winteringham Fields in... [Read more]
  • A £53M CHEQUE GETS YOU THINKING
    Friday, 26th February 2010
    DAVID BUIK
    WITH The Capitalist taking a well earned holiday, this ancient scribe has been ruminating over a few whimsical anecdotes that he has come across over the past 47 years in the City of London. My first... [Read more]
  • CITY EYE
    Friday, 26th February 2010
    VISITORS to St Paul’s during the rest of 2010 will be treated to the sight of an Antony Gormley sculpture “Flare II” inside the Cathedral’s Geometric Staircase. [Read more]
  • EX-BANKER FOLLOWS HIS RUGBY DREAMS
    Thursday, 25th February 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    RUGBY-lovers in the City can be rightly proud that one of their own is putting his money where his mouth is in terms of promoting the game of Rugby Sevens around the world. Sevens – a speedier,... [Read more]
  • SMOKING-HOT CUBANS LAUGH IN THE FACE OF A CIGAR SALES SLUMP
    Wednesday, 24th February 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    CAVIAR, lobster, champagne and sports car sales have all been dwindling over the course of the downturn, so I suppose we really should have seen this one coming. Apparently, the latest luxury... [Read more]
  • CRISIS IN THE SKY FOR VETERAN BROKER
    Tuesday, 23rd February 2010
    “Williams’ jet had to make an emergency landing, after a steady stream of fuel leaked from the plane in mid-air”
    VICTORIA BATES
    SIGHS of relief all round yesterday as a veteran of the City broking community emerged unscathed from a terrifying near-death experience. Brewin Dolphin divisional director Stephen Williams – a... [Read more]
  • CITY TYPES SHOW THEY’RE GAME AS SHOOTING MAKES A COMEBACK
    Monday, 22nd February 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    WELL, well, well: how about this for a turn-up for the books? You know the good times are returning when the traditional City pastimes start making a comeback – eating and boozing at the swankiest of... [Read more]
  • BILL OF THE WEEK
    Monday, 22nd February 2010
    THESE off-duty City types headed to swanky Italian Vineria in St John’s Wood last weekend for a blow-out £2,500 Sunday brunch, munching their way through sea bass, monkfish, veal and a mountain of... [Read more]
  • CITY SET FOR HERON’S ROOM WITH A VIEW
    Friday, 19th February 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    Nick Anstee
    BUSINESS hotshots out to impress in the City’s culture of superlatives, take note: plans are finally afoot to find a restaurateur to take on what will soon become the venue with some of the best... [Read more]
  • CITY BEAN COUNTERS GET STAR TREATMENT
    Thursday, 18th February 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    DULL accountants, hobnobbing the evening away with some of the world’s glitziest movie stars? Who’d have thought it? Yet that’s exactly what a gaggle of beancounters from Deloitte will do on Sunday... [Read more]
  • CITY BEAN COUNTERS GET STAR TREATMENT
    Thursday, 18th February 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    DULL accountants, hobnobbing the evening away with some of the world’s glitziest movie stars? Who’d have thought it? Yet that’s exactly what a gaggle of beancounters from Deloitte will do on Sunday... [Read more]
  • DIAMOND TAKES HARD LINE ON BONUS ROW
    Wednesday, 17th February 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    AS AN investment banking doyen continually under the cosh these days with regard to bonus payments, it must be tough to keep a calm and unruffled façade at all times. Bob Diamond, the president of... [Read more]
  • LEHMAN GOODIES LEFT OUT ON THE SHELF
    Tuesday, 16th February 2010
    HAVING had a tough time of it during the recession, the flood of money now pouring into charity coffers from the world’s chastened banks continues apace. Hot on the heels of Goldman Sachs donating a... [Read more]
  • BILL OF THE WEEK
    Monday, 15th February 2010
    A BIT of a Thursday night blowout for this group of four diners, who spent a cosy evening at Mayfair’s new luxury Italian haunt Babbo. In true continental style, our foodies did not spare a... [Read more]
  • EX-FAIRFAX CHIEFTAIN MAKES HIS COMEBACK
    Monday, 15th February 2010
    Victoria Bates
    MEMBERS of the City’s investment banking community have probably been wondering for months what has become of Adam Hart, the cheery former managing director of Fairfax. Hart left Fairfax last summer... [Read more]
  • HEDGE FUND FASHION GURU HAS A SALES BOOM
    Friday, 12th February 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    WE ALWAYS knew women were good at multi-tasking, but Britt Lintner really does take the concept to a new extreme. Regular readers may remember Lintner, who heads up her own flourishing womenswear... [Read more]
  • CITY EYE
    Friday, 12th February 2010
    CITY workers toast their fundraising efforts for the SOS Children’s Haiti Appeal yesterday evening at Leadenhall Market, after donning antiquated headgear for the second annual Bowler Hat Day. The... [Read more]
  • CITY’S NON-EXEC ALSATIANS ARE LET OFF THE LEASH
    Thursday, 11th February 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    TO THE Plaisterers Hall on London Wall last night for the annual Non-Executive Director Awards, hosted by broker KBC Peel Hunt. Top of the honours list was former Cadbury chairman Roger Carr – who... [Read more]
  • OFFICE CHIC GETS A SPORTING MAKEOVER
    Wednesday, 10th February 2010
    “The swish new offices feature a dedicated World Cup viewing room where the landlord lays on the beer”
    VICTORIA BATES
    HERE in the City, we are used to enjoying state-of-the-art office luxury, so it always comes as a surprise when a landlord manages to offer something quite out of the ordinary when it comes to luring... [Read more]
  • MILLION-DOLLAR MAN THAIN LEARNS ERROR OF HIS PRICEY OFFICE WAYS
    Tuesday, 9th February 2010
    “Thain’s new digs at CIT’s HQ are a cut above the average, but the ex-Merrill boss is taking no chances this time”
    VICTORIA BATES
    HAPPY days for John Thain, the former Merrill Lynch chief executive who demonstrated yesterday that not only has he managed to stage an impressive comeback on Wall Street, but has actually learnt a... [Read more]
  • FIT FOR A KING
    Tuesday, 9th February 2010
    IT’S HARD to say whether a picture of a City grandee has ever tickled The Capitalist quite as much as this gem, which shows Bank of England governor Mervyn King taking a ride on a dog sled at the G7... [Read more]
  • BILL OF THE WEEK
    Monday, 8th February 2010
    OFF to the Covent Garden branch of cheery Japanese joint Hi Sushi this week, as our diners celebrated a big deal in understated style. They ordered bottle after bottle of Laurent Perrier champagne... [Read more]
  • FOOTBALL FUND LAUNCHES OUT TO CHAMPION THE BEAUTIFUL GAME
    Monday, 8th February 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    GIVEN the City’s penchant for all things football-related, it’s something of a miracle that the new London Nominees Football Fund has managed to keep its launch virtually entirely under wraps –... [Read more]
  • CADBURY’S CARR REFUSES TO COSY UP TO KRAFT PREDATOR ROSENFELD
    Friday, 5th February 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    IRENE Rosenfeld hasn’t exactly offered herself readily to the cameras during her ultimately successful five-month pursuit of chocolatier Cadbury, though The Capitalist hears there was at least one... [Read more]
  • BACK TO THE GREEN HOUSE FOR DE BLONAY
    Thursday, 4th February 2010
    “Mischievous colleagues gave de Blonay a tiny green car which had pride of place until he left for New Star”
    VICTORIA BATES
    THE City’s resident “Swiss funds fox”, Guy de Blonay, has barely warmed up his seat after his high-profile return to fund management group Jupiter, but already things are settling comfortably back... [Read more]
  • City Eye
    Wednesday, 3rd February 2010
    MANNEQUINS cast a surly stare over passers-by in front of New Look on London Wall, on the day the fashion retailer confirmed plans to raise up to £650m via a London Stock Exchange float. [Read more]
  • A IS FOR... A TOUCH OF ACRIMONY AT ALCHEMY
    Wednesday, 3rd February 2010
    “Moulton’s revamped website reveals a mischievous take on the A-Z of the private equity world”
    VICTORIA BATES
    PROOF, if it were needed, that the old adage about time being the best healer does not always ring true. Private equity veteran Jon Moulton is in the preliminary throes of building his new business,... [Read more]
  • IT’S DOG EAT DOG AMONG TOP RETAIL BANKERS
    Tuesday, 2nd February 2010
    Victoria Bates
    IF THE government wants more competition in the retail banking sector, it’s more competition it’s gonna get. Hot on the heels of yesterday’s heart-warming tale about new High Street lender Metro Bank... [Read more]
  • BILL OF THE WEEK
    Monday, 1st February 2010
    PICCADILLY Circus restaurant Criterion had a boost last week from these well-heeled diners, racking up £2,396 on a lengthy business lunch. Our foodies enjoyed a feast of foie gras, king scallops,... [Read more]
  • FIRST LADY OF FOOTY IS A HIT WITH HER FANS
    Friday, 29th January 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    OFF to the majestic surroundings of the Royal Courts of Justice last night for the annual Quoted Company of the Year awards – where the organisers had either pulled out all the stops to secure the... [Read more]
  • EX-FA BOSS BARWICK LANDS NEW CITY ROLE
    Thursday, 28th January 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    SOMETHING of a coup for law firm Lewis Silkin yesterday, as it announced the appointment of former Football Association chief executive Brian Barwick as a consultant in its sports law team. Barwick,... [Read more]
  • A LESSON IN THE PERILS OF PAYING BY PLASTIC
    Wednesday, 27th January 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    LET this be a lesson to all those out there who imagine that the good old days of decadence are gone for good. I hear a bit of a surprise was in store on a recent holiday to Miami for Michael Parnes... [Read more]
  • 250-YEAR OLD BOOZER BREAKS TRADITION TO BRING IN EARLY BIRDS
    Tuesday, 26th January 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    TIMES really are a-changin’, aren’t they? We’ve all noticed a shift in the financial community’s attitude to wining and dining over the past few years, with slick power breakfasts replacing boozy... [Read more]
  • INVESTMENT BANK WANNABE LAYS HIS SOUL BARE AT GOLDMAN ALTAR
    Monday, 25th January 2010
    DEPLETED bonus pool or not, it appears university graduates are still tripping over themselves to land a coveted internship position at Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs. In swoops an email doing the... [Read more]
  • BILL OF THE WEEK
    Monday, 25th January 2010
    OFF to Vivat Bacchus’ champagne bar on Friday for a stylish private shindig where our diners munched their way through seven themed platters, including a selection of South African delicacies such as... [Read more]
  • EX-BANKING HOTSHOTS DON’T HOLD A GRUDGE
    Friday, 22nd January 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    ON the face of it, you’d have thought there would be a good deal of simmering resentment beneath the surface of the outward relationship between Sir James Sassoon – the investment banker-turned-... [Read more]
  • Wolseley duo to return with a breakfast pad on city doorstep
    Thursday, 21st January 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    RESTAURATEURS Chris Corbin and Jeremy King, owners of the Wolseley, have managed to keep this extraordinarily quiet, but word reaches The Capitalist that they’re in the early stages of launching... [Read more]
  • MEETING OF MINDS AS CITY TITANS PARTNER UP
    Wednesday, 20th January 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    IT’S not every day you see an alliance struck up between one of the Square Mile’s most outspoken private equity veterans and the only female chief executive of an independent City stockbroker. But... [Read more]
  • BROKER WILLS & CO OPENS FIRE ON FSA’S REGULATORY CRACKDOWN
    Tuesday, 19th January 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    WHEREAS most City firms are content to whinge ineffectually about the Financial Services Authority’s new heavy-handed approach to regulation, it seems that others are starting to put their money... [Read more]
  • Champagne on ice for an April Xmas bash
    Monday, 18th January 2010
    Victoria Bates
    THE turkey’s long been eaten, the tree taken down and the tinsel packed away for next year, but it isn’t stopping many a City firm from continuing to plan their Christmas parties well into the new... [Read more]
  • BILL OF THE WEEK
    Monday, 18th January 2010
    MAYFAIR Japanese restaurant Sumosan was the dinner venue of choice for this group on Thursday evening last week. Amazingly for a £1298.12 bill, most of this ticket was racked up by food and not drink... [Read more]
  • MANDY UNLEASHES HIS SHARP WIT AT BUSINESS FOR EUROPE DEBATE
    Friday, 15th January 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    IT’S good to know that it’s not only opposition politicians who are subjected to the sting of Lord Mandelson’s acerbic tongue, but members of his own party as well. Mandy was yesterday morning in... [Read more]
  • CITY HEAVYWEIGHTS GET THE URGE TO SLOG IT OUT IN THE BOXING RING
    Thursday, 14th January 2010
    VICTORIA BATES
    THE High Court case rumbling on and on between BGC Partners and Tullett Prebon might not have exactly brought the City’s main money broking camps closer together, but at least it’s helped forge some... [Read more]
  • HEINZ TESTS OUT ITS NEW CAFE IN THE CITY
    Wednesday, 13th January 2010
    DAVID HELLIER
    FOR those City workers already missing their comfort foods after the Christmas break, food group Heinz has come up with the ideal solution. Just three minutes walk from Liverpool Street station,... [Read more]
  • BANKERS STAY QUIET ON UNITED BOND DEAL
    Tuesday, 12th January 2010
    DAVID HELLIER
    CITY bankers are not usually backwards in coming forwards when it comes to getting publicity for their transactions, so why the reticence yesterday when it came to taking the credit for Manchester... [Read more]