Boots shapes up for potential London IPO April 21, 2026 The owners of Boots have hired advisors to get the high street chemist into shape ahead of a potential London floating which could come as soon as next year. Sycamore Partners, the private equity firm which owns Boots, have been in talks with advisers in recent weeks on the possibility of floating in the capital. [...]
As private equity booms, law firm partner moves hit record high April 21, 2026 Partner moves in London’s private equity market are hitting a new high, according to a report that revealed last year’s numbers doubled those of 2024, marking a record for the City’s legal sector. New data from legal search boutique Macrae shows there were 50 movements of partners with practices in the private equity sector in [...]
Antler bets on the UK’s next generation of founders with its London-based residency April 21, 2026 Antler’s latest London residency opened this week with 80 founders in a single room, selected from roughly 10,000 applicants, each receiving a £500,000 commitment to build a company from scratch over eight weeks. Fewer than one in a hundred applicants make it through the selection process, which the early-stage investor weights heavily towards individual character, [...]
Robbins: Starmer’s team was ‘dismissive’ about Mandelson vetting April 21, 2026 Former Foreign Office permanent secretary Sir Olly Robbins has criticised Number 10’s “dismissive attitude” to security vetting for Lord Peter Mandelson, who accessed classified files before Robbins, who was recently sacked from his key civil service post, told the Foreign Affairs Committee that there was “constant pressure” on the Foreign Office to give Mandelson clearance [...]
Government urged to halt food inflation ‘before it’s too late’ April 21, 2026 The food industry’s leading trade body has urged the government to act on food inflation before it’s “too late” to protect consumers and businesses. The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) expects food inflation to soar from three to between nine and 10 per cent this year, and has accused the government of lacking “urgency” to [...]
Barclays and Lloyds picked for City watchdog’s AI live testing April 21, 2026 Barclays has joined the second cohort of firms selected by the UK’s financial watchdog to get a safe run at testing AI as banking giants battle to bulk up their tech capacity. The FTSE 100 constituent will join its peer Lloyds Banking Group – which will be represented by its subsidiary Scottish Widows – as [...]
City minister: Tax regime ‘sends a message’ to fintech IPO prospects April 21, 2026 The City minister has said the tax regime “matters” for how the UK can strengthen capital markets as part of its bid to lock down the next cohort of listing candidates. Lucy Rigby, economic secretary to the Treasury, said the government was looking to build on the “historical success of our capital market” as it [...]
Ofcom launches probe into Telegram over child safety failures April 21, 2026 The UK’s communications regulator has launched a probe into Telegram after evidence emerged that child sexual abuse material was being shared on the platform. Ofcom announced on Tuesday that it has also opened investigations into teen chat sites Teen Chat and Chat Avenue, assessing whether the platforms are meeting their legal duties to protect children [...]
Who is John Ternus? The man stepping into Tim Cook’s giant shoes at Apple April 21, 2026 Fifteen years ago, Tim Cook inherited a $350bn tech company that had just lost one of the most celebrated chief executives in corporate history. On Monday, he handed it on worth $4 trillion. Cook will step down as Apple’s chief executive on 1 September 2026, with John Ternus, the company’s hardware engineering chief and a [...]
England’s Women’s T20 World Cup matches to be free to watch April 21, 2026 All of England’s Women’s T20 World Cup matches will be free to watch after broadcaster Sky Sports opened up access to this year’s event. England’s opening match against Sri Lanka, as well as each of the home nations’ opening group matches and the Lord’s final, will be broadcast free-to-air on Sky Mix, which is accessible [...]