Montagu sells car valuation firm Cap after two years of ownership November 20, 2014 BUYOUT firm Montagu Private Equity yesterday sold portfolio company Cap for £288m. Cap, which offers independent car valuations, will be acquired by trade buyer Solera. It marks the end of a two-year ownership period for Montagu. “We are very proud to have worked closely with Cap’s excellent management team to accelerate the company’s growth, both [...]
Des Naughton resigns from Nicoventures: British American Tobacco loses ecigarette managing director November 20, 2014 Des Naughton, managing director of British American Tobacco (BAT) ecigarettes subsidiary Nicoventures, has resigned from the group, it said in a statement yesterday. Naughton will leave BAT on 28 February 2015 after nearly 20 years with the tobacco giant, four of which has been on the management board. In that time, he has also been [...]
“Expand targeted immigration” to stop UK losing War for Talent as workforce ages November 20, 2014 The UK is falling behind in the McKinsey-coined “War for Talent” as the demographic segment that supplies companies with future leaders shrinks, says new research from global recruiter Randstad. The analysis of new population statistics suggests the size of the UK’s “executive” segment is diminishing at speed. Although the UK’s population grew 7.5 per cent [...]
YouTube could lose about 20,000 songs, including Pharrell’s Happy November 20, 2014 There’s a fight brewing between YouTube and a group representing 46 artists and songwriters, including Pharrell Williams, John Lennon and even Ira Gershwin, which could result in all their songs being removed from the online streaming site. Let’s put it this way: Pharrell is not Happy… Global Music Rights (GMR) is the company behind the [...]
GoDaddy pushing ahead with $4.5bn IPO as Google announces plan to enter its domain November 20, 2014 GoDaddy.com is pushing ahead with an initial public offering (IPO) early next year that would value the world’s biggest domain registration service at roughly $4.5bn (£2.9bn). A report yesterday in the New York Post said that chief financial officer Scott Wagner met analysts last week to give an update on GoDaddy since it first filed [...]
Alibaba debut bond is more than five times oversubscribed November 20, 2014 Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has $43bn (£27.4bn) of orders from investors in yesterday’s debut bond offering, more than five times what it was said to be seeking. Asia’s biggest internet company planned to sell the debt in a seven-part transaction, sources who asked not to be identified because the details were private told Bloomberg. Alibaba [...]
Eastern woes weighing on Raiffeisen Bank November 20, 2014 AUSTRIAN group Raiffeisen Bank International posted a €119m (£95m) net loss in the third quarter, as the Russian rouble’s crash, tensions in Ukraine and Hungarian legislation hit its lending and banking operations. Karl Sevelda, Raiffeisen’s chief executive, said that such “negative one-off effects” had hit the bank’s results. However, he hoped it would bounce back [...]
Quindell share price soars after it denies Nationwide Accident sale speculation November 20, 2014 Flailing insurance outsourcing firm Quindell saw its shares jump over 30 per cent yesterday as it denied rumours it was looking to sell its 25 per cent stake in Nationwide Accident Repair Services. Quindell, which provides claims processing technology to car insurers among other services, issued a statement in response to social media speculation that [...]
Simmons advises on £250m MBS transaction for Paragon November 20, 2014 LONDON-based international law firm Simmons & Simmons has advised on a £250m mortgage-backed security transaction for the British buy-to-let mortgage provider Paragon, the firm said yesterday. Led by asset-backed finance partner Simon Schiff, the firm advised joint lead managers Lloyds, Macquarie, Morgan Stanley and Natixis on the deal, which securitises UK buy-to-let mortgages. The transaction [...]
City Moves for 21 November 2014 | Who’s switching jobs November 20, 2014 Berenberg The bank has announced the promotion of David Mortlock to head of its London office. He joined Berenberg in 2010 as head of sales and has been global head of equities since 2013. Mortlock previously held positions at Schroders, Citigroup and MF Global. Edmond de Rothschild Group Marcus Money-Chappelle has been appointed head of [...]