Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty Steel completes €750m Arcelormittal asset purchase July 1, 2019 Liberty Steel, part of billionaire Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance, has completed the €750m (£671m) acquisition of Arcelormittal’s European assets. The deal, which will add 14,000 employees, seven steelworks and five service centres to Liberty’s portfolio, is the biggest undertaken by the group to date. GFG Alliance now has around 30,000 workers across 30 countries, following [...]
Woodford offloads stake in Raven property investment firm July 1, 2019 Embattled stockpicker Neil Woodford has jettisoned his 12 per cent stake in Raven Property Group, bringing the total he has raised since the suspension of his flagship fund to £459m. Raven announced today that it has bought back 72.1m shares from Woodford at 36p per share. Read more: Neil Woodford cuts stake in AI firm [...]
Opec agrees to extend oil supply cuts by nine months July 1, 2019 Oil cartel Opec agreed to extend supply cuts by nine months today, in an attempt to maintain the price of oil in face of soaring US production and fears of a global economic slowdown. Opec is meeting today in Vienna and is holding a further meeting tomorrow with Russia and other allies. Opec and its [...]
Senior women in finance call for female-led IPOs to triple July 1, 2019 Senior women from top financial institutions have called for the number of female-led businesses going public to triple by 2025. Leading women from major banks, law firms and insurance companies gathered at the opening of the London Stock Exchange this morning to call for change as part of a campaign by the WealthiHer Network. Read [...]
UK’s top 100 law firms report strong year despite final quarter slump July 1, 2019 The UK’s top 100 law firms grew fee income seven per cent in the year to 30 April, according to data published today. The strong performance is a slight dip on last year’s average fee income increase of 7.7 per cent, according to audit firm Deloitte’s quarterly legal sector survey. Jeremy Black, partner in Deloitte’s [...]
City watchdog ramps up enforcement as it faces political pressure to act July 1, 2019 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has ramped up its investigations in the face of political pressure to crackdown on wrongdoing in the financial services sector, according to research published today. FCA investigations into individuals doubled in 2018, with the number of individuals being referred to the watchdog’s regulatory decisions committee (RDC) rising to 27 from [...]
PwC UK unveils bumper partner promotions round as it shakes up top team July 1, 2019 Audit firm PwC UK has promoted 69 to its equity partnership and shaken up its top management team, it said today. The number of promotions mark a 27 per cent increase on the previous year when the firm elevated 54 to its equity ranks. The firm also hired 13 partners during the course of the [...]
Former UN climate chief calls for fossil fuel database July 1, 2019 Investors should be given more information about energy companies’ fossil fuel usage so they can steer funding away from activities that contribute to climate change, former UN climate change chief Mary Robinson has said. Robinson proposed the creation of “comprehensive, transparent database of all existing fossil fuel assets and reserves” in a collection of essays [...]
Number of cyber incidents reported by financial services firms explodes July 1, 2019 The number of cyber incidents financial services firms reported to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rocketed in 2018, data published today reveals. Financial services firms reported 819 cyber incidents to the FCA in 2018, up from 69 in 2017, according to data obtained in a freedom of information request by accountancy firm RSM. Retail banks [...]
Neil Woodford cuts stake in AI firm as suspension deadline approaches June 30, 2019 Neil Woodford cut his stake in artificial intelligence firm Sensyne Health as the deadline approached for the suspension of his flagship fund to be formally reviewed. The former star trader has been offloading assets to rebalance his Equity Income fund, which was suspended last month following a spike in withdrawals. Read more: Woodford trust cuts [...]