AI-driven workforce fuels private equity surge in sports February 3, 2026 The influx of businesses investing in AI is a key factor driving the surge in private equity (PE) within the leisure and sports sector, as sports is the new luxury. Cleary Gottlieb partner Tihir Sarkar explained to City AM, “With day-to-day activities being taken over by AI, there’s going to be a lot more time for participation [...]
Yoghurt giant Muller takes on HMRC over corporation tax in legal battle February 3, 2026 The makers behind Muller Corner and Muller Rice are taking the UK tax authorities to court over a long-running dispute about corporation tax. Muller UK and Ireland Group, Muller Dairy UK, Robert Wiseman and Sons, and TM UK Production are in a battle with HMRC over whether a company can claim tax breaks on ‘goodwill’ [...]
EY avoids judgment in £2bn case as Alvarez & Marsal reach ‘confidential agreement’ February 2, 2026 The mammoth legal fight against the Big Four giant EY over its auditing of a former London-listed health giant that collapsed amid fraud allegations has been withdrawn following a settlement. Private hospital operator NMC Health Plc collapsed in April 2020 after being placed into administration, and was delisted from the London Stock Exchange in the [...]
Chair of elite law firm Paul Weiss made personal requests to Jeffrey Epstein February 2, 2026 The chairman of one of the most prominent law firms in America, Paul Weiss, was included in the US Department of Justice’s latest round of bombshell revelations in relation to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. One of the US’s leading litigators and corporate advisers, Brad Karp has been Paul Weiss’s chairman since 2008. Paul Weiss is [...]
Professional services firms facing ‘polycrisis of confidence’ January 28, 2026 A major study of C-suite attitudes among professional services firms has revealed a complicated landscape of increasing AI use, growth fears, worries about cash flow and concerns over staff motivation. According to the Managing Partners Forum Winter 2025 Quarterly, shared exclusively with City AM, all firms surveyed have integrated Gen AI into their daily operations, but [...]
High Court grants urgent hearing on Labour’s inheritance tax overhaul January 28, 2026 The High Court has green-lit an urgent hearing at the High Court over the government’s inheritance tax raid on agricultural assets and family firms. The proposed changes to agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR) represent one of the biggest shifts in UK inheritance tax (IHT) policy in decades, following the government’s initial [...]
UK’s wealthiest financier Michael Platt’s hedge fund in high-stakes tax fight January 27, 2026 Hedge funder BlueCrest Capital Management, founded by the UK’s wealthiest financier, Michael Platt, will appeal at the highest court this week over a tax battle with HMRC. The case centres on the salaried members’ rules, which determine if limited liability partnerships (LLP) members are genuinely self-employed or ‘disguised employees’ for tax purposes. HMRC issued determinations [...]
Traditional legal model shaken by investor interest and IPO ambitions January 26, 2026 External investment is increasing in mid-size legal firms, according to a new report, which revealed that nearly 70 per cent of firms have been approached by private equity investors or PE-backed entities in the last year. New data from MHA, in conjunction with the Law Society, shared with City AM, shows that the majority of [...]
Lloyds subsidiary fined £160,000 for Putin ally sanctions breach January 26, 2026 A subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group has been fined for sanctions breaches after it opened a bank account for an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Bank of Scotland, a subsidiary of Lloyds since 2009, was fined £160,000 by the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) on Monday for breaching Russian sanctions. Although not named [...]
Donald Trump ushers in 2026 with series of white-collar pardons January 26, 2026 US President Donald Trump has pardoned or reduced the sentences of 10 people convicted of fraud and other white-collar crimes over the past 10 days. Out of the 21 clemency grants Trump has issued since 15 January, 10 were for people convicted of fraud and white-collar crimes, according to the Financial Times. This follows his [...]