Merlin Entertainments appoints partner from Asian investment firm as non-executive November 9, 2015 Merlin Entertainments has appointed the partner of a major Asian investment management firm to its board, paving the way for the theme park owner’s expansion in China. The Madame Tussauds and Alton Towers owner said Yun (Rachel) Chiang will join the company as a non-executive director in 2016. Chiang is currently a partner at Pacific [...]
Palamon Capital snaps up majority stake in The Rug Company November 9, 2015 The Rug Company has been rolled up and taken home by private equity firm Palamon Capital Partners, netting its founders millions of pounds. Palamon, which also owns online beauty retailer feelunique.com, said it has bought a majority stake of over 50 per cent from husband and wife team Christopher and Suzanne Sharp and Piper Private Equity, which [...]
Scalpel tower in the City appoints CBRE as leasing agents as search for tenants kicks off November 9, 2015 CBRE has been hired as leasing agents on the Scalpel skyscraper in the City, as the search to find tenants for the 35-storey development in London’s insurance district gets underway. The property advisory firm will partner with Cushman & Wakefield, filling the gap left by the latter’s merger with DTZ, the previous joint agent. The 190m-tall [...]
Barclays appoints Standard Life’s Sir Gerry Grimstone as deputy chairman as Sir Mike Rake steps down November 9, 2015 Barclays has appointed Standard Life chairman Sir Gerry Grimstone to replace the soon-to-depart Sir Mike Rake as its deputy chairman. In a statement today, the bank said Grimstone, who is also on the board of Deloitte and the lead non-exec at the Ministry of Defence, will join at the beginning of January. It's the latest in a [...]
Shipping and oil giant Maersk’s chief executive speaks out about rocky economic outlook November 9, 2015 There are choppy waters ahead for the economy, said Nils Smedegaard Andersen, chief executive at A.P. Moeller-Maersk, who voiced his concerns about the financial outlook this morning. Bloomberg reported that Andersen said Maersk is less than optimistic about global growth. “We conduct a string of our own macro-economic forecasts and we see less growth – particularly in developing nations, [...]
Quindell to make a new start with name change to Watchstone Group – as it seeks shareholder approval for £414m capital return November 9, 2015 After 18 months of horror, insurance claims processor Quindell is after a new start: the company today said it was seeking shareholder approval to change its name to the decidedly austere-sounding Watchstone Group. Quindell announced the plans for its new identity in a statement this morning, although it didn't give shareholders much of an indication why. Perhaps it's something to [...]
The Gym Group fixes valuation at £250m with today’s IPO November 9, 2015 Pay-as-you-go fitness chain The Gym Group has set its IPO at 195p per share, giving the company a market cap of around £250m. This is lower than the original valuation, which had been expected to come in around £300m. The business will be issuing just over 64m shares to the main market, 50 per cent [...]
RW Baird chiefs on the respectful way they do business and their plans to expand in the City November 9, 2015 Think banking is all about “sharp elbows,” gruelling hours, and job-hopping ‘til you reach the top? Zealous midwesterners Paul Purcell and Steve Booth, who run wealth-management-cum-investment-bank outfit RW Baird, say that they offer a more respectful way of doing business. Their bank has long-term partners, a “no asshole policy”, and has ended deal-related incentives for [...]
Northern SMEs and firms hit by hidden credit crunch November 9, 2015 Twice as many small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the North of England have had their overdraft facilities axed as those in the London, according to research from business financial comparison site Funding Options. In the past two years 55 per cent of businesses in the North were found to have had their overdrafts [...]
Amazon Black Friday 2015 UK deals: 7,000 bargains to attract one in five shoppers as Amazon Marketplace joins the sales frenzy for the first time November 9, 2015 One in five British shoppers are expected to take part in this year’s Black Friday shopping frenzy on 27 November, data from business analytics firm SAS shows, as the UK’s gears up for its biggest online shopping day of the year. Meanwhile Amazon today revealed that it will feature more than 7,000 deals during the week starting at midnight [...]