EX-SEYMOUR PIERCE BOSS COMES OFF THE SLOPES AND BACK TO CITY
IT was only going to be a matter of time before Richard Feigen popped his head back over the proverbial parapet after resigning from broker Seymour Pierce at the turn of the year. Feigen, one of the best-known corporate financiers in the City, handed in his notice in January following a month-long internal investigation at the firm, admitting at the time that errors had occurred in a transaction he was overseeing.
But The Capitalist hears whispers that he has now started to put the feelers out about his next move, after a good few months of downtime.
The sociable chap has been spotted out and about schmoozing at City events on many an occasion recently, though nothing has yet been decided and he is toying with various possibilities, including taking up a top position at another broker in the space or setting up a venture of his own.
Certainly, it’s worth keeping eyes and ears open, though quite why he’s so keen to get back to work is anyone’s guess. By all accounts, Feigen – who is a keen sportsman himself and an avid Chelsea football fan – has been spending most of his time recently on the slopes, even managing to get in some skiing practice alongside Britain’s premier Olympic skier Chemmy Alcott. Can’t be bad.
ABOVE PAR
Rivalry between the City and Canary Wharf has been rife ever since those first glossy skyscrapers shot up in the Docklands nigh on two decades ago.
But forget pitting the quaint streets and traditional pubs of the former against the modern architecture and swanky bars of the latter – the competition can be solved far more easily than that.
Promoters for the Ryder Cup have organised a golfing challenge for the two business districts this week, with everyone welcome to try their skills on a simulated version of the 18th hole at the Ryder Cup course at Celtic Manor Resort.
Yesterday saw the competition settle in at Broadgate, where Jeremy Thompson from Verizon Business set the standard for the longest drive at a powerful 314 yards.
Today is Canary Wharf’s turn, with would-be pros encouraged to turn up to West Plaza to try and beat that record – if they can. The gauntlet is down.
BOOBY BIRDS
Congratulations to the somewhat bizarrely-named “Breakthrough Booby Birds” – a group of City ladies who braved a dare-devil stunt at the weekend to raise money for Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
The girls have so far raised over £250,000 after skydiving from a plane on Saturday.
Those taking part included M&S director Kate Bostock, Zahira Jaser from Barclays Wealth and Stacey Lax from Deloitte – who tells me she’s petrified of heights but managed to complete the jump nonetheless.
Unfortunately, fashion designer Amanda Wakeley could not take part in the jump due to a knee injury she sustained while heli-skiing just a week or so ago, though the valiant lass turned up nonetheless to cheer on her fellow ladies.
SPIN DOCTOR
Ping! An invitation arrives to hear veteran Labour spinmeister Alastair Campbell (above) speak at an FX conference hosted by Global Investor and ISF. A little bird tells me that a large part of Campbell’s talk will be given over to explaining how the banks got their PR messages all wrong during the crisis. Bet that’ll go down well with his oh-so-sympathetic audience.
FAMILY HEIRLOOMS
Closet fans of the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow might want to clear a smidgeon of space in the diary for tomorrow, when Old Spitalfields Market is hosting a free antiques valuation day.
The event is taking place alongside the regular antiques and collectors market held there every Thursday, so all those who have ever wondered whether or not granny’s ancient china teapot could net them a few bob at auction can finally put their minds at rest. On hand to advise are boffins Tony Johns, Nicki Rodgers and Tim Hogarth, from David Dickinson’s “Real Deal” telly show.
Heroes’ welcome
Best of British to James Barham, the chief executive of River & Mercantile Asset Management, and Andrew Stuart Mills of Sterling Financial Printing, who yesterday embarked on a 350 mile cycle across France to raise money for Help for Heroes.
The intrepid pair have managed to raise over £20,000 so far due to an ingenious ploy of writing to all the FTSE 100 chief executives personally to beg a few pounds. Among the firms that came up trumps were Marks & Spencer, Kingfisher, Icap, SSL International, G4S and Barclays – with John Varley even penning a personal message of support for the sporting chaps.
GOING FOR GOLD
Finally, sincere apologies to the rugby-playing lads at Cass Business School. On Monday, we wrote that a team of hunky beefcakes from BNP Paribas had taken the title for the Plate competition at the City Sevens rugby tournament at the weekend, beating Cass into second place. We are happy to clarify that the information provided by the organisers contained an error and that it was in fact Cass who took home the coveted Plate – in their words, “a hard won honour on a very hot day”.