Retirement group Phoenix enters £197m pensions deal with Irish Life July 13, 2021 Retirement group Phoenix is set to sell Ark Life Assurance Company to pensions group Irish Life for around £197m, the retirement group today. Ark Life Assurance Company, known as Ark Life, added around £1.8bn of assets under administration to Phoenix’s heritage division as of 31 December. The deal, which is expected to be completed by [...]
UK tech on track for second record-breaking year of Asian investment July 13, 2021 The booming UK tech sector received almost twice the amount of Asian capital in the first six months of 2021 as it did during the whole of 2020, paving the way for a second record year of regional investment. By the end of June, Asian and Middle Eastern investors funnelled over £1.7bn into UK tech [...]
Forward Partners confirms £36.5m AIM listing July 13, 2021 Tech-focused venture capital firm Forward Partners will list on London’s AIM market later this month with a market capitalisation of £134.6m. The firm said that its listing was oversubscribed, and would raise proceeds of £36.5m, which it will use to fund future investments. Blackrock and Draper Espirit are both backing the listing, having committed to [...]
Covid-19 update: How large could UK’s third wave of cases be? July 12, 2021 Covid-19 update: How large will UK's third wave of cases be?
Pandemic rethink: Nearly half of all UK workers are less career-focused July 12, 2021 With freedom day fast approaching, all attention is on workers returning to the office and the nature of flexible working options. Since working from home, due to Covid-related restrictions, 50 per cent of people experienced difficulty with disassociating their work lives with their home lives, according to insurance giant Aviva. The company’s study found that [...]
SoftBank gears up investments in second quarter, dishing out $13bn July 12, 2021 SoftBank’s Vision Fund II has pushed the pedal on its investments in recent weeks, dishing out $13bn in its second quarter, according to reports. The Japanese venture capital fund has injected cash into at least 50 companies, the Financial Times first reported, citing people brief on the data. Many of the companies eyed by SoftBank’s [...]
Take off: Ryanair to recruit 2,000 pilots as it prepares for travel market recovery July 12, 2021 Take off: Ryanair to recruit 2,000 pilots as it prepares for travel market recover
Plus500 reports ‘positive momentum’ despite customer growth slowdown July 12, 2021 Online trading platform Plus500 today reported positive momentum in its half year trading update, following a bumper 2020. The global fintech group, operating a trading platform for contracts for difference (CFDs), noted a “very strong period of customer acquisition” up to June this year. This followed an “unprecedented” performance in 2020, driven by the pandemic [...]
Exclusive: UK fintech firms raise $5.7bn in record-breaking year July 12, 2021 UK fintech firms raised $5.7bn (£4.1bn) in the first six months of the year alone, smashing investment records for the booming sector. The bumper figure outstrips the total investment secured in the whole of 2020 and is more than a quarter higher than the previous annual record of $4.6bn set in 2019. The record-breaking cash [...]
Klarna snaps up London ecommerce tech startup Hero July 11, 2021 Klarna has acquired London-based ecommerce tech startup Hero in a deal worth a reported $160m (£115m). Hero, which was founded in 2015, offers virtual shopping services to retailers and counts Harvey Nichols, Levi, Nike and JD Sports among its clients. Klarna said it will introduce Hero to its 250,000 retail partners, allowing them to access [...]
