Financial challengers Zopa and Metro Bank join forces to bring peer-to-peer lending and high street banking together May 19, 2015 Peer-to-peer lender Zopa has teamed up with challenger bank Metro Bank to lend funds through the latter's marketplace. The deal marks the first of its kind in the UK as Metro Bank, already lending funds to Zopa's consumer borrowers, recognises peer-to-peer (P2P) lending as a new asset class. Zopa's chief executive Giles Andrews described it [...]
Whisky investment platform WhiskyInvestDirect raises £1m through crowfunding May 18, 2015 An online start-up that allows whisky-lovers to invest in premium bottles of the tipple said yesterday it has raised over its initial target of £1m on Angels Den, an angel-led crowdfunder. WhiskyInvestDirect was set up by Paul Tustain, the founder of online gold trading platform BullionVault, and former Diageo commercial director Rupert Patrick to allow [...]
Think you will retire on £42,000 a year? That’ll be £1m up front… May 17, 2015 Britain’s workers are chronically unprepared for retirement, a new report by one of the UK’s biggest life insurers reveals today, with just seven per cent putting in enough money to meet their expectations. The research, conducted by Watermelon on behalf of Aegon, found a vast gap between the amount of money people expect to receive [...]
Retail app Octer quickly raising major second round of crowdfunding May 17, 2015 Mobile shopping app Octer has returned to the equity-based crowdfunding platform Seedrs, to raise a second round of funding. It is aiming to bring in a total of £700,000, in exchange for 7.48 per cent equity, giving a total valuation of £8.6m. The valuation has been agreed by key investors, and Octer’s principal investors have [...]
The right trousers: Aardman’s David Sproxton talks risk-averse TV and crowdfunding Morph May 17, 2015 You may have seen several giant Shaun the Sheeps around central London recently. Fifty of the woolly critters are gracing the capital’s public spaces, raising money for children’s hospitals across the country. “Shaun in the City” forms an arts trail for fans, and also coincides with the launch of Shaun’s first movie. For David [...]
Investec Comment: Two major implications of the Tory victory May 17, 2015 TO SAY that the General Election result was a surprise barely does it justice. The markets reacted positively to the news that the Conservatives had gained an overall majority, with sterling surging and the FTSE 250 reaching all-time highs. There were three reasons for this. First, stocks in sectors that would have faced tougher regulation [...]
Poundworld owners quids in after selling majority stake to US private equity firm TPG in £150m deal May 15, 2015 Britain's second-largest single price retailer Poundworld has been snapped up by US-based private equity group TPG in a deal reportedly valuing the business at £150m. Poundworld was started from a market stall in Wakefield, West Yorkshire in 1974 by owner Chris Edwards Sr and has since growth to have around 270 stores and over 5000 employees. [...]
Avon claims $8bn takeover offer from private equity firm PTG Partners was false May 14, 2015 Avon says it has not received a takeover offer from private equity firm PTG Capital Partners, contradicting a filing released earlier today via the Securities and Exchange Commission. PTG claimed it had made a cash offer to the cosmetics firm worth $8.2bn (£5.2bn), or $18.5-per-share. This is more than three times the company's value according [...]
A crowdfunding campaign is trying to save us from life-threatening asteroids May 14, 2015 If a huge asteroid slammed into the Earth with crushing force tomorrow, it could swiftly bring an end to all humankind. Luckily, that's not going to happen – our asteroid analysis and predictive techniques are advanced enough to tell when a devastating impact might happen in the near future. But that's not to say [...]
Just Retirement diversifies after pension reform May 12, 2015 Just Retirement yesterday reported a 22 per cent fall in sales over nine months, but said demand for its newer products had protected it from a harsher knock from British pension rule changes. Pension changes, announced last March, mean people who are retiring no longer need to buy an interest-bearing annuity with their pension savings. [...]
