Thames Water: Creditors set out rescue plan with £20.5bn investment September 3, 2025 A consortium of Thames Water creditors have laid out plans for how a £20.5bn investment would “fix the foundations” of the UK’s biggest water supplier. The group of 15 investors, known as the London & Valley Water consortium, are set to focus on improving the firm’s record on pollution and sewage leaks – with an [...]
Blackrock encourages investors to increase exposure to hedge funds August 21, 2025 Institutional investors should increase their exposure to hedge funds in order to generate potentially higher returns, Blackrock has said. In the latest paper of the firm’s Investment Institute, strategists encouraged more money to be placed in hedge funds, as ongoing economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions erode returns on traditional investment assets, such as bonds and [...]
UK investors eye opportunities in emerging markets August 11, 2025 UK retail investors are eyeing opportunities to enter emerging markets as they look to sidestep domestic economic problems. Growing economies across Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe are enticing investors away from placing all their capital into developed markets in search of higher returns overseas. Larger, more mature economies are suffering the consequences of Trump’s [...]
British ports request £120m for ‘white elephant’ Brexit border posts May 20, 2025 British ports are demanding £120m in compensation after being forced to invest millions in post-Brexit border control posts rendered “obsolete” by Keir Starmer’s new EU deal. Monday’s UK-EU trade deal committed to removing border checks on plant, animal and food imports from the EU member states. The deal was welcomed by the port industry, but [...]
Starmer meets BlackRock’s Larry Fink for growth talks May 20, 2025 The Prime Minister this morning met the boss of the world’s largest money manager, in the latest such conversation as part of ministers’ growth agenda. Sir Keir Starmer held discussions with Larry Fink, who leads the $11.6tn giant BlackRock. Fink was pictured leaving Downing Street on Tuesday morning. This follows on from the American billionaire’s [...]
National Grid profit jumps by a fifth despite record investment May 15, 2025 National Grid’s annual profits rose by a fifth as it lauded stable growth against a backdrop of “international economic uncertainty.” On an underlying basis, pre-tax profit increased 20 per cent to £3.7bn over the 12 months ended 31 March. Earnings per share rose two per cent to 73.3p, ahead of previous guidance. National Grid announced [...]
WFH: Blackrock orders managing directors to work full week from office May 8, 2025 Blackrock is ordering its most senior staff to work from the office five days a week in the latest example of financial institutions abandoning the flexible working from home (WFH) policies many adopted in the wake of the pandemic. The investment juggernaut will tell its workers that all of its approximately 1,000 managing directors across [...]
Week in Business: The billionaires backing Britain May 1, 2025 BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Virgin supremo Sir Richard Branson, businessman John Caudwell and JP Morgan top dog Jamie Dimon – quite the quartet – have all made some fascinating interventions this week. Let’s start with BlackRock, the world’s largest investor, running more than $11 trillion on behalf of pension funds, private clients and sovereign wealth [...]
Larry Fink: Britain is ‘undervalued’ and Yimbyism is essential April 25, 2025 BlackRock boss Larry Fink has described British assets as “undervalued” as he indicated that more investment would be pumped into the UK economy. The chairman of the world’s biggest investment company praised the urgency across Europe to deliver higher growth as he said that the UK had been “so smothered” by unnecessary regulation. “[We] have [...]
Mark Kleinman: NatWest staff set for Valentine’s Day bonus February 6, 2025 Mark Kleinman is Sky News’ City Editor and the man who gets the Square Mile talking in his weekly City AM column. This week, he tackles a love-in at NatWest, a Budget blow to private healthcare and how cricket went all out NatWest staff set for Valentine’s Day bonus The finishing line is in sight. NatWest’s journey through [...]