Triple whammy: SoftBank shares slide 3.5 per cent after rocky 24 hours for Didi, Arm and Grab investments SoftBank Shares in Japanese conglomerate Softbank sank as much as 3.5 per cent today after three of its high-profile investments Didi, Arm and Grab were hit with setbacks in the last 24 hours. The investment giant’s shares dropped as low as 5,423 yen ($47.89) today, before settling slightly higher, but with losses of 23 per cent [...]
Mind Gym appoints new finance chief as new digital offering helps wipe out losses Workplace training Workplace training provider Mind Gym said it had wiped out the losses it incurred in the last year and a half, after its financials had a rocky ride due to Covid lockdowns impeding on its face-to-face offering. The group also announced the appointment of Dominic Neary – previously a finance chief at Just Eat and Moneysupermarket.com [...]
CD&R £7bn Morrisons takeover put on ice amid market volatility Private equity Clayton, Dubilier & Rice’s takeover of British supermarket Morrisons has been postponed to next year, as lenders push back on the massive debt package that the US private equity firm is using to finance the buyout to wait out market volatility. In what represents the UK’s biggest buyout in more than a decade at a [...]
Abrdn ramps up digital push and seals the £1.5bn deal for Interactive Investor December 2, 2021 FTSE 100 asset manager abrdn has finalised its £1.5bn takeover of Interactive Investor, the UK’s second-largest fund supermarket, in its third major digital investment this year. In a deal that adds Interactive Investor’s over 400,000 customers and assets under administration of around £55bn to its portfolio, abdrn will acquire 100 per cent of the platform’s [...]
FCA confirms listing rule changes in bid to sharpen London’s edge for startup IPOs December 2, 2021 London’s financial watchdog this morning confirmed a list of changes to its listing rules that will come into force tomorrow, in an effort to bolster incentives for innovative founder-led companies to list on UK markets sooner. Chief among the new changes, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) confirmed it is introducing a “targeted form” of dual [...]
US to push back on trade deal with UK over Brexit concerns December 2, 2021 Biden’s administration is planning on delaying its deal to remove tariffs on UK metals left over by the Trump administration, due to concerns about potential post-Brexit trade rules affecting Northern Ireland. In a communication seen by the Financial Times, a US commerce department official said that negotiations with the UK on easing steel and aluminium [...]
Online auctioneer ATG posts strong revenue in first full year results since London IPO December 2, 2021 Auction Technology Group this morning said that its full year revenue rose 34 per cent to £70.1m from £52.3m a year earlier, outperforming expectations set out at its February IPO as bidders and auctioneers continued to rally online. Adjusted EBITDA hit £31.8m, a margin of 45 per cent and a 43 per cent increase on [...]
US platform buys Seedrs for $100m after CMA blocks Crowdcube merger on home turf December 1, 2021 UK crowdfunding platform Seedrs is being acquired by US investment platform Republic, just months after the UK’s competition watchdog blocked its plans to merge with homegrown rival Crowdcube. In a transatlantic deal that values Seedrs at approximately $100m (£75m), the two platforms are billing the combined entity as “the first global private investment marketplace with [...]
The long view: Cathie Wood’s ARK nabs 1m Twitter shares as Dorsey steps down December 1, 2021 Cathie Wood, the well-known U.S. investor and founder of ARK Investment Management, loaded up on 1m Twitter shares on Tuesday as the social media giant’s stocks hit a 12-month low in the wake of founder Jack Dorsey’s decision to step down as CEO. AEK Investment Management, which already has one of the biggest shareholdings in [...]
Peel Hunt revenue and profit sink from pandemic highs in its maiden results December 1, 2021 Peel Hunt, the London broker for mid and small-cap companies, said its revenue dropped by almost a quarter in the six months to 28 September, immediately prior to its £280m listing on London’s AIM market at the end of that month. Revenue sank 23.4 per cent to £71.4m, down from £93.2m in the same period [...]
