Unite fund buys student digs for £271m June 15, 2015 UNITE’S UK Student Accommodation Fund (USAF) said yesterday that it has snapped up a 2,100-bed portfolio for £271m in its first deal since its £306m fundraising last month. The portfolio, which was acquired from Ahli United Bank, includes eight sites located across seven prime student accommodation markets including London, Glasgow, Leeds and Birmingham. FTSE 250 [...]
Aberdeen Asset Management in new fundraising June 15, 2015 Aberdeen Asset Management has raised £100m from one of its largest investors to strengthen its balance sheet and to seed new fund launches. The shares will be issued to Japan’s, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation (MUTB) which has a stake of 17 per cent in the fund manager. The preference shares will count towards [...]
Top bosses: Corporate governance needs to go beyond box-ticking June 15, 2015 Business leaders are calling for an overhaul of the country’s approach to corporate governance. In a new report out today, the Institute of Directors (IoD) said that the UK has “learned little” since the financial crisis, relying on checklists “aimed at creating the cardboard cut-out perfect company” rather than addressing pressing governance problems head-on. Ken Olisa, who [...]
Think tank says cuts will push public workers into private sector June 15, 2015 THE PRIVATE sector must be ready to offset significant government cuts by hiring public sector employees, a leading economic think tank has said. In a new briefing note out today, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said that with at least 580,000 public sector jobs set to be eliminated in the next three years – [...]
Canadian fund Omers make $1.7bn swoop on UK consultancy Environmental Resources Management June 15, 2015 Charterhouse yesterday sold its stake in the world’s biggest environmental consultancy to Canadian mega fund Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System (Omers) in a deal worth $1.7bn (£1.1bn). Omers’ private equity arm (OPE) will buy Charterhouse’s 55 per cent investment in Environmental Resources Management (ERM), which is headquartered in London with 162 other offices around the [...]
City Moves for 16 June 2015 | Who’s switching jobs June 15, 2015 State Street Global Advisors The investment management arm of State Street has appointed Elliot Hentov as head of policy and research for its official institutions group. He joins from Standard & Poor’s, where he was a director in its sovereign ratings team. Hentov has also previously held roles at the UN. BNY Mellon Alan Flanagan [...]
Apax Global Alpha share price rises after IPO as parent floats new listed vehicle on London market June 15, 2015 Shares in Apax’s new £585m listed fund Apax Global Alpha rose nearly five per cent as trading kicked off in the stock on the London stock exchange yesterday. The private equity firm raised £218.2m from investors last week to float the fund on London’s main market. The vehicle is comprised of investments made by Apax [...]
River and Mercantile gets £700m Royal Mail Pension Plan contract June 15, 2015 River and Mercantile yesterday announced it will manage the £700m options mandate for the Royal Mail Pension Plan. The advisory and investment business was appointed in April by the FTSE 100-listed Royal Mail and the structure of the mandate was designed and executed last month. “The derivatives team at R&M has a track record of [...]
Au revoir to Verona and Kuala Lumpur as Air France scraps flights June 15, 2015 Air France is chopping three European routes as part of £58m worth of cost-cutting measures in an attempt to restructure the flag carrier. The airline, part of Air France-KLM and the SkyTeam alliance, said it was cutting flights to the loss-making destinations of Stravanger in Norway, Verona in Italy and Vigo in Spain from September [...]
Airbus and Boeing deals cleared for takeoff at Paris air show June 15, 2015 Aerospace giants Airbus and Boeing opened the Paris air show with a flurry of multi-billion-dollar plane deals yesterday, as hungry Asian and Middle Eastern carriers put in orders faster than the rivals can make them. Airbus said Garuda Indonesia had signed a letter of intent to buy 30 A350 XWB jets, worth $9bn (£5.8bn) at [...]
