Deadline extended on Blackstone’s £1.2bn takeover of property developer St Modwen June 16, 2021 Private equity firm Blackstone and British property investment and development group St Modwen have been granted an extension to finalise a £1.2bn takeover deal. In a statement today St Modwen said it had reached an agreement on the terms of the takeover bid by Brighton Bidco, a newly former company of funds advised by Blackstone. [...]
Tories’ ‘triple lock’ pension pledge could cost Treasury £4bn June 16, 2021 Chancellor Rishi Sunak will have to stump up £4bn on pensioners from next year to cover the Conservative Party’s ‘triple lock’ pledge, despite efforts to cut back spending after the pandemic. The headline growth rate of average UK earnings rose to 5.6 per cent in April — an artificial inflation caused by last year’s furlough [...]
British music exports grow to record high as streaming hits the right note June 16, 2021 The value of British music sales and streams surpassed half a billion pounds for the first time last year thanks to the growing popularity of streaming services such as Spotify. Global consumption of British music generated £519m in export earnings in 2020 — a six per cent increase year on year and the highest figure [...]
Apple and Google under scrutiny from regulator over smartphone dominance June 15, 2021 Apple and Google are facing an investigation by UK competition authorities over concerns their dominance in the smartphone market is harming consumers. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) today said it will examine whether the companies’ “effective duopoly” over the supply of operating systems, app stores and web browsers should be curbed. The market study [...]
Emirates secures $3.1bn from Dubai as it swings to pandemic loss June 15, 2021 State-owned airline Emirates has revealed the extent of the support it received from Dubai as the pandemic drove the company to its first loss in over three decades. The Dubai government has pumped $3.1bn (£2.2bn) into the airline since the start of the pandemic, including a $2bn equity injection last year. It came as Emirates’ [...]
US and EU near truce in long-running $11.5bn trade war June 15, 2021 The US and EU are set to announce a five-year suspension of tariffs over aircraft subsidies, marking an end to a trade dispute that has lasted 17 years. The two sides have agreed to pause the world’s largest corporate trade dispute and focus on the threat posed by China’s nascent commercial aircraft industry, sources told [...]
City watchdog vows Big Tech crackdown over scam adverts June 15, 2021 The City watchdog has pledged to use post-Brexit powers to crack down on tech giants such as Google over online fraud. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has warned platforms they must do more to block scam adverts following a surge in cases during the pandemic. The regulator added it would not hesitate to take tough [...]
Glaxosmithkline signs $2bn cancer treatment deal with US biotech firm June 15, 2021 Glaxosmithkline has agreed to pay a US biotech firm as much as $2.1bn (£1.5bn) to team up on an experimental new cancer treatment. The British pharma giant will pay iTeos Therapeutics $625m upfront to co-develop and co-commercialise an immuno-oncology drug known as EOS-448. iTeos will be entitled to receive up to a further $1.5bn if [...]
Ecommerce fintech Booste plots London launch after €12m funding round June 15, 2021 Booste, a Polish fintech offering revenue-based financing to ecommerce companies, is planning to launch in London after raising €12m (£10m) in a fresh funding round. The startup, which was co-founded by former Uber Eats executive Jakub Pietraszek, provides ecommerce firms with funding to finance growth through digital ads on Facebook and Google, marketing campaigns and [...]
Internal BBC review clears broadcaster over rehiring of Martin Bashir June 14, 2021 A hasty internal investigation carried out by the BBC has cleared the broadcaster over the rehiring of reporter Martin Bashir in 2016, but highlighted “shortcomings” in the process. An inquiry into Bashir’s appointment as religious affairs correspondent found there was no evidence he was hired to cover events surrounding his notorious 1995 interview with Princess [...]
