No 10 liaises with Australia’s Macquarie Group over £10bn investment February 6, 2022 No 10 is in talks with Australian financial services group Macquarie over a possible £10bn investment in the UK’s infrastructure – the largest investment ever made by a foreign company. Downing Street officials have been negotiating with the bank’s management for the past few weeks, Sky News has learnt, to divide the £10bn between existing [...]
Business of Space: Is there anything slowing down space-tech investing? February 5, 2022 This week Orbex files for UK launch licence More than £100m in fresh investment for ICEYE Military eye Isotropic Systems’ landmark tech Orbex applies for licence as UK heads for landmark launches this year The countdown has begun for the UK’s first-ever launches from British soil this year, which has prompted rocket firm Orbex to [...]
Home Office ‘lacks comprehensive plan’ for Afghan evacuees in London hotel February 5, 2022 The Home Office has “a lack of a comprehensive plan” to provide Afghanistan refugees with permanent housing, according to a British evacuee. A man and his family, who were evacuated from Afghanistan after the withdrawal of US and British troops saw the Taliban capture Kabul in August, said he feels “stuck” in his London hotel [...]
Unilever should ‘seriously think about splitting’, says major shareholder February 5, 2022 One of Unilever’s largest investors has called for the consumer goods giant to split, following its failed GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) bid. Bert Flossbach, founder and chief investment officer of Flossbach von Storch, one of Unilever’s top 10 shareholders, said that the Marmite-to-Dove soap maker is too diverse, and would benefit from slimming its operations. “Unilever should [...]
Khan urges government to ‘get a grip’ on cost of living crisis February 5, 2022 Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has called on the government to “get a grip” on the cost of living crisis, after energy prices were confirmed to rise by £700 this year. A new energy price cap coming into effect in April will see customers paying an average of £700 more a year. With runaway inflation, [...]
Meet Julien Martinet: The savvy lawyer who poached an entire team from law giant Hogan Lovells February 5, 2022 Julien Martinet this week hit the headlines for leaving Hogan Lovells, one of the biggest law firms in the world, to start his own specialist litigator, Swift Litigation – and taking his entire team of lawyers with him. Martinet’s departure from Hogan Lovell’s came after former Boies Schiller Flexner partner Natasha Harrison left the New [...]
Amazon and Nike eye Peloton bids after valuation plunges from $50bn to $8bn February 5, 2022 Amazon and Nike are reportedly mulling separate bids for Peloton, after calls from an activist investor to sell off the exercise equipment giant. After riding the pandemic high to an eyewatering $50bn valuation 12 months ago, Peloton has backpedalled to a humbler $8bn capitalisation. Activist investor Blackwells Capital, which owns a little under five per [...]
Rowing a very long way: meet the two entrepreneurs who crossed the Atlantic for charity February 5, 2022 Among all the noble ways to raise money for a charitable cause, Guy Rigby and David Murray chose an unconventional one – to say the least. The two businessmen rowed across the Atlantic for seven weeks, breaking the world record as the oldest couple to ever row across any ocean. Indeed Guy is 68 and [...]
Accountancy body accused of ‘injustice’ after pocketing £13m in KPMG fines February 5, 2022 The UK’s professional body for accountants has been accused of “rank injustice” for pocketing the £13m in fines against KPMG over the Silentnight pension scandal. The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) will keep all the money, despite accusations it is benefiting from the misbehaviour of those within its profession, The [...]
Scandal-hit Johnson remains ‘very positive’ despite nine votes of no confidence February 5, 2022 Culture secretary Nadine Dorries has suggested those who are against the prime minister are ‘Remainers’ and that scandal-hit Johnson remains “very positive”. It comes as a ninth Tory MP, Nick Gibb, handed in a letter of no confidence in the prime minister to the 19922 Committee last night, after MP Aaron Bell confirmed he had [...]
