Woodford back in for Imperial June 23, 2014 IMPERIAL Innovations has raised £150m after unveiling a 400p a share capital raising backed by top fund manager Neil Woodford’s new venture. Woodford Investment Management has bought into the offer alongside Lansdowne Partners and Invesco Perpetual. Imperial College London, which owned about a third of the research commercialisation company, will also take its stake down [...]
IPO for River and Mercantile June 23, 2014 RIVER and Mercantile yesterday listed new shares on the London stock market, raising £41.5m for the group and its selling shareholders. The pensions advisory company listed shares at 183p, defying a waning of confidence in the new issues market. The listing values the business at about £150m. The company will receive £15m of the proceeds [...]
Vending machine group Selecta orders bond deal June 23, 2014 Europe’s largest vending machine operator Selecta has swapped €770m (£615m) of debt to a lower lending rate in a bid to lessen the financial woes of the struggling business. The firm, which runs vending machines across the UK, has sold €550m of high yield bonds to a variety of unnamed institutions, it confirmed yesterday. A [...]
Dozens of Euro banks in need of more capital June 23, 2014 NEARLY two dozen banks across Europe expect to raise more capital following central bank stress tests, an anonymous poll of lenders has found. A total of 22 banks out of 294 said they would be required to boost their coffers after the Asset Quality Review (AQR) by the European Central Bank is finished, with a [...]
Shire lays out defence against anticipated fourth takeover bid June 23, 2014 UK PHARMA giant Shire will today try to get on the front foot in its bid to deflect a mooted fourth takeover offer by US rival AbbVie. The group will host a high stakes conference call with investors at lunchtime today where chief executive Flemming Ornskov (pictured) is expected to lay out plans to double [...]
Theo Osborne’s Force Over Mass fund aims to raise £15m June 23, 2014 Chancellor George Osborne’s younger brother Theo Osborne has teamed up with a tech advisory firm to raise £15m from well-heeled investors to seed new tech start-ups and entrepreneurs. Osborne, managing partner and co-founder of Force Over Mass Capital with other founder Martijn de Wever, launched the group’s first fund with tech advisers Dreamstake last month [...]
Car auctioneer owner aims for listing hat-trick June 23, 2014 THE OWNER of British Car Auctions (BCA) is plotting another foray onto the London stock market, buoyed by the success of two similar share sales earlier this year. New York-based outfit Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, which bought BCA in February 2010, is on the verge of appointing half a dozen investment banks to bring the [...]
Greylock fund backs UK based SME specialists June 23, 2014 GREYLOCK IL, the Israeli-UK venture capital firm which has backed Just Eat and Wonga, has joined forced with other investors to invest $30m (£18m) in UK-based financial services company Ebury. The firm, which is an affiliate of famous US venture capital pioneers Greylock Partners, will join with the other anonymous investors to provide debt and [...]
London rents: Cost of Hackney properties rises close to Richmond levels June 18, 2014 The gentrification of Hackney is pushing rent levels in the borough closer to levels seen in the rarified environs of leafy west London, figures out this morning show. Average rents in Hackney were £2,125 a month in March – 9.2 per cent higher than a year ago, and closer to the same level as Richmond [...]
How UK fund managers differ from their foreign rivals June 17, 2014 UK fund managers are going against the grain somewhat on where the next big growth driver for the industry will emerge, according to a major new study out today. Despite the upheaval set to be wrought by Chancellor George Osborne’s pensions overhaul next April, fund managers across Square Mile are showing a buccaneering spirit for [...]