London-listed life sciences firm agrees £150m debt financing facility with HSBC March 30, 2022 Life Science REIT has agreed a £150m debt financing facility with HSBC, in a bid to fund new life science properties across the Golden Triangle: London, Oxford and Cambridge. The deal, in what will be the company’s first borrowing agreement, is made up of a £75m three-year term loan facility and a £75m revolving [...]
City Moves: Who’s switching jobs in the Square Mile? March 30, 2022 City A.M.’s Millie Turner provides a roundup of the most important hires and job moves across the City, every morning. Email citymoves@cityam.com to be featured. Johnston Carmichael Accountancy and business advisory firm Johnston Carmichael has bolstered its London leadership team with a new internal audit and controls assurance partner. Si Mathavan, who joins from EY where he was director of the assurance team, brings 17 years’ worth of experience [...]
London clings on to crown as top global city, according to Schroders index March 29, 2022 London remains top of a closely-watched global cities index compiled by asset manager Schroders. The capital ranked top in the index for innovation, reflecting its status as the home of more ‘unicorn’ companies than much of the rest of Europe combined and the fact it is home to some of the world’s leading universities. London [...]
Ex-Sainsbury’s director to share helm of government Environment Agency March 29, 2022 Environment secretary George Eustice has appointed the former Sainsbury’s director as deputy chair of the government’s Environment Agency. Retail veteran Judith Batchelar will step into the new role at the beginning of April as current deputy chair Richard Macdonald’s term ends. Batchelar, who resigned from Sainsbury’s after 16 years last May, worked in the food [...]
London’s Actis tables $500m for Asia expansion as it branches out into Japan March 29, 2022 British investment firm Actis has branched out into Japan with a new office, as it expects to spend $500m (£382) over the next five years on its push into Asia. The London-headquartered private equity firm has unveiled a new Tokyo base, to double down on risk-return opportunities in the region. Actis, founded in 2004, also [...]
Boardroom shuffle: Mitie ushers in BT executive and former government adviser March 29, 2022 British outsourcing giant Mitie has undergone a boardroom shuffle, ushering in a BT executive and former special adviser to health secretary Sajid Javid. Stepping onto the board at the beginning of April, Chet Patel and Salma Shah join as non-executive directors. Patel, who will maintain his role as BT’s chief commercial officer and managing director [...]
LV= outperforms sales targets after redecorating C-suite March 29, 2022 LV=, one of the UK’s largest insurance companies, outperformed its sales and profit targets last year, after redecorating its C-suite. The London-listed insurance and pensions giant enjoyed a more than 200 per cent jump in trading profit, which soared around £20m over 2021. However, the group swallowed a more than 20 per cent loss in [...]
Konecranes and Cargotec spike merger after UK watchdog blocks deal March 29, 2022 Cranes manufacturer Konecranes and cargo machinery firm Cargotec have spiked their upcoming merger following intervention from the UK’s competition watchdog. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocked the deal, on the basis that the Finnish duo selling off all overlapping businesses would fail to address the regulator’s concerns. The deal, announced at the beginning of [...]
CPP Group ditches weaker offshoots in bid for higher profits March 29, 2022 CPP Group has undergone a string of disposals over the last year under a new board and executive team, in a bid to grow its profits. The group, which sells so-called ‘life assistance’ products like cybercrime solutions, continued to climb further into profitability over the last year, with pre-tax profit growing from £900,000 to £4.2m. [...]
Ten Entertainment returns to profitability after pandemic hit March 29, 2022 Ten Entertainment has returned to profitability, as pent-up demand pushes consumers back to bowling alleys and arcades. The group, which operates 46 centres in the UK, swung from a more than £17m loss in 2020 into the green zone with a post-tax profit of £4m in the year to 26 December. The London-listed entertainment group [...]