City regulator sweats ahead of Davis probe December 8, 2014 The FCA will be opened up to scrutiny this week as a review of its insurance work is published Roman poet Juvenal, one of the world’s first great satirists, left an important legacy in the form of the phrase “quis custodiet ipsos custodes?”. It translates as “who will guard the guards themselves?” The quotation is [...]
Aviva in danger of losing major Asian contract as rivals close in December 7, 2014 INSURER Aviva is facing a sale of one of its biggest contracts in Asia, according to market sources. If the company does not want to lose its bancassurance deal with Singapore’s DBS, which is due to end in 2015 after 14 years, it may be forced by a competitive auction process to pay in excess [...]
City Moves for 08 December 2014 | Who’s switching jobs December 7, 2014 BNP Paribas Real Estate James Max has been appointed UK board adviser to the property advisory firm. He joined in January 2014 as a senior advisory director. Max is a media personality and has also held roles at DTZ, Morgan Stanley, and Doughty Hanson. Addleshaw Goddard The law firm has announced the appointment of Katie [...]
Crisis at the FCA as top regulator Clive Adamson departs December 4, 2014 Some of the City’s most senior insurance executives last night expressed their dismay at the departure of Clive Adamson from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Adamson was widely respected within the industry for being a tough but fair regulator. The news that he is to step down comes days ahead of the publication of a [...]
Pinewood Shepperton takes full control of its film studios for £37m December 4, 2014 Pinewood Shepperton, home of the James Bond film series, has taken full control of its film production site in Shepperton after buying out Aviva from its joint venture for £36.8m. Shepperton Studios Property Partnership, which has existed since 2006, will now fall under the sole ownership of Pinewood. Since 2006, £9.8m has been invested at [...]
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales to debut The People’s Operator on market December 3, 2014 Commercial mobile network The People’s Operator (TPO) has raised £20m ahead of its listing on Aim tomorrow, which has attracted strong interest from institutional investors such as Aviva, JP Morgan and Allianz. The company, led by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, plans to use the funds raised to expand internationally. TPO recently signed a contract [...]
Aviva’s boss Mark Wilson wins over City sceptics to £5.3bn Friends Life deal with cost saving promises December 2, 2014 Aviva chief executive Mark Wilson has won over some of his harshest critics with promises of £225m in cost savings if the proposed £5.3bn Friends Life deal goes through. The companies yesterday confirmed the terms of the deal, and Panmure Gordon analyst Barrie Cornes, who was one of the City’s most vocal opponents of the [...]
FTSE rebounds as oil price rise boosts energy companies – London Report December 2, 2014 BRITAIN’S main equity index rebounded from a two-week low yesterday, led by energy shares, as oil prices rose from five-year lows. Energy stocks helped the FTSE 100 index to close 1.3 per cent higher at 6,742.10 points. It had fallen one per cent in the previous session to a two-week low, its steepest one-day drop [...]
As Aviva agrees a £5.6bn takeover of Friends Life, does the acquisition make strategic sense? December 2, 2014 Ben Cohen, an insurance analyst at Canaccord Genuity, says Yes. Aviva’s core strategy is “cash plus growth”, and this deal adds materially to cash flow, which will be used to pay a higher dividend and invest across the group for growth. This is not just jam tomorrow – the 30 per cent increase in Aviva’s [...]
Carillion fallout pushes UK M&A deals to all-time lows – but values have risen December 2, 2014 A dry summer for UK mergers and acquisitions, in which Carillion gave up its £2.1bn attempt to to buy Balfour Beatty, has helped to ensure volumes remained at historic lows. The number of deals involving UK companies fell to 67 in the third quarter of 2014, according to figures from the Office of National Statistics released [...]