Twice as many private equity deals this year April 4, 2011 PRIVATE?equity deals doubled in number in the first three months of 2011, research from consultants KPMG revealed yesterday. In the first quarter of 2011, 38 larger UK management buyout deals were recorded by the group, with total funding of more than £10m. However, the average size of deals has dropped sharply from £268m in the [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 4, 2011 Stamford Associates The investment consultant has appointed Sir Mark Weinberg as senior adviser, with the aim of expanding Stamford Associates’ investment strengths and expanding its pool of institutional investors. As the founder of life insurance provider Abbey Life, Weinberg will bring 40 years’ business and investment experience to the firm. He is also the chairman [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 3, 2011 Bibby Financial Services The invoice finance specialist has appointed Andy Leopold as sales director for the south, based in London. Leopold, who has been promoted from the role of sales director for London and Hastings, brings more than 19 years’ experience working in the financial services sector. He will be responsible for securing new business [...]
Lords call for probe into audit oligopoly March 30, 2011 The “oligopoly” of Big Four auditors contributed to the financial crisis, according to a damning report released yesterday by the influential House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee. The committee, chaired by Conservative Lord MacGregor, called for a full probe into concentration in the industry by the Office of Fair Trading, citing the fact that 99 [...]
Badly written regulations cost insurers $25bn March 30, 2011 INCONSISTENT regulatory practices in different jurisdictions are costing global insurance firms an extra $25bn (£16bn), research yesterday found. Europe, the US and China are all implementing new regulation to make insurers hold more regulatory capital, such as Solvency II. But greater convergence between regimes could cut billions from insurers’ compliance costs, according to a report [...]
Lords report to slam big four auditors March 29, 2011 AN influential House of Lords Committee is set to issue a blistering attack on the “big four” auditors today after an eight-month inquiry into the competitiveness of the audit industry. The Economic Affairs Committee, which is chaired by Conservative Lord John MacGregor, is understood to want drastic action to deal with a potential “systemic risk” [...]
Southern Cross aims for rent deal March 27, 2011 STRUGGLING care home operator Southern Cross is preparing for “hardball negotiations” with landlords to cut its massive rental bill, a person close to the firm said yesterday. Southern Cross last week wrote to around a third of its landlords to request a switch from quarterly to monthly payments, after taking on KPMG’s Richard Fleming and [...]
Corporate tax cut – but not for the banks March 23, 2011 BUSINESSES welcomed George Osborne’s decision to go further and faster in lowering corporation tax in yesterday’s Budget. But banks didn’t get the cut, with the Treasury increasing its bank levy for the second time in as many months in order to offset the gain they would have received from the corporate tax measure. Osborne announced [...]
Banks face probe for their use of Big Four auditors March 23, 2011 THE GOVERNMENT has asked regulators to investigate whether banks help to entrench the Big Four auditing firms’ dominance through restrictive lending agreements with companies. The Budget included a call to the Office of Fair Trading to probe whether bank covenants lock out smaller auditors. The Financial Reporting Council had expressed concern to lawmakers last year [...]
Science and vocational training in focus to boost workforce skills March 23, 2011 VOCATIONAL training and apprenticeships received a boost as chancellor George Osborne unlocked more funding yesterday. Admitting that the UK has a lower-skilled workforce than the US, Germany and France, Osborne said he would spend £180m to create up to 50,000 new apprenticeship places in the next four years. At least 24 new vocation-focused university technical [...]