CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 24, 2009 Close BrothersThe financial services group has appointed Sven Guckelberger as a managing director to its corporate finance advisory arm, Close Brothers Corporate Finance, which has recently been sold to Daiwa Securities SMBC Europe. Guckelberger will join the restructuring and debt advisory group. Fenchurch The investment banking boutique has hired Julian Avery as a senior adviser, [...]
Slaughters in fracas with Lib Dem peer June 24, 2009 LORD Oakeshott, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, has become embroiled in a row with “magic circle” legal firm Slaughter and May after he accused it of handing the government a “simply mind-blowing” £22m bill. The bill relates to “financial stability” work carried out for the Treasury in the the financial year 2008 to 2009. Slaughters [...]
THE LONDON REPORT June 23, 2009 The FTSE 100 closed down 0.1 per cent yesterday, falling just 4.03 points to 4,230.02 in a choppy session, with thin volumes exacerbating movements, after losing 2.6 per cent on Monday. The index has gained more than 22 per cent since hitting a six-year low in March, but is still down 4.6 per cent on [...]
Brit drops its Chaucer bid June 23, 2009 BRIT Insurance withdrew its bid for rival Lloyd’s of London insurer Chaucer Holdings yesterday, as private equity group Pamplona ramped up its assault on Chaucer by further boosting its stake. Brit said the board of Chaucer had decided not to recommend its £220m offer – worth almost a third less than for the group’s book [...]
How the Baker Street brigade are taking on the Big Four accountants June 22, 2009 YOU get the impression when you meet him that Simon Michaels, the managing partner of BDO Stoy Hayward, wants a lot of things – and one of the first is a larger slice of the UK accounting pie. Michaels, at 42 the youngest person to lead the UK’s sixth-largest professional services business, was elected to [...]
Brit launches bid for Chaucer June 22, 2009 LLOYD’S of London insurer Brit Insurance made a £226m all-share offer for smaller rival Chaucer yesterday, forcing private equity group Pamplona to reveal it has built a 7.34 per cent stake in the company. Brit is offering the Chaucer board 0.23 new Brit shares for every Chaucer share. This is a nil-premium offer, meaning it [...]
THE LONDON REPORT June 22, 2009 THE FTSE 100 ended 2.6 per cent, or 111.88 points, lower at 4,234.05 yesterday as falling commodity prices pressured miners and oil majors. Bucking the trend, Anglo American was the biggest blue chip gainer, rising 4.6 per cent, after rival Xstrata said it wanted talks about a proposed merger of equals. Xstrata shed 6.7 per [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 21, 2009 FormjetThe alternative software firm has appointed Andrew Monk, the former chief executive of stockbroker Blue Oar, as its new chief executive. Monk previously founded and jointly ran Oriel Securities, which, like Blue Oar, he named after his rowing exploits at Oxford University. Blue Oar has since been rebranded as Astaire under new chief executive Edward [...]
How the King of the UK back office plans to keep his business growing June 21, 2009 IT is fascinating to listen to David Andrews talk about his business. For most of us, back offices may seem deadly boring – but when you discover Andrew’s passion for Xchanging, the FTSE 250 back office outsourcing giant he founded 10 years ago, you suddenly realise just how true it is that finance and corporate [...]
See yourself as a brand to get ahead in today’s City June 10, 2009 AT a time when so many people in the City are looking for a job, the important thing is to stand out from the crowd. As a headhunter, I often help clients and candidates to market themselves. The best way to do this is to build a personal brand. But how do you do this? [...]