John Lewis pays 15pc bonus as sales beat M&S March 6, 2014 JOHN Lewis’s partners will share a reduced bonus pot equal to 15 per cent of the average staff salary as the retailer put more money aside to shore up its huge pension fund. The £202.5m bonus, which was announced to 91,000 John Lewis and Waitrose staff yesterday at stores across the country, is equivalent to [...]
Shaftesbury raises £157m to help acquisition spree in China Town March 6, 2014 SHAFTESBURY has bought a landmark property at the heart of London’s China Town next to the famous pagoda for £54.4m after raising £157m through a share placing yesterday. The West End developer said it has added a 50,000 square feet building on Newport Place to its £460m China Town portfolio and hopes to submit plans [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 5 March 2014 March 4, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Faith, hope and hedge funds for CoE The Church of England is ramping up the exposure of its £6bn endowment to alternative investments such as hedge funds and private equity in a move that will cement its position as one of the UK’s largest single investors in these types of assets. The Church [...]
City Moves for 5 March 2014 | Who’s switching jobs March 4, 2014 DAC Beachcroft The law firm has announced the appointment of Ruth Connorton as a commercial contracts partner. She specialises in non-contentious procurement matters. Connorton joins from Eversheds, where she was head of procurement law. Ashburton Investments The investment management firm has appointed Swati Jain to its London-based distribution team. She was most recently at IIFL Wealth, where [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 04 March 2014 March 3, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Nine private equity heads share $2.5bn The nine founders of the four big listed US private equity companies took home more than $2.5bn between them last year, with Apollo Global Management’s Leon Black alone receiving $546m. The dividend income, investment profits and other compensation shared by the founders of Apollo, Blackstone, Carlyle and [...]
Bottom Line: Three stocks that stand to lose big from the escalating market chaos March 3, 2014 1 BPTHE MOST exposed to Russia of the FTSE’s energy majors slumped 2.28 per cent yesterday despite a similar rise in the cost of brent crude. A hotly contested deal in 2012 saw BP take on a 19.75 per cent stake in Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft – whose shares dropped 4.1 per cent in [...]
International manhunt for UK boiler room fraud suspects March 3, 2014 CITY police are hunting four men across Europe over suspected involvement in boiler room frauds, Crimestoppers said yesterday. The four are thought to have targeted British retail investors. It comes after 110 suspects were arrested in raids across the UK, Spain, Serbia and the US. The City of London Police and the National Crime Agency are looking [...]
Russian retail chain Lenta raises $950m to start trading in London February 27, 2014 RUSSIAN hypermarket Lenta is set to announce a price of $10 per global depository receipt (GDR) today for its forthcoming float in London, raising $952m for its private equity owners. The $10 price gives Lenta, which is controlled by David Bonderman’s TPG Capital, an equity value of about $4.3bn. Bankers had previously indicated a price [...]
Inside Track: London’s 2014 flotations get off to a promising start February 27, 2014 THERE have been weeks of anticipation. Now it’s time for early evaluation as the first London new issues of 2014 start trading. Which way the newly issued shares trade can set the mood for the rest of the year – or at least provide an indication of the appetite of the institutions for newly-listed stocks. [...]
City Moves for 28 February 2014 | Who’s switching jobs February 27, 2014 Standard Chartered The bank has announced the appointment of Sanjeeb Chaudhuri as group head of brand and chief marketing officer. He joined in 2011 from Citicorp, where he was chief executive for retail and commercial banking for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Chaudhuri has also held senior marketing and general management positions at [...]