CROYDON November 24, 2011 SAFFRON SQUARE Price: From £182,500 for one-bedroom to £640,000 for three-bedroom with balcony Saffron Square will be over 22,000 square feet of new apartment and retail buildings, all set in a new public square, landscaped and with water features. There will be 715 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. Contact Knight Frank on 020 7861 5499 [...]
PROPERTY NEWS November 24, 2011 PRIME MARKETS TO LEVEL OFF NEXT YEAR The world’s prime markets are anticipated to level off next year, according to the Knight Frank global forecast. Forty-four per cent of cities are expected to see prices rise, 44 per cent should expect a fall in prices, and 12 per cent will remain unchanged. Asian cities are [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 23, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BOSTOCK IN TALKS TO QUIT M&S FOR ASOS Kate Bostock, the head of Marks and Spencer’s clothing and homewares business, is in advanced talks to take up a senior role at Asos. People familiar with the situation said Bostock was talking to the online fashion retailer about becoming its managing director. Losing Bostock, [...]
MENSCH HITS THE HIGH STREET TO PRESENT AT HOT WOMEN CEREMONY November 23, 2011 WAS Miriam González Durántez too busy preparing for her move to US law firm Dechert to attend the Red’s Hot Women Awards yesterday? No – the wife of the deputy Prime Minister had an appointment with her children’s nursery that couldn’t be moved. And since these are the awards that celebrate the achievements of working [...]
KITTED OUT | London 2012 uniforms revealed November 22, 2011 LONDON 2012 chiefs have revealed the uniform to be worn by volunteers and staff at next summer’s Olympics, which they say draws inspiration from the Grenadier Guards. Designers Adidas also cite the Henley Regatta as a reference point, while retailer Next has helped create the uniform for technical staff (above left).
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 22, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES NOMURA STEPS UP ASSET SALE PLANS Nomura has approached big private equity firms about the possible sale of domestic businesses, including its real estate arm, as the Japanese bank moves to shore up its capital buffers. Several people familiar with the preliminary talks with parties including KKR and TPG said the bank was [...]
Eight in 10 households to cut or freeze Xmas spend November 21, 2011 OVER three in 10 households are planning to spend less this Christmas than last year, a worrying survey for the retail sector revealed yesterday. And the survey, conducted by Legal & General, showed that over half (51 per cent) of respondents will restrict their spending to “no more than last year”. The squeeze on Britons’ [...]
Graff outlines plans for IPO in Hong Kong November 21, 2011 LONDON-based jeweller Graff hopes a planned Hong Kong IPO will bolster its position in a fast-changing diamond industry and give it financial clout to expand into Asian and other major cities, its 73-year-old founder and chairman said yesterday. The privately-held diamond and precious gems firm founded by Laurence Graff (pictured) in 1960 has found it [...]
BOOST FOR MORTGAGES November 21, 2011 THE GOVERNMENT will today launch a scheme to encourage first-time buyers to take out 95 per cent mortgages even as new figures show the largest monthly drop in house prices since before the financial crisis. Prime Minister David Cameron and his deputy Nick Clegg will today unveil a plan to “help people get on the [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 20, 2011 Kingfisher The home improvement retailer has appointed Mark Seligman, the former European chairman and chairman of UK investment banking at Credit Suisse, as a senior independent director, effective from 1 January 2012. Seligman will step down from his role as a senior adviser at Credit Suisse at the end of the year. He is also [...]