Hammerson buys offices August 4, 2010 REAL estate investor Hammerson has teamed up with a Canadian pension investor to buy the long leasehold of 10 Gresham Street for £183m. The joint venture has bought the Foster & Partners-designed building from Union Investment, a German fund. Union purchased the property from Standard Life in May last year. Hammerson has paid £55m for [...]
A TRADER NEAR YOU STARS IN KIDS’ BOOK June 29, 2010 FINALLY! Proof that City traders aren’t all heartless: Danny Wilkinson, trader at an unidentified international broker, is today publishing a children’s book written with his aunt, Linda Wilkinson. The book, the first of a trilogy planned on “The Oonford Detective Agency”, was inspired by people Wilkinson has met during his 21 years on the trading [...]
OSBORNE TAKES FIZZ OUT OF THE CHANCELLOR’S DRINKS CABINET June 22, 2010 JUST six weeks into the new Lib-Con love-in, and the biggest mystery of the coalition has finally been put to bed. No, not how ultra-liberal Vincey is getting on with his toffier-nosed colleagues behind that pasted-on grimace, but whether or not Boy George is ready to join his predecessors in a cheeky Budget tipple. Seasoned [...]
Lord Mayor Nick Anstee: Stop bashing the banks June 16, 2010 BREAKING the financial industry would wound the wider economy, Lord Mayor of the City of London Nick Anstee warned last night, in a defence of the banking sector. Anstee welcomed the coalition government’s approach to cutting Britain’s budget deficit, but urged against a populist crackdown on large lenders. “I hope calls for the City to [...]
WEE WILLIE BRUSHES UP ON BA’S PR STRATEGY April 19, 2010 THAT pesky cloud of Icelandic volcanic ash may have caused havoc among passengers and crippling losses to airlines, but at least there has been a silver lining for one man. “Wee” Willie Walsh, the chief executive of British Airways, has suffered something of a PR nightmare over the past year amid strikes and crisis-hit revenues, [...]
Twitter runs first site ads April 13, 2010 TWITTER ran the first advert on its $1bn valued site yesterday, heralding the next phase in its business model. The site will show ads from companies including Starbucks, Virgin America, Sony Pictures and Red Bull. The advertising programme branded “Promoted Tweets” will be rolled out to up to ten per cent of users this week. [...]
City workers slam class war Budget March 24, 2010 THE City was left unconvinced by yesterday’s Budget, slamming Darling for failing to provide a clear outline on how the government was planning to reduce its huge deficit. Banks were being sent a contradictory message, critics said, pointing out that Darling has asked nationalised banks such as Lloyds and the Royal Bank of Scotland to [...]
BA and Unite disagree over strike figures March 22, 2010 BRITISH AIRWAYS and cabin crew union Unite continued to stand their ground yesterday, even as a three day strike drew to an end. BA said it was still open to talks with Unite but that there were no immediate plans to go back into negotiations over plans to cut the pay and staff numbers of cabin [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 21, 2010 THE SUNDAYS The Sunday Telegraph ITV’S NEW CHAIRMAN: UK FACES ‘NATIONAL CRISIS’ Archie Norman, the chairman of ITV, has said that the UK is facing an economic “national crisis” worse than that faced by Margaret Thatcher at the end of the 1970s. In his first interview since becoming chairman of the broadcaster, Norman also revealed [...]
Financial regulation needs analysis, not prejudice February 28, 2010 As Michel Barnier, the European Union’s Internal Markets Commissioner, prepares to make his first official visit to the UK this week, I would like to welcome him on behalf of the City. Despite reports that his appointment will damage our financial services sector – on the back of President Sarkozy’s perhaps rather provocative comments late [...]