Hansteen sells industrials fund in £190m deal May 13, 2015 HANSTEEN, the property company chaired by Hambro Bank scion James Hambro, has sold a second batch of UK industrial estates to former Camden Lock Markets owner Brockton Capital. Brockton will join forces with Dunedin Property to take control of the 76 estates in Hansteen’s UK industrial property unit trust II as part of the £192m [...]
Beware under-insurance: Four in five people don’t have adequate coverage for their precious things May 12, 2015 Do you have adequate insurance for the contents of your home in the event of a disaster? Probably not. Research suggests four in every five high net worth individuals is under-insured, according to Oak Underwriting. Another study from Datamonitor put the figure slightly lower, at 70-75 per cent of wealthier homeowners – but still a [...]
City Moves for 12 May 2015 | Who’s switching jobs May 11, 2015 Colliers International Martin Mahmuti has been appointed senior property economist in the commercial real estate services firm’s research and forecasting team. He began his career at Cushman and Wakefield, where he primarily reported on UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa retail markets. Hermes Investment Management Philip Nell has been appointed fund director in the asset [...]
Aviva ahead of schedule with refocusing plan May 7, 2015 AVIVA boss Mark Wilson said yesterday that the UK insurer’s turnaround plan is running ahead of schedule, with new business in the life arm up by 14 per cent to £247m in the first three months of 2015. On the general insurance side net written premiums grew by one per cent from £845m in the [...]
Panmure closes in on Charles Stanley division May 6, 2015 CITY broker Panmure Gordon yesterday said it was on the verge of buying Charles Stanley’s investment bank after a rival bid to buy the unit collapsed earlier this year. Panmure, led by chief executive Phillip Wale, has agreed in principle to buy the unit, which has contracts with 49 corporate clients. Mark Taylor, joint managing [...]
Tidjane Thiam’s last Prudential results put spotlight on Asia while UK business lags May 6, 2015 Outgoing Prudential boss Tidjane Thiam yesterday said the company was no longer seeking to grow in the US and UK, and would instead focus on expanding in the Asian market. Thiam delivered his last set of results as the head of the insurance group, which detailed the firm’s 22nd consecutive quarter of growth. Sales across [...]
Investors await the result of General Election – London Report May 4, 2015 ALL EYES will be on the political polls this week, as the nation gears up for the General Election on Thursday. With little to separate the popularity of the leading parties, the Conservatives and Labour, many expect no party will gain a majority, while many investors and property buyers are holding off from making decisions [...]
When raiders strike: Are US activist investors in City boardrooms a force for good or a costly nuisance? April 30, 2015 When US investor Nelson Peltz walks into a boardroom carrying a piece of paper you know there’s going to be trouble. Peltz, best known in the UK for bouncing Cadbury’s into a series of spin-outs and mergers, has a tried and tested tactic for effecting change: meet a chief executive, present him with a [...]
Troubled Barclays braced for famously tough incoming new chairman John McFarlane April 29, 2015 It is hard to keep a straight face when calling PPI compensation and litigation costs “one-offs” at any of the big banks nowadays. Yet seven years on from the start of the financial crisis, Barclays and the other big banks are still treating the extraordinary costs as unusual items each quarter. Yesterday Barclays [...]
Alliance Trust gets a year to show results as Elliott Advisors gives 12 months’ notice April 28, 2015 Investment firm Alliance Trust has been put on 12-months’ notice by activist investor Elliott Advisors to show results or be forced to change its strategy. In a vicious battle over the past month, both sides have been rallying support among shareholders, with Elliott pushing for three new directors to join the board, and Alliance [...]