Easter boosts high street footfall but retailers hold their breath April 10, 2026 Retail footfall jumped in March as Easter boosted shopping activity, but business leaders fear tax and employment costs could yet cause havoc. Total footfall in the UK increased by 2.4 per cent last month, according to trade body the British Retail Consortium (BRC), offering a welcome boost for retailers after wet weather drove shoppers away [...]
AS Invest Capital Ltd Group Launches €50 Million Bond Offering with 8.5% Yield April 9, 2026 AS Group, Hagenstraße 67, 14193 Berlin, Germany, is continuing to advance its capital markets–oriented growth strategy and is initiating a new corporate bond with a target volume of €50 million. The structuring of the issuance is being carried out via its subsidiary, AS Invest Capital LTD, London. With this planned issuance, the AS Group once [...]
Moody’s Brings Credit and Compliance Workflows Directly into Anthropic’s Claude April 9, 2026 Moody’s Corporation (NYSE: MCO) and Anthropic today announced that Moody’s Agentic Solutions (MAS) will be available natively in Anthropic’s Claude environment – including Claude Desktop, Claude.ai, and Claude Enterprise – through a purpose-built Model Context Protocol (MCP) application. Together, the companies are bringing Moody’s decision-grade risk intelligence into Anthropic’s frontier AI environment, delivering trusted, auditable [...]
John Lewis boss takes 20 per cent pay rise as retailer cuts jobs April 9, 2026 The new chairman of John Lewis took a pay rise and bonus despite the retailer cutting thousands of jobs. Jason Tarry saw his basic pay rate increase by 21 per cent and took a two per cent bonus, despite his firm slashing more than 3,000 jobs last year. Tarry took the reins of the John [...]
Sumitomo Corporation, SMBC Aviation Capital, Apollo and Brookfield Complete the Acquisition of Air Lease Corporation April 8, 2026 Sumitomo Corporation, SMBC Aviation Capital, Apollo-managed funds (“Apollo”) and Brookfield today announced that they have completed the previously announced acquisition of Air Lease Corporation (“Air Lease”) and have renamed the business Sumisho Air Lease Corporation (“Sumisho Air Lease”). This transformational transaction improves the financial position of the business with long term support and aviation expertise [...]
Degreed Named a Strategic Leader in the 2026 Fosway 9-Grid™ for Learning Systems Amid Recent AI Innovation Announcements April 8, 2026 Degreed, the leading enterprise learning system for workforce transformation, was named a Strategic Leader in the 2026 Fosway 9-Grid™ for Learning Systems for the fourth year in a row. The recognition comes as the company announced additional milestones, reinforcing its strategic focus on artificial intelligence and its commitment to enabling continuous transformation for businesses. Fosway [...]
Blackline Safety Enters into Definitive Agreement to be Acquired by Francisco Partners for up to $850 Million April 8, 2026 Shareholders to Receive $9.00 Cash Per Share Plus a Contingent Value Right of up to $0.50 Per Share $9.00 Cash Consideration per Share and up to $9.50 Total Consideration per Share represents a 28% and 35% premium to the 20-day VWAP of Blackline’s Shares on the TSX as of April 7, 2026 The cash-plus-CVR structure provides immediate value and liquidity for Shareholders while preserving the opportunity to potentially receive an additional cash payment if the Company achieves its near-term ARR target Voting support agreements have been entered into by certain shareholders, as well as Blackline’s directors and senior officers, representing approximately 34% of the outstanding Shares, including irrevocable voting support agreements from several of the Company’s largest shareholders representing approximately 30% of the outstanding Shares Blackline’s largest shareholder, DAK Capital Inc., owned by Daryl Katz, has agreed to exchange all of its Shares for shares of the Purchaser Board unanimously recommends Shareholders vote in favour of the Transaction
Energy bills threat recedes but retail and hospitality remain on brink April 8, 2026 Retail and hospitality leaders are optimistic that the Iran-US ceasefire could spare them from the worst energy bill shocks, but are urging the government to address an array of other cost pressures. British businesses had warned that the soaring energy prices caused by the war in the Middle East could be devastating if the conflict [...]
Son of world’s richest banker challenged US law firm over $35m legal bill April 8, 2026 Alberto Safra survived a bitter fight over his father’s $23bn fortune. Then the legal bill arrived, all $35m (£26m) of it. Safra, son of Brazilian billionaire Joseph Safra, now deceased, was billed over $35m for less than two years of work over a ‘bitter multibillion-dollar estate feud’ and one of the largest inheritance battles in [...]
Blue Owl Capital outlook cut to negative amid private credit woes April 8, 2026 The outlook on Blue Owl Capital’s flagship fund has been downgraded to negative by a leading ratings firm in the latest blow to the industry as it continues to be plagued by investors pulling money from funds. Moody’s Ratings changed its outlook from stable to negative after “significantly higher-than-peer redemption requests in the first financial [...]