CVC to enter football with £2.3bn deal for 10 per cent of Spain’s LaLiga August 4, 2021 CVC Capital Partners is set to make its first major football investment by paying €2.7bn (£2.3bn) for a minority stake in Spain’s top league, LaLiga. The private equity giant, which has invested heavily in rugby in recent years, has an agreement in principle for around 10 per cent of LaLiga. “LaLiga confirms a strategic agreement [...]
McLaren ‘to sell off Applied Technologies division to Greybull’ August 3, 2021 McLaren has reportedly struck a deal to sell off its Applied Technologies division to Greybull Capital as the supercar maker continues to streamline its operations. According to Sky News, the deal could be announced as early as tomorrow, although details of the size of the deal were as yet unclear. It comes just weeks after [...]
Bank of England’s MPC meeting: Who will take Haldane’s hawkish reins? August 3, 2021 A big hole has been left at the table of the latest round of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee meetings – they are the first since chief economist Andy Haldane departed the Old Lady after over 30 years of service. Much of the focus on Thursday’s MPC policy announcements will be on whether [...]
Jack Ma’s Ant Group emerges as a steady ship amid China’s tech crackdown August 3, 2021 Fintech giant Ant Group, the brainchild of Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, has emerged a steady ship in its first-quarter amid a rocky political climate in China. Revenue rose to $31.8bn in the three months ending 30 June, a little below analyst forecasts. Following intense scrutiny from local regulators, the Chinese fintech giant has shifted into [...]
Mitigating litigation risk: The impact of corporate social performance factors August 3, 2021 Much has been written on the merits of ESG investing strategies and their ability to deliver comparable, if not superior, performance to traditional benchmarks. A majority of institutional investors are motivated to employ ESG investing strategies because they believe ESG will improve risk adjusted returns1, yet the circumstances in which ESG leads to better outcomes [...]
Wave of dealmaking sees private equity investment in UK soar to highest level in five years August 3, 2021 Private equity deal value and volumes in the first half of the year rose to levels not seen since 2017, as investors gained confidence in post-pandemic recovery. There was a marked interest in mid-market private equity dealmaking, as funds competed for quality assets and completed 377 deals in the first six months of the year, [...]
Rishi Sunak renews call for City workers to get back to the office August 2, 2021 Rishi Sunak has renewed calls for young City workers to get back to the office now the government’s work from home order has been dropped. The chancellor recalled how his career as a young investment banker was helped by making relationships in the office with older colleagues. Speaking about a recent visit to Scotland where [...]
Treasury appoints Unilever veteran to chair UK Government Investments August 2, 2021 The Treasury has appointed a Unilever veteran as its new chair of UK Government Investments, who will join the board in September. Vindi Banga is set to join UK Government Investments (UKGI), an arm of the Treasury, alongside his current role of chair at charity Marie Curie. The incoming chair is also a senior non-executive [...]
Climate change activists occupy Zurich’s financial district August 2, 2021 Police this morning began clearing a group of Climate Strike activists occupying the heart of Zurich’s financial district. Around 200 activists from the Climate Strike Switzerland group gathered outside the UBS and Credit Suisse headquarters to protest the financing of environmentally damaging fossil fuel projects. According to “Rise Up for Change”, a group bringing together [...]
What does China’s stock market meltdown mean for investors? August 2, 2021 Chinese markets have hit headlines again in recent weeks. Geopolitical tensions surrounding trade remain, but market behavior and performance – particularly in the tech sector – has also come to the fore. We asked Tom Wilson, Schroders’ Head of Emerging Market Equities, what’s causing the upset. The Chinese government seems to be cracking down on [...]