WH Ireland snaps up £270m of Seymour Pierce wealth assets February 18, 2013 CITY broker WH Ireland yesterday announced it had swooped on the remnants of bankrupt broker Seymour Pierce and snapped up its wealth management business for just £25,000. The acquisition struck between Tenebris Realisations – Seymour Pierce’s moniker since administration – and WH Ireland on Friday follows rival broker Cantor Fitzgerald’s agreement to buy substantial portions [...]
Fashion chain Republic enters administration February 13, 2013 BRITAIN’S already fragile high street was dealt a fresh blow yesterday after fashion chain Republic collapsed into administration. Ernst & Young, the business advisory firm, has been appointed as administrator and 150 staff at its Leeds headquarters were immediately made redundant. The retailer, which sells youth fashion brands including Jack Jones and SoulCal, runs 121 [...]
Insurance deals may become mobile in case of firms’ failure February 11, 2013 INSURANCE contracts could become transferable between providers in the event of a major insurer going bust, top regulator Andrew Bailey argued yesterday, calling for the watchdog to be given more powers over resolution. Insurers do not face the same risk of a run that banks do, because customers cannot simply move to another firm. Instead, [...]
City Moves for 11 February 2013 | Who’s switching jobs February 10, 2013 Cushman and Wakefield Donald Reid will join the real estate services company as a head of project management and building surveying. Reid has over 17 years’ experience as a qualified building surveyor, and was most recently head of project management at Davis Langdon. Halebury The law firm has announced three new hires. Michelle Harris, a [...]
Top football clubs call time on sugar daddies February 7, 2013 THE DAYS of mega-rich individuals, such as Roman Abramovich at Chelsea and Sheikh Mansour at Manchester City, lavishing billions on clubs in pursuit of instant success are over after England’s top teams agreed historic new financial rules. Premier League clubs will face points deductions if they lose more than £105m over a three-year period or [...]
The Debate: Will Premier League financial fair play rules have a positive impact on English football? February 7, 2013 YES David Lampitt Football’s finances have long needed a rethink. Clubs are incredibly valuable assets to supporters and communities. They need sustainable long-term stewardship, not a system of casino economics, rampant insolvency and a dependency on the whims of a super-wealthy elite. This can only be achieved through strong independent regulation that includes financial fair [...]
MPs’ concerns over pre-packs February 5, 2013 BUDGET constraints risk undermining the work of the organisation responsible for investigating insolvent companies, a group of MPs warn in a report released today. The business, innovation and skills committee said limited resources at the Insolvency Service affect its enforcement regime, sending the “the wrong message to delinquent directors”. The committee also raised concerns about [...]
City Moves for 5 February 2013 | Who’s switching jobs February 4, 2013 Linklaters Simon Pritchard has been appointed partner in the law firm’s competition team. He is a former senior director of mergers at the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). Pritchard is also editor of UK Merger Control, and an external adviser to the OFT on international competition network matters. Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance Donald Kerr has [...]
Seymour Pierce has reprieve as creditor agrees to late payment February 3, 2013 STRICKEN City broker Seymour Pierce has cleared a major hurdle in its bid to avoid administration after one of its largest creditors made it clear he was willing to be patient about calling his funds in. Hopes the 130-year-old brokerage could be saved from administration were raised yesterday after a major Ukrainian investor indicated he [...]
Recovery hope as insolvency rate declines January 29, 2013 LONDON’S business population got healthier through 2012, according to insolvency figures published yesterday, with the number of firms increasing and the proportion failing coming down. A total of 5,105 firms in the capital entered insolvency in the year, up 2.28 per cent on the year according to Experian. But the rate of insolvency fell to [...]