Who’s switching jobs November 12, 2012 KNG Securities The fixed income product provider has appointed Andrea Podesta as managing partner and head of fixed income. He joins from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he was managing director and head of southern Europe fixed income sales. BNY Mellon The financial services firm has appointed Alan Cottam as regional business head for [...]
BTA poised to seize oligarch’s assets after appeal thrown out November 6, 2012 MUKHTAR Ablyazov, a fugitive oligarch accused of embezzling more than $5bn (£3.1bn), was labelled “devious” and “cynical” by judges yesterday as his former Kazakh bank BTA prepared to pounce on his assets. On the eve of his fraud trial, the Court of Appeal threw out Ablyazov’s attempts in absentia to overturn a 22-month jail sentence [...]
Credit Insurance Explained November 1, 2012 JULIE PALMER BEGBIES TRAYNOR The Christmas trading period is a “Russian Roulette” quarter for retailers, Julie Palmer, a partner at law firm Begbies Traynor explains. “The retailer has to decide to what level they are going to stock their stores, which places heavy demand on their cash flows to fully stock if the suppliers won’t [...]
Pension fund protector sees stellar returns October 22, 2012 THE PENSION Protection Fund (PPF) will today announce that it made a surplus of more than £1bn in the last financial year, providing greater security for its 128,000 members. The statutory body looks after the defined benefit pension schemes of companies that have been declared insolvent. The fund’s annual report shows total assets under management [...]
Retailers close 20 shops a day as value chains take their place October 17, 2012 BRITISH retailers closed more stores than they opened in the first half of the year, with around 20 shops a day pulling down their shutters, a study has revealed. The report, by PwC and the Local Data Company, examined 500 town centres in the UK and found toy shops, clothes and furniture retailers, jewellers, card [...]
City Moves | Who’s switching jobs October 15, 2012 Alvarez & Marsal Taxand The tax advisory firm has appointed Stephen Labrum as a managing director and global head of transfer pricing. He joins after 13 years at Ernst & Young, where was a transfer pricing partner. Allianz Global Investors The asset management firm has appointed Andy Wiggins to the newly-created role of head of [...]
Rangers shoot for £20m junior market offering October 11, 2012 TROUBLED Scottish football club Rangers yesterday announced plans to raise up to £20m through a listing on London’s Alternative Investment Market as the team’s new owners seek to rebuild the business. Rangers has endured a disastrous year, with the club – who have won the league a record 54 times – declared insolvent and forced to restart life [...]
League won’t ban Wonga deal October 9, 2012 PREMIER League chiefs have ruled out intervening in the row over Wonga.com’s sponsorship of Newcastle United, despite the storm that greeted yesterday’s £24m four-year deal between the club and the controversial payday lender. Industry experts accused the company of cynically targeting an area with the highest personal insolvency rates in the country, while the Football [...]
Hotels and restaurants fight off insolvency but figures still rise October 8, 2012 THE NUMBER of hospitality and leisure businesses collapsing into insolvency fell 15 per cent in the third quarter compared with the same period last year, but it remains one of the worst hit sectors so far this year, according to figures released yesterday by PwC. Overall, there were 1,464 insolvencies in the hotel and leisure [...]
Begbies says fewer firms failing October 1, 2012 A drop in companies going bust has left business recovery group Begbies Traynor facing a quiet summer, the firm said in a trading update yesterday. Begbies said insolvencies fell 12 per cent in the second quarter of the year, with 5,065 companies going under. The firm has spent £1m on its own restructuring since May, [...]