Asprey boss leaves luxury jeweller July 25, 2010 The chief executive of Asprey, jeweller to the Royal Family, is understood to have quit the company as it undergoes a turnaround process. Robert Procop is believed to have left after two years with the Bond Street retailer, which was rescued from insolvency in 2006 by investment houses Sciens Capital and Plainfield Capital. Procop joined [...]
UK insolvency down as business picks up July 18, 2010 INDICATIONS that the UK’s business community is starting to stabilise have come from new data that shows the number of company insolvencies in June has declined by more than 13 per cent from last year. Information from data services group Experian shows that 1,771 UK businesses failed last month down from the 2,044 that became [...]
Pension trustees wait for court to decide what happens if BT goes bust July 14, 2010 Pension trustees at BT were last night awaiting a High Court ruling over how much of the telecom giant’s liabilities would be guaranteed by the state if it were to collapse. The former state telecoms monopoly was given a guarantee when it was privatised in 1984 that the government would back its pension scheme in [...]
Public sector building slump raises double-dip fears July 12, 2010 A SHARP drop in public sector building activity caused commercial development to fall to the lowest monthly level in nearly a year in June, according to property advisor Savills. The company said its Commercial Development Activity Index showed a net balance of minus 2.8 percent in June, the lowest reading in 11 months, down from [...]
Financial companies left behind in upturn July 11, 2010 STRESS levels are mounting at financial services firms even as corporates across the board begin to recover, according to the latest monthly City A.M./Begbies Taynor health monitor for the Square Mile. While companies in Greater London showed a marked improvement in June, with 23 per cent fewer suffering from serious problems, woes continued to pile [...]
Nortel group is fined £2.1bn July 8, 2010 REGULATORS yesterday took the unusual step of ordering administrators of the insolvent Nortel group to provide up to £2.1bn in financial support to help bail out its 42,000 pension fund members in Britain. The Pensions Regulator issued a Financial Support Direction against 25 companies in the telecoms equipment group, which was put into administration in [...]
Insolvencies set to escalate July 8, 2010 UK insolvencies are forecast to rise next year as austerity measures start to bite, with more than 127,000 companies continuing to suffer “significant” financial distress, restructuring specialist Begbies Traynor warned yesterday. In total the struggling companies owed £69.5m at the end of the second quarter – a rise of 26 per cent compared to the [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 7, 2010 Religare Enterprises The Indian financial services group has appointed Stuart Pearce, pictured, and Kathryn Matthews as independent board directors. Pearce has over 35 years of experience in the sector and was previously chief executive and director general of the Qatar Financial Centre Authority. He has also worked as chief executive of UK investment management at [...]
AgBank’s IPO to get $22bn July 6, 2010 AGRICULTURAL Bank of China priced its Hong Kong and Shanghai dual listing yesterday, a deal that would break all IPO records by raising more than $22bn when adding in over-allotment shares. The initial public offering (IPO), which is raising funds to replenish capital, still faces a tough aftermarket, with a debut planned for 15 July [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 6, 2010 Clifford Chance The legal giant said yesterday that Simon Tinkler has been elected leader of its London corporate practice, for a term of four years. Tinkler has been at Clifford Chance since 1995. A private equity expert, he has recently advised on deals such as Duke Street’s disposal of Simple, Sandpiper on its sale of [...]