Grosvenor House Hotel up for sale as owner collapses into administration March 3, 2015 The iconic Grosvenor House Hotel in London has been put up for sale after its owner collapsed into administration. The luxury five-star hotel, located on Park Lane in Mayfair, is expected to go for more than the £470m than its owners Sahara Grosvenor House Hospitality initially paid five years ago – the largest London hotel deal [...]
Taylor Wimpey reports sunny outlook for spring as it shrugs off slowing housing market March 3, 2015 The figures Britain's second biggest homebuilder said full-year revenue rose 17 per cent to £2.7bn, up from £2.3bn a year earlier. This was helped along by operating profit which swelled 53.6 per cent to £480m. Total home completions jumped 6.5 per cent to 12,454 (including joint ventures) up from 11,696 in 2013. Total average selling price [...]
Insurers win reprieve over rule changes after Bank of England ERM warning March 2, 2015 Insurers such as Just Retirement have escaped a potentially devastating blow to their earning power thanks to a regulatory re-think over new capital requirements. The Bank of England’s prudential regulation authority (PRA) had been considering rules that may have forced them to abandon the highly lucrative equity release mortgage (ERM) market. Industry sources last [...]
Hewlett-Packard buys Aruba Networks in biggest deal since Autonomy March 2, 2015 Hewlett-Packard is buying Wi-Fi network gear maker Aruba Networks for $2.7bn (£1.8bn) in cash in a bid to bolster its networking business. The world’s second-biggest PC maker is offering $24.67 a share. Including cash and debt, the companies valued the deal at around $3bn. The purchase is a boost for HP’s wireless local area network [...]
Balfour Beatty developing the Olympic Village March 2, 2015 BUILDER Balfour Beatty will move into property development with a deal to construct 1,500 homes at two new neighbourhoods at the Olympic Village site. Balfour has agreed to put in half of the equity required to complete the project – about £35m – and carry out the building work, which is expected to generate £400m [...]
Tory pledge lays foundations for rise in homebuilder shares March 2, 2015 SHARES in residential building companies were given a boost yesterday, after David Cameron pledged to build 200,000 new affordable homes by 2020. The homes will be sold at a 20 per cent discount, achieved by removing levies and regulation on brownfield site properties. Shares in Berkeley were up 1.45 per cent at the close, Bellway [...]
Oaktree Capital and Saco create £60m Airbnb-style flats venture March 2, 2015 US finance giant Oaktree Capital Management and Bristol-based firm, The Serviced Apartment Company (Saco) have joined forces to create a £60m serviced apartments business, the pair announced yesterday. The deal will see Saco merge with Oaktree’s serviced flats business, creating a portfolio of 1,645 apartments in the UK and Europe. This includes a pipeline of [...]
UK house prices fall by average of £482 in another signal the property market is cooling March 2, 2015 House prices have fallen for the first time in five months as annual growth in the property market slowed to its lowest rate since September 2013 – yet another signal the market is losing steam. The latest figures from Nationwide show house prices fell 0.1 per cent in February compared to a 0.3 per cent [...]
Landlords put up more equity for buy-to-let loans March 1, 2015 BUY-TO-LET borrowers are putting up more equity before making new purchases in a bid to shorten mortgage terms, according to a new report by the Mortgage Advice Bureau. Aspiring landlords have increased the amount of equity behind them by 15 per cent during the past year to an average of almost £100,000, while the average [...]
City Moves for 02 March 2015 | Who’s switching jobs March 1, 2015 Newcourt Residential The luxury property developer has appointed Graham Weiss to its board as a non-executive director. He was previously managing director of Octagon Developments, and has over 30 years’ experience in the UK luxury property industry. Hitachi Capital (UK) The financial services firm has appointed Robert Gordon as chief executive. He joined Hitachi Capital [...]