Coca-Cola abandons Costa Coffee sale plans as Asda owner bids low Business US beverage giant Coca-Cola has reportedly scrapped plans to sell the world’s second-largest coffee chain after offers from private equity firms came in below expectations. The company brought talks with remaining bidders for Costa Coffee to a halt in December, ending an auction process which had lasted several months, according to the Financial Times. Sources [...]
Bank of England launches groundbreaking private credit stress test Markets The Bank of England has launched its first ever stress test of the fast-growing private credit industry, in a bid to establish how the opaque sector would respond to a range of economic and financial shocks. The undertaking, called a ‘system-wide exploratory scenario exercise (SWES)’, will work with some of the industry’s biggest players to [...]
Exclusive: Goldman Sachs, Oaktree and Carlyle to take part in private credit stress test Markets Goldman Sachs, Oaktree and Carlyle will take part in the Bank of England’s inaugural stress test of the burgeoning private credit sector this week, City AM can reveal. Britain’s central bank is poised to carry out its first ever “system-wide exploratory scenario exercise” of so-called shadow banks in the coming weeks, in a bid to [...]
Virgin Atlantic uses Heathrow slots as collateral for $745m Apollo loan November 13, 2025 Virgin Atlantic has borrowed $745m (£564m) from alternatives giant Apollo in a groundbreaking private credit deal that will see the airline use the value of its landing slots at Heathrow as collateral. Virgin said it would use the funds to pay down a legacy debt and make upgrades worth hundreds of millions of pounds to [...]
Apollo Global Management to launch £3.75bn sport investment vehicle September 2, 2025 New York-based Apollo Global Management is reportedly planning to launch a £3.75bn investment vehicle focused on sport. The firm, which has around £600bn in assets under management, is set to invest permanent capital into sport for the first time with the new fund. Having previously held talks with LaLiga club Atletico Madrid about acquiring a [...]
Apollo-backed group makes £5.7bn swoop for Pension Insurance Corporation July 4, 2025 Athora – the European insurance group backed by US private equity giant Apollo – has struck a £5.7bn takeover deal for the UK’s Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC). The acquisition will create a group with combined assets worth near £112m and covering the pensions of more than three million people across Europe. The takeover marks one [...]
Energy services giant returned to profit before $1bn takeover June 9, 2025 A UK energy services giant returned to profit and created hundreds of jobs in the year before being acquired in a deal which valued it at more than $1bn (£737m). OEG Energy Group, which is headquartered in Aberdeen, has reported a pre-tax profit of $4.4m for 2024, having posted a pre-tax loss of $14.9m in [...]
Evri to ramp up courier workforce after DHL partnership June 9, 2025 Evri is planning to hire 5,000 couriers in a fresh recruitment drive as the parcel giant takes on rivals after entering the business letter market. The Yorkshire-based firm recently announced it was joining forces with DHL’s UK ecommerce arm to form one of the country’s biggest delivery firms. It said the new roles would bring [...]
Magnificent Seven magic is ‘dead’, says top tech investor May 6, 2025 For years, investors have relied on the Magnificent Seven to provide massive returns. Now, one of its biggest beneficiaries has said that strategy is “mostly dead”. The small group of giant tech stocks has seen a tripling of its total weight in the S&P 500 over the last decade, and now makes up around a [...]
US services growth ‘stalling’ as recession looms large May 5, 2025 Donald Trump’s tariffs are having a knock-on effect on growth in the US services, fresh data has suggested, as market uncertainty prompts business leaders to delay investment decisions. The US president’s trade policies have confused firms in the sector despite exemptions from taxes on imports, S&P Global said on Monday. April saw its lowest level [...]