Hamleys poised to be sold to a relative of House of Fraser’s Chinese billionaire owner October 18, 2015 A Chinese investor is said to be closing in on a deal to buy the UK’s most famous toy store Hamleys in the coming weeks. Ludendo, the French family-owned toy group, is in advanced talks to sell the chain to a Hong Kong company run by a relative of Yuan Yafei, the billionaire owner House [...]
New Builds: 600 new homes are set to be built on a site the size of three football pitches in south London December 2, 2016 The Quarry, Bexley A quarrying site that hasn’t been used in 40 years is set to be home to 600 new properties. The first new homes – 80 per cent of which will be modern family houses hoping to attract upsizers – will go on sale in the new year. There will also be a [...]
David Harrison, co-founder of Positive Solutions and True Potential, talks tin baths, skinny men with beards, Boris and why we need a Super Isa January 23, 2017 An article was doing the rounds on Twitter last week: Don’t let Boris Wooster bugger up Brexit. This is how David Harrison, founder of two multi-million pound financial services firms and former builder, feels about our irrepressible foreign secretary. “He’s not helping Theresa, is he? A loose cannon who walks on sounding like he’s just [...]
Sales of houses worth over £10m crashed this summer October 17, 2016 Sales of super-prime properties in London – luxury pads costing over £10m – slumped this summer. According to research by property consultancy London Central Portfolio (LCP), sales have fallen 86 per cent in the three months to August as compared to the same period last year. Read more: This is how sterling's unstoppable slide will affect [...]
Biffa set to float next week after cutting price to save IPO from scrapheap October 15, 2016 Biffa is expected to float on the London Stock Exchange next Thursday after it cut the price of its initial public offering (IPO). The waste disposal company has managed to avoid pulling its IPO after drumming up enough City interest on Friday. City A.M. understands Biffa is set to announce the flotation is going ahead on Monday. Read [...]
Claudio Silvestrin, architect to Kanye West and Calvin Klein, unveils his newest project in Hampstead, north London November 23, 2016 This brand new, ultra-contemporary mansion looks like it belongs in the sunny peaks of the Hollywood Hills. In fact, it’s nestled away in a quiet, exclusive corner of Hampstead, but its starry aesthetic is the creation of an award-winning architect who’s used to bringing the lavish home-stylings of the rich and famous to life. Claudio [...]
Breaking news: Revenue woes are driving a wave of deals in the print media sector January 23, 2017 After the closure of the Independent, the failed launch of Trinity Mirror’s New Day newspaper and plummeting revenues across the industry, 2016 will likely be remembered as a messy year for the print media. Less than a month in, and with rows brewing over press regulation, part two of the Leveson Inquiry and fake news [...]
Focus On Maida Vale: Why financiers and celebrities flock to the birthplace of the London mansion block December 5, 2016 The London mansion block has never been so popular, yet there are only a finite number in existence. While many luxury property developers are seeking to reinvent them for the 21st century for a tidy profit, the birthplace of the original – the real white-stuccoed deal – is still Maida Vale in north west London. [...]
It’d be a Christmas miracle if the chancellor delivered on these three festive reforms December 16, 2016 While Philip Hammond hasn’t been chancellor for long, he has already adopted George Osborne’s style of giveaways – the gifts aren’t simply bought by taxpayers, but are often funded by taxpayer money that hasn’t been raised yet. Of course, this kind of gift-giving rarely places the goods in the hands of the people who need [...]
Focus On Lewisham: Historically undervalued, Lewisham is undergoing a major upgrade November 17, 2016 It may surprise you to learn that Lewisham, that underloved pocket of South East London, is one of the fastest growing boroughs in the capital. Since the arrival of its DLR station and the rise of Canary Wharf – a wealthy neighbour where employment has quadrupled in the last 10 years – it’s become an increasingly [...]