Boutique partying in Antalya March 18, 2012 PROMISING “legendary” DJs, the SunSplash boutique music festival at the beach resort of Hillside Su in Turkey has earned itself a reputation. Now in its fourth year, each May it attracts a loyal following of British – and Turkish – devotees, wanting a hassle-free, high-quality, small, friendly and laid-back week-long party in a single beach [...]
David Lloyd Leisure prepares to hire investment bank to assess its options December 4, 2011 GYM chain David Lloyd Leisure is preparing to appoint an investment bank to advise on its strategy, according to reports. The company, which is owned jointly by Caird Capital, the private equity firm whose investors include Lloyds Banking Group, and London & Regional, the property firm owned by the billionaire Livingstone brothers, held a board [...]
David Lloyd Leisure prepares to hire investment bank to assess its options December 4, 2011 GYM chain David Lloyd Leisure is preparing to appoint an investment bank to advise on its strategy, according to reports. The company, which is owned jointly by Caird Capital, the private equity firm whose investors include Lloyds Banking Group, and London & Regional, the property firm owned by the billionaire Livingstone brothers, held a board [...]
John Pluthero interview: The controversial telco boss on life after the C-suite April 30, 2012 Discussing abstract art with controversial executive John Pluthero is a slightly surreal experience, akin to ballroom dancing with Tony Hayward, or playing Twister with Steve Jobs. Pluthero is showing me around an exhibition he helped to curate at the Kings Place Gallery in Islington. Bright swirls of colour adorn every wall, each one accompanied by his impassioned commentary. He [...]
Honeymooning for one in the Maldives April 1, 2012 GOING on holiday alone is one thing. Going on holiday alone to the world’s foremost couples’ destination is rather another. I wasn’t off to backpack around the villages of the Himalayas or go down and out in Bangkok and Hanoi, bumping into new people and places every five minutes. No: I set off on a [...]
MEGA-BRAND ADDS BANKING TO ITS WIDE RANGING INTERESTS November 17, 2011 VIRGIN MONEY With the purchase of 74 Northern Rock branches, the Virgin Money brand has just got a whole lot bigger. It already has a banking licence, having purchased Church House Trust, a tiny bank, in January 2010. It offers credit cards in conjunction with MBNA; mortgages in a joint venture with RBS-backed The One [...]
Fitness First mulls £630m Asia sell-off October 11, 2011 THE PRIVATE equity owners of Fitness First are considering offloading their lucrative Asian and Australian arms through a flotation or a sale for more than A$1bn (£638m). BC Partners, which last week pulled an initial public offering for the gym chain’s Singapore business, is said to have received takeover approaches already. It has not ruled [...]
Sleeping tight in NYC January 15, 2012 NOBODY needs an excuse to go to New York; the Big Apple is one of the few cities in the world to match London for sheer breadth of sights to see, entertainment to sample and scenes to explore. But the opening of a sprinkling of new high-class hotels that demand to be visited is as [...]
Sleeping tight in NYC January 15, 2012 NOBODY needs an excuse to go to New York; the Big Apple is one of the few cities in the world to match London for sheer breadth of sights to see, entertainment to sample and scenes to explore. But the opening of a sprinkling of new high-class hotels that demand to be visited is as [...]
BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE WORK HARD TO WED October 25, 2011 BACK ON the soapbox for BeautifulPeople.com, the dating service that axed 5,000 members for putting on weight last Christmas. The site has launched a “comedic” YouTube video (right) to defend its looksist agenda. “You can’t argue with millions of years of evolution,” the site’s managing director Greg Hodge told The Capitalist, speaking from an Los [...]