Qataris to snap up IHG’s Le Grand hotel in Paris for €330m August 8, 2014 InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) said yesterday it had agreed to sell Le Grand hotel in Paris to Qatari-backed investor Constellation Hotels for €330m (£264m), paving the way for more cash returns for investors. The sale of the flagship hotel overlooking the Paris Opera House, will see IHG manage the hotel for more than 60 years, [...]
Luxury in the air at Earl’s Court’s Lillie Square October 20, 2014 The designers behind the north hall of Covent Garden Market and the Met Bar unveiled a new collection of luxury penthouses in Earl’s Court to bring it up to the standard of its illustrious west London neighbours. The penthouses are part of the Lillie Square development, a residential scheme that’s the centrepiece of the regeneration [...]
In graphs: Country house prices on the rise as the London effect spreads July 8, 2014 As house prices in London continue to rise, the effect is beginning to spread to properties outside the capital, including country houses. According to research from Knight Frank, a real estate consultancy company, prime country house prices rose by 1.1 per cent in the last quarter and by 5.2 per cent over the year to [...]
UK property: South east overtakes London as region with fastest-growing house prices October 20, 2014 The south east has overtaken London as the region with the fastest-growing house prices, figures published today show – despite the average asking price in the capital hitting £596,000 in the year to October. According to research by Rightmove and Oxford Economics, prices in the capital grew 9.6 per cent during the period, while [...]
City Moves for 20 October 2014 | Who’s switching jobs October 19, 2014 Secure Trust Bank The bank, a subsidiary of Arbuthnot Banking Group, has appointed Neil Clinton as regional sales director. He joins from Barclays, where he was head of its UK large corporate asset based lending team. Clinton has over 30 years’ experience in banking and invoice finance. Investec Wealth & Investment The wealth management firm [...]
Red is the new black at retailer Net-A-Porter September 7, 2014 Online luxury group Net-A-Porter enjoyed a 23 per cent rise in sales last year thanks to growth across its three websites, despite the business remaining in the red. The group, which is owned by Swiss luxury conglomerate Richemont, said revenues jumped to £533m in the year to 29 March 2014 as the launch of new [...]
Priory clinic opens in the Square Mile: How to tackle stress in the City November 30, 2014 The opening of a Priory clinic in the Square Mile should be a call to action for employers. The Priory Group’s move to open a new wellbeing clinic in the City is a strong indication of an increasing problem. Recent ONS statistics show that the number of working days lost to “serious mental health” [...]
Bank of America set for biggest settlement since 2008 financial crash August 20, 2014 Bank of America is reportedly set to pay out $17bn (£10.2bn) to US authorities and in consumer relief, in a bid to settle an investigation into sales of mortgage-backed securities before the 2008 crisis. The agreement with US regulators is the largest of any yet to emerge from the crash. According to the AP news [...]
Conran feasts on profits from restaurant sale August 31, 2014 CONRAN Holdings, the design empire founded by Sir Terence Conran, has made a return to profit after selling its restaurant business last year. The company behind The Conran Shop and the design consultancy Conran & Partners, made a £6.4m profit from selling its 51 per cent stake in in D&D London, whose sites include Coq [...]
New Look sells French arm Mim to newly-created business Main Asia September 5, 2014 New Look has sold its French business Mim for an undisclosed sum, to a Hong Kong-based company about which relatively little information has been made available. Main Asia (HK) was established earlier this year to acquire Mim, and the main shareholders and management are “active in apparel and textile manufacturing and trading, along with [...]