RBS sells London’s Cumberland Hotel to US and UK joint venture July 1, 2010 ROYAL Bank of Scotland has sold Cumberland Hotel in central London for £215m to a joint venture of US private equity firm Starwood Capital and property investor London & Regional. “The Cumberland sale is the largest hotel investment deal in Europe for over a year,” said Derek Gammage, head of EMEA at CBRE Hotels, which [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 5, 2010 Threadneedle The asset management firm has hired George Gosden to join its Asian equities desk. Gosden spent the past eight years as a director at Insight Investment, where he was part of the international team. Prior to that, he was a director of Asian equities at Clerical Medical Investment Management. In his new role, he [...]
Double dip recession a real possibility, say property firms March 16, 2010 Property investment managers and developers have warned that the threat of a double dip recession in the UK is real and would force banks to sell off their property portfolios. Delegates at MIPIM, Europe’s largest property fair, said the UK has survived on government aid since the recession and that a cut in spending could [...]
Cannes awaits property fest March 14, 2010 THIS week sees the heavyweights of the property world embark on their annual pilgrimage to Cannes for MIPIM, Europe’s largest property fair. The four day event – known for its yachts and late night parties – is likely to be more upbeat than last year when the property market was still in the midst of [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS February 28, 2010 ARCHANT The media giant has appointed Mike Walsh, a leading figure in the worlds of advertising, brand marketing and charities, to its main Board as a non-executive director. Walsh is currently a director at advertising agency Ogilvy and Mather South Africa and a non executive at global brand identity and design company, The Brand Union. [...]
Royal London and Liver in merger talks February 22, 2010 ROYAL London and Royal Liver, Britain’s two biggest mutual companies, are understood to be in the early stages of merger talks. The proposed deal comes after Royal Liver failed in discussions with Liverpool Victoria, the UK’s largest friendly society, over a potential £10bn merger. Royal Liver turned down a previous bid from Royal London in [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS February 17, 2010 HSBC Private Bank The bank has appointed Paul Forshaw as head of real estate fund management. Forshaw was previously part of a team responsible for real estate proprietary investment at failed Icelandic bank Kaupthing, investing joint venture equity in the UK, US and emerging markets. Prior to that, he spent time at property groups Knight [...]
British Land beats banks’ expectations February 9, 2010 BRITISH Land has boosted confidence in London’s “rocky” property market by delivering strong third quarter results. In the final three months of 2009 the value of the developer’s assets in the City rose by 8.2 per cent to £2.46bn and its net asset value per share by 18 per cent to 438p – substantially outperforming [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS January 17, 2010 Charles Stanley The City stockbroking firm has appointed Andrew Atkins as head of new fund sales and distribution. Atkins joins from Lloyd George Asset Management and will be in charge of distributing the firm’s entire fund range, including the new value boutique Matterley, acquired by Charles Stanley last year. In his new role, he will [...]
Commercial property values surge again December 7, 2009 BRITISH commercial property values in November made their biggest monthly gain since records began nine years ago, rising 2.7 per cent and marking the fifth consecutive monthly increase, the latest report from consultants CB Richard Ellis’ (CBRE) Monthly Index found. Values have been rising since July when they were down 44 per cent from the [...]