Interserve chairman Glyn Barker prepares to step down June 17, 2019 Interserve chairman Glyn Barker is preparing to step down following deal that saw the struggling outsourcing firm taken over by a consortium of its lenders. The company is working with recruitment search firm Heidrick & Struggles to appoint a successor, Sky News reported. Read more: Interserve went into administration owing suppliers £100m Barker, who was [...]
Chief executive turnover in decline as more firms hire from within July 11, 2019 The turnover rate among chief executives is in decline as blue-chip firms increasingly turn to internal candidates for the top jobs. New figures published today revealed the turnover rate for FTSE 100 chief executives over the past year was just 10 per cent, down from 14 per cent in the previous 12 months. Read more: [...]
Three in 10 FTSE 100 companies cut executive pensions as investor pressure mounts August 28, 2019 Three in 10 FTSE 100 companies have pledged to cut their executives’ pension payments in response to pressure from shareholders, as new data reveals that investor rebellions are on the rise. Research published today by the Investment Association shows that 30 companies on the index have made significant changes to executive pensions during this year’s [...]
Insurer Zurich expects to beat targets as profits jump August 8, 2019 Zurich Insurance Group hailed its best performance in a decade this morning after reporting a double-digit rise in profits and predicting that it would beat previous financial goals it had set. Read more: Aviva confirms strategic review of Asia Europe’s fifth largest insurer reported business operating profits of $2.8bn (£2.3bn) in the first six months [...]
London Stock Exchange seals $27bn Refinitiv deal in bid to build Bloomberg rival August 1, 2019 London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) said today it had sealed a deal to buy data business Refinitiv in a transaction worth $27bn (£22.3bn). LSEG is buying the business in an all-share transaction from Thomson Reuters and a consortium led by private equity firm Blackstone which includes an affiliate of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and [...]
Gympass secures $300m in Softbank-led funding round June 12, 2019 Gympass has raised more than $300m (£236m) in a funding round led by Japanese investment giant Softbank. Read more: Softbank earns $11bn for selling some of its huge Alibaba stake The corporate fitness platform, which offers flexible gym memberships, said it has secured the funding from Softbank’s Vision Fund and existing investors. Softbank’s Latin America [...]
Ed Bramson’s Barclays board bid suffers double blow as investment banking unit outperforms European rivals February 22, 2019 Barclays executives doubled down on efforts to scupper activist investor Ed Bramson’s bid to join the board yesterday, armed with better-than-expected results in its investment banking unit. In a further blow for Bramson, who has called for Barclays to scale back its investment bank, one of his key allies in the City, Aviva, said his [...]
City Moves for 8 August – Who’s switching jobs at 11:FS, AlbionVC and Databricks? August 8, 2019 Today’s City Moves includes 11:FS, AlbionVC and Databricks. 11:FS 11:FS, the challenger firm defining and building digitally native financial services through technology, product and design expertise, has announced that Shaun Meadows has joined the firm as chairman. In the newly created role, Shaun will work with the 11:FS board to review company objectives, examine performance [...]
Esure and Directline founder Sir Peter Wood leads insurance start-up funding round May 28, 2019 Esure and Directline founder Sir Peter Wood has led a £2.5m funding round in insurance start-up Pikl. Wood received £360m when he sold his stake in Esure to private equity firm Bain Capital last year. The serial entrepreneur also founded Directline in the 1980s, allowing customers to buy insurance over the phone, later selling his [...]
Galliford Try joins the Winters of discontent October 31, 2019 Standard Chartered, Lloyds Banking Group, Aviva and BT Group: even the Investment Association (IA) must have been surprised by the rich seam of targets it uncovered when it launched a campaign to curb the lavish pension perks enjoyed by the chief executives of listed companies. A quarter of FTSE 100 bosses have seen their pension [...]