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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
City Moves for 29 July – Who’s switching jobs at Lasalle, Augusta and Knight Frank? July 28, 2019 Today’s City Moves includes Lasalle, Augusta and Knight Frank. Lasalle Global real estate investment manager Lasalle Investment Management has announced that Martin Zdravkov has joined its UK business in the newly-enhanced role of head of UK residential and impact investing, based in London. Martin will report to Philip Nell, the head of UK real return [...]
Insurance giant Allianz posts first quarter profit boost to beat expectations May 14, 2019 German insurer Allianz said today its net profit for the first quarter rose slightly, ahead of market expectations. Its results were boosted by lower claims for natural disasters but it said high expenses due to investments had led to a decline in operating profit in its asset management business. Operating profit increased 7.5 per cent [...]
RPC Group’s £3.3bn private equity takeover sparks disquiet among top shareholders January 23, 2019 Private equity firm Apollo Global Management’s £3.3bn buyout of packaging manufacturer RPC Group has sparked a row among investors, who feel they are getting a raw deal. Each RPC shareholder will get 782p cash for every share they own, 15.6 per cent up on the 683.6p closing price on 7 September, the last day before [...]
Sir Philip Green offers landlords cash to save Arcadia rescue plan June 7, 2019 Sir Philip Green has offered landlords £10m a year of his family’s cash to offset the impact of rent cuts in a bid to secure their backing to rescue his retail empire. Landlords had been asked to slash rental costs by 30 per cent to 70 per cent across 194 of Arcadia’s 566 UK and [...]
Sir Philip Green’s fashion empire hangs by a thread as CVA vote is delayed June 5, 2019 SIR PHILIP Green made a dramatic last-minute bid to stall the collapse of his retail empire tonight after postponing a crunch vote that threatened the future of his high street brands. In a shock move the Topshop tycoon decided to delay the final decision from creditors on whether to approve an insolvency process for his [...]