Rudd to take helm of MAC fund June 18, 2009 Sir Nigel Rudd, former deputy chairman of Barclays is to chair a new fund set up by Marwyn Alternative Capital. It will specialise in small to mid-cap companies that have short term liquidity problems. Supported by Royal Bank of Scotland, the new fund will look at investing in construction, science and engineering, among other sectors. [...]
GLORY DAYS FOR ROYAL ASCOT CITY RACING SET June 16, 2009 IT WAS smiles all round for the property world’s keenest racegoers yesterday, as a group of City real estate heavyweights toasted a win (and a hefty £167,472 prize pot) for their horse Paco Boy in the Queen Anne Stakes at Ascot. I hear Parkwood Property Investments partner Derek Lucie-Smith, one of the owners, was in [...]
If you want a good quality of life, Helsinki’s your city June 16, 2009 YESZOE STRIMPEL THAT London hasn’t made it into the top 50 places to live in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s liveability survey doesn’t surprise me. These types of lists are compiled using utterly colourless criteria that bear little relation to what makes life worth living. Admittedly, Helsinki, Vienna and Zurich (all in the top 10) are [...]
WORST CITY FIRMS TO JOIN ROLL OF HONOUR June 14, 2009 FANCY awards dinners have a reputation for being duller than dishwater, so it’s refreshing to hear of an upcoming ceremony that aims to break the mould. That’s right: the Sharecrazy Worst Company of the Year awards are back by popular demand, having gone down a treat with frazzled City folk last time around at a [...]
From Russia with laughs June 11, 2009 TheatreTHE CHERRY ORCHARDThe Old VicTHIS new production by Sam Mendes is one half of a double bill under the title of The Bridge Project, conceived by Mendes and Old Vic artistic director Kevin Spacey to bring together an Anglo-American company touring two productions at once. The other show is Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale. It might [...]
CITY TRADER OFFERS GAMBLERS A FLUTTER ON A LOTTERY OF HIS LIFE June 10, 2009 REMEMBER the man who, last year, decided to mend his broken heart after a divorce by selling his entire life on eBay, house, car, job and all? Well, one enterprising City boy has decided to go one better – he’s started a competition for entrants to “win a new life”, and stands to make millions [...]
Investor rebellion rumbling over executive pay at Man June 10, 2009 INVESTORS in hedge fund manager Man Group could demand that the company revise its bonus scheme, after revelations that chief executive Peter Clarke was paid $14.4m (£8.8m) last year, despite shareholder return diving by 58 per cent. Ahead of Man’s annual meeting on 9 July, shareholders and advisory bodies were reviewing the firm’s annual report, [...]
City chaos as RMT strikes over salaries June 10, 2009 PANDEMONIUM hit the streets of London yesterday, after the Royal Maritime and Transport (RMT) union continued its 48-hour tube strike, which began at 7pm on Tuesday. Roads heaved under long traffic jams as thousands of commuters struggled to get around the capital without using the underground. Nervous novice cyclists wove in and out of traffic, [...]
Commerzbank puts Kleinwort Benson for sale June 9, 2009 ONE of the City’s most venerable private banks, Kleinwort Benson, is to be put on the market this week by its parent Commerzbank. Goldman Sachs has been appointed to manage its disposal and the group has received interest from several parties believed to be Standard Chartered, Royal Bank of Canada and Schroders. As part of [...]
Never again must banks ask for handouts June 9, 2009 IT is great news that 10 US banks have been given the green light to reprivatise themselves by paying back $68bn in Tarp bailout money. This is a milestone in the financial crisis; not only are banks raising their own equity privately again but they are also issuing long-term debt that isn’t guaranteed by the [...]