Thames Water creditors open door to public control under Burnham Politics The creditors seeking to gain control of Thames Water have opened the door to greater public control of the struggling utility in a bid to bring Andy Burnham’s team to the negotiating table. Mike McTighe, the turnaround specialist who has been working with the group on an overhaul of Thames Water’s board, has called on [...]
Burnham risks £4bn bill in Thames Water special administration Politics Andy Burnham’s plans to push Thames Water into special administration could leave the taxpayer to foot a £4bn bill. The incoming Prime Minister is facing a crunch decision over how to deal with the struggling utility and is expected to use a special administration regime (SAR) to keep it running until a buyer is found. [...]
Mark Kleinman: Industry steels itself for long road to recovery Business Mark Kleinman is Sky News’ City Editor and the man who gets the Square Mile talking in his Morning Wire column Industry steels itself for long road to recovery Steel yourselves: I make no apology for returning for the umpteenth time in this column to the future of the UK’s beleaguered steel industry. More than five years since [...]
LSEG unveils biggest-ever buyback as firm fends off Elliott and AI threat February 26, 2026 The operator of the London Stock Exchange has unveiled its biggest-ever buyback as the company fends off the dual threats of activist investor pressure and shareholder fears over the rise of AI. LSEG said it would buy back at least £3bn of shares over the next twelve months, adding to the £2.1bn buyback carried out [...]
Activist investor Elliott builds up stake in LSEG February 11, 2026 Activist investor Elliott Management has built a significant stake in the London Stock Exchange Group as it looks to engineer a turnaround for the stock exchange operator. The hedge fund has been holding conversations with David Schwimmer, LSEG’s chief executive, according to a report in the Financial Times. The size of the stake could not [...]
Former Centrica boss in running to be next BP chair June 21, 2025 The former boss of multinational energy firm Centrica is among those in talks to be the next chairman of BP. Sam Laidlaw is being considered as a successor to Helge Lund, who announced he would step down from BP in April. Laidlaw is one of a number of prominent candidates in the running to chair [...]
BP shares plummet as firm chops buyback amid weakened oil market April 29, 2025 British energy giant BP chopped its quarterly share buyback after President Donald Trump’s erratic tariff agenda sent the price of oil tumbling. BP cuts its buyback to $750m (£559m), compared to $1.75bn the previous quarter. The firm’s shares dropped nearly four per cent in early trading on Tuesday. This comes after the cost of a [...]
BP chair Helge Lund to step down as Aviva chief heads search for successor April 4, 2025 BP has announced that its chair Helge Lund will step down, with Aviva chief executive Amanda Blanc – a non-executive director for the blue-chip oil giant – set to lead the search for a successor. Lund is expected to stay on until 2026, which BP says will “ensure an orderly transition.” Blanc has said that [...]
BP shares top the FTSE 100 as Elliott stake ignites breakup chatter February 10, 2025 BP shares jumped to the top of the FTSE 100 this morning as a rumour emerged that an activist hedge fund had taken a position in the stock. Shares in the blue-chip oil giant jumped eight per cent in early deals on the news activist hedge fund Elliott Investment Management had built a position in [...]
Klarna offloads UK loan book to hedge fund Elliott October 16, 2024 Klarna is selling off its UK loan book to the hedge fund Elliott in a deal designed to free up some £30bn to fund its global growth plans, the company has announced. In a statement today, the Swedish headquartered buy-now pay-later firm said it had signed a multi-year agreement with the UK arm of Elliott [...]