Katie Price is to face questioning in court over her £3.2 million debt after she declared bankruptcy in 2019, the Daily Mail reported. The former glamour model, once estimated to be worth £45 million, previously agreed to pay £12,000 a month but has not been sticking to the deal, according to those owed the money. Ms. Price previously opened up about her bankruptcy, claiming it is related to two people in her past, according to The Mirror — insisting that her West Sussex home “Mucky Mansion” is safe.
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Former star UBS and Citigroup trader Tom Hayes, the first person jailed over the Libor rate scandal, can return to the Court of Appeal in a fresh attempt to overturn his conviction after an eight-year battle to clear his name, Reuters reported. In a landmark decision, the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), an independent body that investigates potential miscarriages of justice, said on Thursday there was a "real possibility" that Hayes's conviction could be overturned. "We have concluded ...
Cineworld Group is looking at Eduardo Acuna, who runs the Americas operations of Mexico's Cinepolis, as a potential candidate to take the helm at the embattled British cinema chain operator when it emerges from bankruptcy proceedings, Sky News reported. It is not clear whether Acuna was formally in the frame to take the job or how quickly Cineworld's new owners were seeking to make an appointment, the report said.
The former finance boss of Carillion, a British construction services giant that imploded in 2018, has been banned from holding company directorships for 11 years in a tough censure reserved for severe breaches of duties, lawyers said, Reuters reported. Zafar Khan, who stepped down as Carillion's finance director after just nine months in the job shortly before the business collapsed in January 2018, had voluntarily agreed to the disqualification, the Insolvency Service said on Monday.
Water bills for UK consumers have increased at about twice the rate of other goods since the industry was privatized, according to the Office of National Statistics, Bloomberg News reported. Bills have increased 363% since privatization in 1989, a move intended to keep bills down while drawing in investment. Charges jumped 8.9% in April, according to the data, the steepest increase in 18 years. One company, South West Water, has seen the number of customers receiving help with their bills rise by more than a third.
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On a quiet back street sandwiched between Mayfair’s Grosvenor and Berkeley Squares in London’s West End, the door to 11 Mount Row bore signs of forced entry, its black paint pierced by a battering ram. Temporary padlocks had been installed to secure it. Wednesday morning, the building had been targeted as part of a vast police operation spanning seven countries and almost two dozen addresses, Bloomberg News reported. The sweep focused on Adler Group SA, formerly one of Germany’s largest landlords, and the man accused of pulling the strings behind it.
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Britain’s biggest water supplier, Thames Water, is in talks with officials over contingency plans including a temporary nationalization as concerns grow over its more than £13 billion ($16.5 billion) debt pile, Bloomberg News reported. Thames’ bonds tumbled on Wednesday morning, with one falling 35 pence on the pound. Chief Executive Officer Sarah Bentley suddenly stepped down with immediate effect the previous day amid concerns over the financial stability of the firm, forcing the issue on to the government’s agenda.
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The UK and the European Union signed a long-awaited memorandum of understanding on financial services on Tuesday, marking a moment of accord amid years of wrangling over post-Brexit co-operation, Bloomberg News reported. Jeremy Hunt approved the memo with Commissioner Mairead McGuinness during the first visit to Brussels by a UK chancellor in more than three years.
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Embattled cinema chain operator Cineworld Group on Monday said it will file for administration in Britain and suspend trading on the London Stock Exchange next month, as part of a restructuring plan to reduce its massive debt, Reuters reported. Shares in the world's second-largest movie theatre chain operator, which filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection in September, slumped 26% to 0.52 pence in morning trade. The company had disclosed a net debt of about $8.8 billion, according to its latest results at the time.
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The steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta has won a partial reprieve over attempts to force his British operations into insolvency after two winding-up petitions against them were dropped. Sky News has learnt that long-running legal claims against parts of Mr Gupta's Liberty Steel empire in the UK, which employs thousands of people, were withdrawn last week. Originally filed in March 2021, the petitions sought to force Liberty's Speciality Steel arm and a division formally known as Liberty MDR Treasury Company into insolvency.
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