Brexit drove a shift in Japanese firms out of the U.K. and toward continental Europe, a report shows, Politico reported. The number of Japanese firms based in the U.K. fell 12 percent between 2014 and 2019, from 1,084 to 951, with most of the drop occurring during the politically tumultuous period following the Brexit referendum in June 2016.
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Greensill Capital’s talks to sell parts of its operating business to Athene Holding Ltd. have stalled, Bloomberg News reported. The deal talks between Athene, an annuity seller backed by Apollo Global Management Inc., and Greensill have been held up by a breakdown in discussions with key technology supplier Taulia Inc. Greensill Capital filed for administration in the U.K. on Monday, and Athene emerged as the only credible potential buyer after the supply-chain finance company’s swift collapse.
Greensill Capital filed for insolvency on Monday after losing insurance coverage for its debt repackaging business and said in its court filing that its largest client, GFG Alliance, had started to default on its debts, Reuters reported. Greensill began to unravel last Monday when its main insurer stopped providing credit insurance on $4.1 billion of debt in portfolios it had created for clients including Swiss bank Credit Suisse.
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Credit Suisse is winding down specialist funds worth $10bn (£7.2bn) that were mostly invested in loans linked to Greensill, the crisis-hit supply chain bank, The Guardian reported. Greensill, which employs 1,000 staff in London and has the former prime minister David Cameron as an adviser, is preparing to file for insolvency and is in talks to sell parts of its business to the US private equity firm Apollo Global Management, after it lost the of backing of Credit Suisse and its fellow Swiss investment house GAM. “The fund boards have now decided to terminate the funds.
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The U.S. and U.K. are weighing additional penalties against Russia over the use of chemical weapons, with options ranging from sanctions against oligarchs to the extreme step of targeting the nation’s sovereign debt, Bloomberg News reported. British officials plan to push for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to continue to pressure Russia to provide answers over its use of banned substances, and will raise potential measures with key European allies, including France and Germany, in the coming weeks.
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A funding crisis at Greensill Capital could spill over to some of its high-risk borrowers and lead to losses for insurers and banks that have done business with the UK-based supply chain finance firm if its clients default, according to several industry experts and a review of public filings, Reuters reported. Greensill, backed by Softbank Group Corp’s Vision Fund, helps companies spread out the time they have to pay their bills. The loans, which typically have maturities of up to 90 days, are securitized and sold to investors, allowing Greensill to make new loans.
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Boris Johnson's combative new Brexit minister is already ruffling feathers in Brussels, Politico reported. David Frost managed to irk both the Irish and the European Commission’s top brass with a unilateral U.K. decision to exempt British firms from some bureaucracy when shipping food to Northern Ireland, a move the EU says breaches the Brexit divorce deal. The policy, announced by the U.K. in a written statement, marks Frost’s opening gambit as Johnson’s new Brexit “super minister,” a role he only just inherited from Michael Gove.
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The United States on Thursday agreed to a four-month suspension of retaliatory tariffs imposed on British goods such as Scotch whisky over a long-running aircraft subsidy row, with both sides pledging to use the time to resolve the dispute, Reuters reported. The U.S. administration under former President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Scotch whisky and other European Union food, wine and spirits, which the industry says have put its future at risk.
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Embattled financial startup Greensill Capital plans to file for insolvency in the U.K. this week, as it simultaneously moves toward a deal to sell its operating business to Apollo Global Management, the Wall Street Journal reported. Also Wednesday, in a dramatic ratcheting up of Greensill’s problems, Germany’s top financial regulator BaFin referred matters related to the firm’s banking unit, Greensill Bank AG, to criminal prosecutors, according to a spokesman for the Bremen prosecutors office.
Aon will face a list of objections by the EU’s antitrust watchdog which it must overcome with concessions to proceed with its $30 billion bid for Willis Towers Watson, Reuters reported. The negotiations may derail Aon’s goal of closing the deal in the first half of the year unless it offers concessions in the coming weeks to stave off the charge sheet. The deal, announced a year ago, would create the world’s largest insurance broker, putting the merged entity ahead of world No. 1 Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc.