The sale of the UK water industry in 1989 is the most controversial of all Margaret Thatcher’s privatisations. Critics argue that it has been little more than a rip off: the privatised companies have failed to eliminate leaks, been permitted to dump vast quantities of untreated sewage into our waterways and used clever financial engineering
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Howard Marks, the co-founder of $172bn investment group Oaktree Capital Management, has warned that the boom in private credit will soon be tested as higher interest rates and slower economic growth heap pressure on corporate America. The 77-year-old billionaire told the Financial Times that big asset managers had competed aggressively to lend to the largest
Technology-focused hedge fund Tiger Global is exploring options to cash in a piece of its more than $40bn portfolio of privately held companies, according to people familiar with the matter. The New York-based investment group is working with an adviser to tap the so-called secondary market to help return money to some of its investors,
Voters are heading to the polls in Turkey’s most consequential election in two decades as longtime leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan seeks to fend off a united opposition led by Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. Polls opened at 8am Ankara time on Sunday in presidential and parliamentary elections that offer two widely divergent paths for Turkey. Erdoğan, who first
The G7 and EU will ban Russian gas imports on routes where Moscow has cut supplies, according to officials involved in the negotiations, the first time pipeline gas trade has been blocked by western powers since the invasion of Ukraine. The decision, which is to be finalised by G7 leaders at a summit in Hiroshima
More than decade after bailouts and austerity measures pulled Greece from the brink of bankruptcy and a eurozone exit, the country has rebounded and is on the cusp of regaining its investment-grade rating. S&P recently changed its outlook for the country from stable to positive. A full upgrade would put Greece at triple B minus,
This week I went to Germany where I discovered they have a word for being excessively fond of abbreviations. The word is abkürzungsfimmel and it makes sense in a language with words of such dire length that they look as if they’ve been typed on a keyboard with no space bar. But the mania for
Shipping groups are increasingly seeking break clauses in contracts with Chinese businesses that would make it easier for them to walk away from deals if western governments impose sanctions on Beijing. Senior lawyers at four maritime law firms, who declined to be named, told the Financial Times that vessel owners were regularly asking for bespoke
While human portfolio managers fret over economic uncertainty and the health of the US banking system, some algorithmically driven hedge funds have been buying stocks at one of the fastest rates in a decade, according to bank trading desks. Quant funds have been piling into US stock markets in response to falling volatility, helping to
During Google’s big I/O showcase event for developers — a protracted, glistening flex of the company’s new AI muscles — one of the keynote speakers dwelt on the risks posed by “bad actors”. The phrase, in the context of an otherwise self-consciously optimistic event, came with a balance of real and abstract threat. There was
The shape of a possible US debt ceiling agreement between the White House and Republicans in Congress is emerging as they intensify talks in a bid to avoid an unprecedented national default. People familiar with the matter said that the issues on the table in the talks had narrowed, as senior Biden administration officials and
The national security adviser to South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa said it was in his country’s “own interest” to investigate a US accusation that arms were covertly transported to Russia from a Cape Town naval base, as Pretoria tried to calm a diplomatic storm. In an attempt to emphasise South Africa’s neutrality in the conflict
After stomaching some of the steepest price rises in decades on everyday goods from bread to toilet roll, shoppers are beginning to balk. Sales volumes at several of the world’s largest suppliers of consumer packaged goods have proved unexpectedly resilient, helping them to offset a historic upswing in commodity prices and shore up profitability. Recently
When Recep Tayyip Erdoğan first led his Justice and Development party (AKP) to victory, he used a campaign of fear and hope: promising an economic renaissance and to save Turkey from rival politicians bringing “poverty, famine and hunger”. Two decades later, the president, who has towered over his nation like no other leader since the republic’s
Is Britain on the verge of anarchy? The police certainly seem to think so. On the day of the coronation, they arrested three volunteers who were carrying rape alarms to protect women, not to scare horses — and six anti-monarchists who had already been in touch with the authorities about their plans. Holding up a
Two-thirds of the £12bn eventual rise in UK mortgage costs from higher interest rates has yet to be passed on to borrowers, leaving them facing painful refinancing over the coming months, a think-tank has warned. The Bank of England this week lifted its main interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.5
He is the son of public-sector professionals. He worked in finance before running the country. He was born around the turn of the 1980s. (A cohort of men to be honoured for their fine minds and astonishing looks, I think.) He turned against his political patron en route to the top. He “presents” as metropolitan
Like most things with Elon Musk, it started with a tweet. “Excited to announce that I’ve hired a new CEO for X/Twitter,” he wrote late on Thursday afternoon, setting off a maelstrom of speculation across media and tech circles about who the billionaire had chosen to steer the social media group. Rumours centred around Linda
Bosses will be restricted from contacting their staff by phone, WhatsApp or email outside working hours under a Labour government, according to plans expected to be in the party’s general election manifesto. The proposal by deputy leader Angela Rayner, who is also shadow secretary of state for the future of work, comes as many workers
Islamabad, Pakistan’s military-built capital, had the look of a city under siege on Friday. Shipping containers and trucks blocked the roads in an effort to thwart citizens stirred to action by their support for one man: Imran Khan. The previous afternoon, the leader of one of Pakistan’s main political parties had walked out of the
Are mainstream investors ready for disaster? With the clock ticking close to a US government debt default described by Treasury secretary Janet Yellen as an “unthinkable” move with “dreadful consequences”, we could be about to find out. For specialist hedge fund managers who make money only in the event of calamities such as financial crises