A Regent’s Park mansion is on the market after a massive loan secured by its Saudi owners expired, putting the home in the hands of receivers and triggering what is likely to be London’s most expensive ever house sale. The Holme, set in four acres of Regent’s Park in central London, has already attracted interest
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Germany’s transport minister has threatened to block a core part of the EU’s green agenda, saying Berlin would not support plans to effectively ban new cars with internal combustion engines from 2035 unless Brussels exempts vehicles running on synthetic fuels. Volker Wissing said the production of engines that use “climate-friendly” e-fuels, such as e-methane and
Electric-car maker Tesla will build a factory in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, ending doubts over whether the investment could be cancelled over conditions imposed by the government. Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced the new plant on Tuesday after conversations with Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, suggesting he had dropped earlier calls
The writer, a lawyer and commentator, is an FT contributing editor The legal and political framework for the Northern Ireland trade deal announced in Windsor by the UK and EU on Monday does not replace a blank slate. Instead, it fits into and recasts the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 and the Northern Ireland protocol of the
Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal with the EU on Northern Ireland has buoyed sterling and the currency is likely set for further gains once the agreement receives parliamentary backing, investors say. Still, any rebound is likely to be limited by the UK’s gloomy economic outlook and resurgent inflation in Europe and the US, according to market
The writer was chief British negotiator in Northern Ireland from 1997-2007 Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, leader of the Democratic Unionist party, now faces an invidious choice over the so-called “Windsor framework”, the deal to reset post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland. Is he going to channel the Ian Paisley who, as leader of the DUP, bellowed “Ulster
The ghost of Neil Woodford continues to haunt the fund management industry. His eponymous boutique came crashing down in 2019, leaving thousands of investors nursing losses. Most of them are still awaiting redress. At the heart of Woodford’s problem, aside from a degree of hubris, was his open-ended Equity Income fund’s exposure to illiquid assets.
Pimco has struck a multimillion-pound deal with landlord Derwent London to let office space in a newly developed block in central London, in a move that underscores companies’ desire for green, modern buildings as workers gradually return to the office. The international asset manager has agreed to pay £11mn in annual rent over a 15-year
Exactly when the tide turned, I don’t know. Perhaps a year ago, when Joe Biden in his State of the Union address said he would “fund the police”. Or last week, when Penguin bowed to pressure to keep Roald Dahl’s sometimes cruel work in print. Or the fall of Nicola Sturgeon over, among other things,
Inflation rebounded in France and Spain in February, sending European governments’ borrowing costs up as doubts increased over how quickly the European Central Bank will stop raising interest rates. French consumer prices rose 7.2 per cent in the year to February, driven to the highest rate since the euro was launched in 1999 by faster
“I am the Zionist dream!” So said Ivo Spiegel, shouting with passion and fury above the din of drum beats and chants of “no to dictatorship” as Israelis gathered in Jerusalem to protest against prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. The point Spiegel wanted to make was that he was no radical, but a patriot: a
Chipmakers must agree not to expand capacity in China for a decade if they are to receive money from a $39bn US federal fund designed to build a leading-edge US semiconductor industry, according to new commerce department rules. The department on Tuesday called for applications for funds from the Chips Act passed by Congress last
European equities dipped on Tuesday after the release of stronger than expected French and Spanish inflation data, which has increased investor uncertainty over the pace of interest rate rises by key central banks. The region-wide Stoxx 600, German Dax, France’s Cac 40 and FTSE 100 all fell 0.5 per cent. Inflation in France was 7.2
UK prime minister Rishi Sunak arrived in Belfast on Tuesday to sell his post-Brexit trade deal for Northern Ireland to business leaders after the region’s main unionist party welcomed progress but said concerns remained. Sunak unveiled the so-called Windsor framework with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Monday, hailing it as a “new
The Swiss financial regulator has concluded its two-year investigation into Credit Suisse’s failings over the collapse of specialist finance firm Greensill Capital, finding there had been a “serious breach of Swiss supervisory law”. The implosion of Greensill in March 2021 caused Credit Suisse to suspend and close $10bn worth of funds that had lent money
It is often said that you have to understand the root cause of a problem before you try to fix it. I’m not convinced. Take the unexpected trend in the UK of people dropping out of the workforce in recent years — something that hasn’t happened in nearby countries such as France and Germany. It
Charity appeals normally conjure up images of bucket rattling at village fetes or glitzy gala dinners where the great and the good can display their largesse. But the UN has a more ambitious request: one supertanker, slightly used, that it can use to stop an impending environmental catastrophe off the coast of Yemen. The FSO
Shell’s top executives explored moving the Anglo-Dutch energy group to the US in a proposal that threatened to deliver a hammer blow to the City of London. Wael Sawan, the oil and gas group’s new chief executive, was among a group of top managers who in 2021 discussed the advantages of shifting the company’s listing
A consortium of British data companies is taking on US-based Palantir, in the bid for a £480mn NHS contract to build the health service’s operating system. The companies, which include Voror Health Technologies, Eclipse and Black Pear, told the Financial Times they could provide software at a fraction of the cost budgeted, while also safeguarding
Hong Kong, one of the last places in the world to impose tight Covid-19 restrictions on face coverings, will drop its mask mandate from Wednesday. John Lee, the Chinese territory’s leader and former top cop, said requirements to wear a mask indoors, outdoors and on public transport would be scrapped. “With the lifting of the
After months of secret negotiations the UK and the EU on Monday published the text of their new deal to refine post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland. Totalling more than 100 pages, the deal — called the Windsor Framework — sets out ways to smooth the working of the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol, which has soured