LONDON: Ageas, the Belgian insurer, has confirmed that it is in the preliminary stages of considering a possible offer to acquire Direct Line Insurance, the UK’s largest personal lines insurer, for £3.1 billion. The possible offer would consist of 100 pence in cash and one new Ageas share for every 25.24047 Direct Line shares, valuing…
CrowdStrike, a leading cybersecurity company, has partnered with Ignition Technology, a specialist SaaS cybersecurity distributor, to expand its presence in the UK market. The partnership will enable Ignition Technology to offer the AI-native CrowdStrike XDR Falcon platform, which can stop cyberattacks, to its network of solution providers and customers. Ignition Technology will also leverage its…
LONDON: TRIG, a leading renewable energy investment company, has announced the acquisition of Fig Power, an energy projects developer specialising in battery storage. The deal is worth c. £20m over the next two years, with half of the amount paid upfront and the rest invested in ongoing development. Fig Power has a 1.7GW development pipeline…
LONDON, UK: Barratt Developments, the UK’s largest homebuilder, has announced that it will acquire its rival Redrow Plc in a £2.5 billion deal that will create a market leader in quality, service and sustainability. The boards of both companies have agreed to the terms of the all-share offer, which will see each Redrow Plc shareholder…
The UK government announced a new immigration policy on Tuesday that will make it more difficult for overseas students to bring their family members to the UK. The new policy, which will go into effect on July 1, 2023, will only allow international students on postgraduate courses currently designated as research programmes to bring in…
Ecommerce giant Amazon has announced it will fund 300 new apprenticeship positions in the next 12 months across 250 small and medium-sized businesses and partners across the UK. The new roles will be funded by Amazon through its apprenticeship levy, which is a tax on companies with a payroll over £3 million. The levy can…
You don’t have to look far to see the latest headlines warning of the state of the UK economy. Recent news has warned that, due to the cost-of-living crisis and soaring inflation, the country could be heading into a recession. Whilst there’s not much any one individual can do about the looming downturn, there…
PARIS, FRANCE: Eiffage, through Smulders (the Belgian subsidiary of Eiffage Métal), as part of a consortium, has been awarded two new contracts to manufacture the foundations and electrical substations for two wind farms off the British coast. Alongside the Dutch company Sif, Smulders won the contract to manufacture and supply 87 foundations, each comprising a…
LONDON, UK: Mode Global Holdings announced its partnership with PayEscape, one of the UK’s fastest-growing payroll providers, to pilot the first-ever Bitcoin Payroll product in the UK in conjunction with a supplier. Bitcoin Payroll is a monthly deduction of net pay that is converted into Bitcoin and deposited directly into a user’s Mode Bitcoin wallet….
PARIS, FRANCE: Solutions 30 has acquired the business and certain assets of Mono Consultants Ltd. With this transaction, Solutions 30 is resuming its external growth policy and confirming its ambitions in the UK market, by strengthening its territorial coverage and its client portfolio in the field of mobile telecommunications networks. Founded in 1997, Mono offers…
OSLO, NORWAY: The pure play carbon capture company Aker Carbon Capture is gearing up in the UK to capture opportunities in the rapidly evolving Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) market. The company recently established a UK entity and is working on several projects to apply its proprietary carbon capture technology in the UK, which has…
LONDON: Although disputes around non-damage business interruption (BI) cover, which made 2020 a difficult year for U.K. commercial property insurers, should subside in 2021, challenges remain for a sector that needs to rebuild its reputation among its small- to medium-sized enterprise (SME) clients. In a new Best’s Commentary, “UK Commercial Property Insurers —Looking Beyond a…