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APOLLO’S LONDON MISSION TUESDAY 18 APRIL 2023
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PRIVATE EQUITY GIANT DOUBLES DOWN ON THE CAPITAL CHRIS DORRELL AND NICHOLAS EARL PRIVATE equity powerhouse Apollo stepped up its London efforts yesterday with two eye-catching stock market moves and the announcement of a new West End hub. First, Wood Group – the oilfield services and engineering firm – said it had opened the books to Apollo after the New York-headquartered firm made a fifth bid for the company, totally £1.7bn. Then hours later the embattled retailer THG, which has had a torrid time on the public markets since listing in 2020, confirmed that it had received a non-binding, “highly preliminary” proposal from Apollo. All that came on the same day the
firm announced a new, four-floor European ‘hub’ to be located at the heart of the West End, in the new Soho Place development off Tottenham Court Road. It adds up to a significant uptick in Apollo’s presence in the capital, with boss Marc Rowan saying “London is a global financial hub [and] we have assembled a growing, diverse and highly talented team.” Wood Group, whose board said yesterday it still believed in the firm’s strategy, said that after “feedback received from Wood shareholders” it would engage with Apollo “to see if a firm offer can be made on the same financial terms as the Final Proposal”. Investors appeared to bet a deal would be forthcoming, with shares up seven per cent, adding to a 60 per cent jump since
the start of the year and the first indications of Apollo’s interest. The decision to open the books to due diligence gives Apollo another month to confirm a final offer. THG, meanwhile, said it was responding to “press speculation” about an offer, though Apollo’s name had not been mentioned in a weekend Mail on Sunday report. THG’s controversial boss Matt Moulding described the process of listing in London as having “sucked from start to finish” in an interview last year. The share price shot up by more than 40 per cent on yesterday’s news, though still sits 88 per cent down on its original float price. The bids will play into a wider narrative that the UK market remains underpriced, with a host of take-private deals over the past two to three years.
‘BUSINESS AS USUAL’ Ad mogul Sir Martin Sorrell stoic as ever after revealing cancer treatment CITY A.M. REPORTER ADVERTISING tycoon Sir Martin Sorrell yesterday revealed he had had keyhole surgery to remove a tumour in February but has made an “excellent recovery”. The City grandee, who is currently executive chair at S4 Capital, said he would be undergoing “preventative treatment” over the coming months but otherwise was almost back to “business as usual”.
He would reduce his travel schedule for a few weeks, however, he conceded. “My doctors have advised me that during this treatment, I should be able to work as normal most of the time, fully engaging with the company and our excellent executive team,” he said. The British businessman founded S4 capital in 2018 after leaving WPP, a firm which he grew from basket maker to the world’s largest advertising agency over 33 years.
Price of a cheese sandwich soars 80 per cent as inflation remains red hot LAURA MCGUIRE BRITS are yet to receive a break from soaring food prices as the price of cheddar cheese, sliced white bread and porridge oats are up to 80 per cent more expensive than a year ago. As inflation reached record highs
due to the war in Ukraine, consumers were forced to fork out more for kitchen staples such as cheddar cheese which has increased by an average of 28.3 per cent – and up to 80 per cent at some supermarkets – over the past year, according to data from consumer platform Which?.
The analysis covered the average price of the products in the three months to the end of March 2023 compared to the same period last year. As rising transport and packaging costs
made imports more expensive, the price of sliced white bread rose an average of 22.8 per cent. Head of food policy at Which? Sue Davies said the latest figures
painted a “bleak picture”. The annual food inflation rate in February rose to 18.2 per cent. Sanjay Raja, chief UK economist at Deutsche Bank, told City A.M. he didn’t expect food inflation to return to its pre-pandemic rate until “late next year”.
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