The American predator on the brink of snapping up British defence giant Cobham (COB) has slashed hundreds of jobs and extracted millions of pounds from other UK companies it has bought, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. Documents analysed by this newspaper show Advent International cut nearly 800 jobs last year at British firms – all within its first year of ownership – and paid itself a $300 million (£240 million) dividend from another firm. The revelations will spark fresh fears about Advent’s plans for Cobham on the eve of a crucial vote to determine the fate of the historic defence company. Advent, a US private equity giant, is trying to convince shareholders and critics including Lady Cobham – the daughter-in-law of Cobham’s founder – that it will be a responsible owner, preserve jobs and invest in the firm. But last night, Lady Cobham, who has urged Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom to intervene, said The Mail on Sunday’s revelations about Advent’s recent track record should be a ‘deafening alarm bell’ for the Government.
The investor made famous by the Hollywood movie The Big Short has placed bets against British banks Standard Chartered (STAN) and HSBC Holdings (HSBA) in a bid to cash in on the Hong Kong crisis. Eisman, who made his name betting that the US housing market would crash just before the financial crisis of 2008-9, said both were bets on the ‘risks in Hong Kong’ and rising violence in the former British colony. His newly formed Absolute Alpha Fund has taken out a short position worth about £1.4 million against Standard Chartered, according to analysts at short-selling expert Breakout Point. It is one of the fund’s largest short positions – a trading tactic where investors borrow shares from another for a fee, sell them, and hope to buy them back later at a lower price, pocketing the difference before they are returned to their original owner.
Small shareholders have been urged to try to oust the chairman of the only large public firm never to have had a woman on its board. Three influential advisory bodies have told investors in Daejan Holdings (DJAN) to vote against chairman Benzion Freshwater at Tuesday’s shareholder meeting. But Daejan said investor discontent ‘doesn’t really make too much difference’, because the founding family controls 79.5% of the stock. Daejan is locked in a bitter row with Government diversity tsars, who say its top table is effectively ‘closed to women’. The number of FTSE350 boards without a woman on them has fallen to almost zero, having stood at 150 in 2010, yet the Government’s Hampton-Alexander Review body has found it impossible to convince Daejan to act.
Barclays (BARC) boss Jes Staley will meet Edward Bramson this week for the first time since the corporate raider’s failed bid to secure a seat on the bank’s board. Staley is understood to be keen to try to persuade Bramson to sell his 5.5% stake in Barclays and leave the bank in peace. The meeting is likely to be tense after Bramson – a 68-year-old London-born investor who owns luxury homes in New York and Connecticut – branded Staley’s strategy ‘destructive’ last week. Bramson has repeatedly urged Barclays to scale back its investment bank in a move he claims would boost profits and the share price. Staley has resisted, insisting Barclays should retain an investment banking arm alongside its retail and corporate banking interests.
MIDAS SHARE TIPS: Here’s a VERY hot tip – Filta fryer cleaner firm that reuses fat, and can cash in on chips! Midas verdict: Filta Group Holdings (FLTA) shares topped £2.80 a year ago. Last week, they closed at £1.56, partly reflecting market disillusion with smaller firms and partly reflecting concerns that the Watbio integration has taken longer than expected. The slump is overdone. Filta is an attractive business in a growing sector and the shares should rebound. Sayers himself owns 48% of the company so he is certainly motivated to make it work. The group even has a ‘green’ element. Buy.
