Ben Marlow

London

Associate Editor and Columnist at The Telegraph

Contributor at Freelance

Associate editor and columnist, Telegraph

Articles

The private equity barons gambling with your retirement

1 week ago | telegraph.co.uk | Ben Marlow

City bankers say the suppressed share prices of UK insurers has left them in the cross-hairs of deal-hungry private equity firms. "All the ingredients are there," one says. The world's financial police have been queueing round the block to express their growing disquiet at the foray. A series of industry mini-crises such as allegations of fraud running into the hundreds of millions of dollars at Miami-based private equity firm 777 Partners have added to the unease.
Lakeland family to relinquish control of retailer in rescue deal

1 week ago | msn.com | Ben Marlow

Microsoft Cares About Your PrivacyMicrosoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
Lakeland family to relinquish control of retailer in rescue deal

1 week ago | telegraph.co.uk | Ben Marlow

The family behind the loss-making Lakeland kitchenware and home appliance chain are preparing to cede control of the business after 60 years as part of a multimillion-pound rescue deal. Turnaround investment firm Hilco, which has previously owned Homebase and HMV, has agreed to provide an estimated £25m of new funding that will see it team up with the current management team to become the company's new owners.
Barclay family pile pressure on Very with loan from parrot fancier

1 week ago | msn.com | Ben Marlow

Microsoft Cares About Your PrivacyMicrosoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
Barclays pile pressure on Very with loan from parrot fancier

2 weeks ago | ca.finance.yahoo.com | Ben Marlow

Mr Lemssouguer, who was born in Morocco, was previously a star trader of junk debt at Credit Suisse. At a talk to schoolchildren last year, he reportedly said parrots were his passion, however. The debt pressures at Very Group were laid bare in the most recent accounts for Shop Direct Holdings Limited (SDHL), the top UK company in a complex chain that leads offshore.
Barclays pile pressure on Very with loan from parrot fancier

2 weeks ago | telegraph.co.uk | Ben Marlow

The transaction pushes Very's massive borrowings to a fresh high and comes at a heavy price. Very will pay an effective interest rate of more than 13pc, it is understood. It will also have to pay around £23m in upfront fees for what is a short-lived reprieve. The new borrowings must be repaid in 2027.
The Bank of England must step in to stop market meltdown

2 weeks ago | aol.co.uk | Ben Marlow

The last few years have been a roller-coaster for central bankers and their reputations. After 15 years of post financial crisis status quo, the pandemic forced them out of their slumber and into action. The Bank of England was widely praised for its decisiveness in slashing borrowing costs as Covid crushed household spending.
The Bank of England must step in to stop market meltdown

2 weeks ago | telegraph.co.uk | Ben Marlow

Yet, those same dynamics don't necessarily apply elsewhere, particularly in Britain. Weakening demand, a strengthening pound, and tumbling oil prices all strengthen the case for faster rate cuts. Willem Buiter, a former rate-setter at the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee, recently told The Telegraph that he thinks there will be "at most a mild inflationary impact [from] the trade war". Whether that paves the way for emergency action from Threadneedle Street is tough to call.
A war on Middle England won’t solve climate change

2 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Ben Marlow

For an organisation whose purpose is essentially to save the world from environmental disaster, it’s unfortunate that you could probably melt the polar ice caps with the hot air coming out of the Climate Change Committee. But then in her short time as Britain’s chief climate change tsar, Emma Pinchbeck has demonstrated that she is shockingly tone deaf when it comes to the issues at the heart of the Government’s net zero crusade.
A war on Middle England won't solve climate change

2 weeks ago | telegraph.co.uk | Ben Marlow

Her comments, as part of an evidence session to the House of Lords environment and climate change committee, conjure up images of mean rick folk sneaking out of their Stucco-fronted Belgravia mansions in the dead of night and stealing the boarding passes of the less fortunate while they slept. Except, of course, lots of people on lower incomes won't go abroad some years - if at all. So is she urging them to jump on the next Ryanair flight to Torremolinos? Anything to escape this claptrap perhaps.