Business

Blackstone, the private equity giant, has hired one of Wall Street’s leading banks to sell the corporate events business which runs some of the world’s largest trade shows. Sky News understands that Blackstone has engaged Goldman Sachs to handle an auction of Clarion Events which is expected to value it at more than £2bn. The

The government has pledged nearly £22bn to fund projects that capture greenhouse gases from polluting plants and store them underground, as it races to reach strict climate targets. The plans are designed to generate private investment and jobs in Merseyside and Teesside, two industry-heavy areas that will be home to the new “carbon capture clusters”.

Financial markets are now pricing in a shock interest rate cut for the UK at the next Bank of England meeting following remarks by its governor. There was a huge shift in expectations after Andrew Bailey told the Guardian newspaper the bank could be “a bit more aggressive” in its approach. He talked about inflation

Israel is fighting on at least four fronts, threatening a war across the oil-rich Middle East, but there is no great sense of fear yet as far as financial markets are concerned. Israel’s actions against Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and the ultimate sponsors of these groups, Iran, has proved

A prolonged strike by US port workers risks a new wave of freight-led inflation, according to experts. The walkout, at each of the 36 major ports along the US east and Gulf coasts, is the first since the 1970s and explained by a failure to agree new collective contracts covering the next six years. In

Saga, the London-listed financial services and travel provider for over-50s consumers, is in detailed talks with one of Europe’s biggest insurers about a deal that will allow it to repay a chunk of its huge debt pile. Sky News has learnt that Saga is in exclusive negotiations with Ageas, a Belgian insurer which tried to

Mulberry, the struggling UK luxury brand, has rejected a proposed takeover bid by Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group. Frasers, which is majority owned by the tycoon and best-known for its Sports Direct brand, made an offer on Monday that valued Mulberry at £83m. The company is the second largest shareholder in Mulberry, with a 37% holding.

A lawyer representing people affected by a “second Post Office IT scandal” has said they “must not” have “a long, hard battle ahead for exoneration and compensation”. A report today found it is “a reasonable likelihood” that Capture software “created shortfalls” for sub-postmasters prior to the Horizon scandal. The system, which was the predecessor to

The UK’s biggest steelworks will cease production today after more than 100 years, leading to thousands of job losses across South Wales. Blast Furnace 4 – the final furnace operating at Tata Steel’s plant in Port Talbot – will be fully shut down at about 5pm, with the last steel made late on Monday evening.

Ordinary investors will be given the chance to participate in a £500m flotation of Applied Nutrition, the fast-growing sports supplements maker, when it unveils plans for an initial public offering in London this week. Sky News has learnt that Liverpool-based Applied Nutrition will issue an announcement signalling its expected intention to float on Monday morning,

Carlyle, the American investment giant, has become the latest global fund to weigh an investment in Thames Water as the stricken utility races to avoid being nationalised. Sky News has learnt that Carlyle, which has roughly $435bn in assets under management, is at the very preliminary stages of assessing whether an investment in Thames Water

A former owner of Missguided, the youth fashion brand, is in talks to buy Kurt Geiger, the upmarket shoe and accessories retailer. Sky News has learnt that Alteri Investors, which was backed by the global private equity giant Apollo Management when it launched a decade ago, is among a number of parties in discussions about

The private equity giant which owns a stake in rugby’s Six Nations Championship is weighing a bid for a stake in one of Britain’s biggest online travel agents. Sky News has learnt that CVC Capital Partners is among the suitors considering making an offer to become a partial owner of Loveholidays. The travel company, which

One of the UK’s largest water companies is considering shipping supplies from Norway to the UK. Southern Water said the idea was a “last-resort contingency measure” in case of extreme droughts in the early 2030s. Up to 45 million litres per day could be brought to the UK in tankers under the proposals. The Financial

Boeing and union negotiators will meet later in a fresh bid to end strikes by workers that have hammered plane production, exacerbating the fallout from the company’s safety crisis. The company, which is bidding to revive its fortunes under a new chief executive, has more than 32,000 staff refusing to work. They walked out of

For the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine two and a half years ago, the UK has begun to sanction tankers carrying Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe and around the world. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has announced it is using new powers to sanction five LNG tankers and two companies