Standard Life’s £2 billion acquisition of Aegon’s UK insurance and pensions business is not just another large financial services deal. It is a useful case study in how buyers use M&A to accelerate strategy, reshape earnings, and strengthen market position without relying on a fully cash-funded structure. That is the real value of this transaction….
The aorta of the global energy economy has been clogged for more than a month now. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow waterway connecting the Gulf oil producers to global markets — has throttled worldwide energy production and driven up the prices of gasoline, diesel, fertilizer, plastics, and myriad other commodities….
Rob Leon, Co-Head of Investment Banking at Rand Merchant Bank, which won Best Investment Bank in Africa, explains Africa’s opportunities to become a global investment hub. Global Finance: What does the African deal-making landscape look like, and how do you see it evolving? Rob Leon: Africa’s deal-making landscape is marked by cautious optimism. Despite…
By Martin Schori I’m sitting in a café with a young reporter who is frustrated. She’s a future star, I’d say – original thinker, strong voice, clear sense of what she wants to do with journalism. Management ambitions and everything. She is, in other words, exactly the kind of person media organisations claim to be…
American and Iranian negotiators are reportedly getting closer to a deal that would end the weeks-long war between the nations, following the collapse of in-person talks in Islamabad last weekend. In his announcement Sunday, Vice President JD Vance initially sounded pretty hopeless about the whole thing, as you might expect of a man whose dreams…
Have you ever read something and felt, this is so easy to follow”? That feeling comes from clear writing. Good writing does not try to sound heavy or complicated. It speaks in a simple, friendly, and direct way. When words are clear, readers stay with you from the first line to the last line. They…
After six weeks of fighting, Israel and Lebanon appear to be on the verge of a ceasefire. President Donald Trump announced the 10-day pause, which he said would help “achieve PEACE” between the countries, in a social media post on Thursday. The ceasefire is set to take effect at 5 pm ET. The agreement came…
A lifetime mortgage lets UK homeowners aged 55 and over unlock tax-free cash from their property while keeping ownership and avoiding mandatory monthly repayments. Interest usually rolls up, so the loan balance grows over time and is repaid when the home is sold, often after death or long-term care. For borrowers over 60, the main…
Most developers have used AI tools that prioritize generating full applications or UI layouts as the initial result. You write a prompt and within minutes, you are looking at a finished dashboard or a basic app. That makes for a great demo, but the output is often a single block of code that is hard…
Financial markets have always reflected the technologies of their time; however, the current phase feels fundamentally different as intelligence itself has become embedded in the system. Today, you are dealing with tools that interpret data, adapt to changing conditions and refine strategies in real time, where decision-making carries a new level of depth. This shift…