
It takes a foreign investor to cheer up the doom-laden Americans
A t the junk bond king Michael Milken's annual jamboree in Beverly Hills this week, the mood among billionaires and chief executives is sombre.
In ballrooms at the Beverly Hilton, asset managers, bankers and investors listening to doyens of Wall Street give their take on the investment climate heard Henry Kravis, co-founder of KKR, warn how the uncertainty caused by trade policy was causing investors to sit on their hands.
In a conference interview, Marc Rowan, chief executive of Apollo Global Management, said: 'We have done damage to the US brand — the brand for stability, predictability, regularity. I see us moving from what was hyper-exceptionalism to merely exceptional.'
The most optimistic chief executives are hoping that US leadership in technological advances around AI and quantum
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The Independent
37 minutes ago
- The Independent
Investments in UK tech sector will create hundreds of jobs, says Government
Hundreds of jobs are set to be created across the UK as part of a raft of investments in the technology sector, the Government has announced. It comes as Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle told an audience at London Tech Week that the UK must be at 'the cutting edge' of rapidly growing technologies, such as AI. The technology sector is a key area of the Government's efforts to accelerate growth in the UK economy, in a bid to support efforts to increase spending. Liquidity is planning over the next five years" data-source=""> On Tuesday, a number of 'significant investments' in the sector were announced in areas including AI and fintech, which will see some companies setting up in the UK for the first time. Liquidity, a US-based AI fintech business, revealed it will launch its European headquarters in London as part of a plan to invest an additional £1.5 billion over the next five years. Meanwhile, Capgemini said it will expand UK operations with a new London headquarters. Netcompany, a Danish IT consultancy, will also invest £2 million to expand its Leeds office and is launching a new site in Edinburgh, which will ultimately create 150 jobs. Other investments include InnovX AI, a major European start-up hub, investing £14.7 million in a new London technology site, creating 30 jobs. Mr Kyle said: 'We have all seen over the last few years, just how rapidly and profoundly technologies like AI are transforming the economy, and our society. 'Britain can – and must – be at the cutting edge of this change. 'The era of hesitancy is over: we can be the masters of our fate, and through the measures I am announcing today, we will harness the vast potential of our trillion-pound tech sector to help remake our country for the better.' The Government said on Tuesday that it was opening its Science and Technology Venture Capital Fellowship for a second cohort and round of applications, to increase the capacity of the UK financial sector to invest in start-up businesses in the sector. Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: 'Securing valuable high-tech investment is an integral mission of this government and seeing global investors put billions in the UK economy shows the plan for change is working, with more and more companies choosing Britain. 'With tech being identified as a key growth sector in our upcoming modern industrial strategy, we're not only helping attract and secure investment, but delivering long-term, stable growth that supports skilled jobs and raises living standards across the UK.'


Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Trump nominee to lead US commodities regulator to face Senate scrutiny
NEW YORK, June 10 (Reuters) - Brian Quintenz, President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, will face questions from lawmakers on Tuesday as they weigh whether he should run an agency poised to take on more oversight of cryptocurrency and prediction markets. Quintenz, a Republican who was previously a commissioner at the agency he would now chair, is expected to face scrutiny over his ties to industries he would oversee. Since leaving government in 2021, he had been working with a16z crypto, the crypto arm of Andreessen Horowitz, most recently as head of crypto policy. He is also a Director on the board of KalshiEx, a prediction market exchange that until recently was embroiled in litigation with the CFTC. Quintenz has pledged to divest all KalshiEx stock if he joins the CFTC, according to his financial disclosures. He is also on the board of the Crypto Council for Innovation, the disclosures show. Quintenz did not respond immediately to a request for comment, but in prepared remarks he said his work for Andreessen Horowitz's crypto funds has given him "invaluable insights". "Congress should create an appropriate market regulatory regime to ensure that this technology's full promise can be realized," he said. "I am fully prepared to use my experience and expertise to assist in that effort as well in executing any expanded mission should legislation pass into law." The CFTC, which oversees derivatives markets, is likely to play a more prominent role as Trump's administration looks to overhaul crypto regulations, with an eye towards giving the CFTC more authority to police digital assets. The sector has argued that existing rules are not appropriate for crypto, and that most cryptocurrencies should be treated as commodities. Trump courted crypto cash with promises to be a "crypto president", and in office has made a number of overtures to the industry. His family is also building a crypto enterprise.


Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Hong Kong giant CKI demands to rejoin auction of stricken Thames Water
The Hong Kong-based investor CK Infrastructure Holdings (CKI) is demanding to be readmitted to the auction of ailing Thames Water, days after its preferred bidder walked away and pushed it closer to the abyss of nationalisation. Sky News can exclusively reveal that CKI wrote to Sir Adrian Montague, the chairman of Thames Water, on Monday, seeking access to due diligence materials and insisting that it could be ready to table a formal bid to take control of the company within six weeks. In the letter, which was signed by Andy Hunter, CKI's deputy managing director, the owner of Northumbrian Water said it was keen to rejoin the Thames Water board's equity-raise process, roughly three months after submitting a multibillion pound proposal to take control. Britain's biggest water utility has been plunged back into crisis by a decision last week by KKR, the private equity firm, to abandon its status as preferred bidder. Sky News revealed that the decision was made after talks between KKR and Downing Street officials amid concerns about the political risk of bailing out a company which supplies essential services to more than 15m people. Since then, Thames Water's biggest group of creditors - accounting for approximately £13bn of its vast debt-pile - has submitted what it described as a £17bn proposal to recapitalise the company. This, the bondholders said, would comprise £3bn of new equity and more than £2bn of debt funding. Existing shareholders would be completely wiped out, while there would also be several billion pounds of debt writedowns aimed at restoring financial resilience and improving services, 2:27 The bondholders are reported to seeking immunity from prosecution for Thames Water's environmental failings, while they also want an agreement that Ofwat, the industry regulator, would drastically reduce the level of financial penalties facing the company. Last month, Thames Water was fined a record £123m over sewage leaks and the payment of dividends, with Ofwat lambasting the company over its performance and governance. Sir Adrian has run into yet more difficulties in recent days, with MPs on a key Commons select committee questioning evidence he had given to it and calling on Thames Water to claw back hundreds of thousands of pounds paid to a number of senior executives as retention payments in recent months. Under new laws, Thames Water is among half a dozen water companies which have been barred from paying bonuses this year because of their poor environmental records. 1:33 CKI owns large swathes of British infrastructure, including Northumbrian Water, Northern Gas Networks, UK Power Networks and Eversholt, the rolling-stock leasing company which has been put up for sale. Its expertise in running major companies of the scale of Thames Water would resolve a headache for ministers anxious to avoid placing the group into a special administration regime (SAR), which would incur a multibillion pound bill for taxpayers. Ministers are also said to be wary about the lack of experience in the bondholder group at running a major water company, although Sky News revealed last week that the business veteran Mike McTighe had been lined up to spearhead their interest. "This is a proven operator versus a group of financial engineers," said one person close to CKI. However, a takeover of Thames Water by CKI could yet face stiff political opposition. In April, a cross-party group of politicians wrote to Pat McFadden, the Cabinet Office minister, expressing concerns about CKI's links to Beijing. Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative Party leader and a strident critic of Chinese investment in the UK, posted on social media last week that a CKI takeover of Thames Water "should be avoided at all costs". CKI had already expressed frustration at being eliminated from the Thames Water process in April, with The Times reporting that it had written to Ofwat to express its dismay. In recent weeks, the government has described Thames Water as "stable", but said it was ready to step in and take control of the company if required to. The company effectively faces a deadline of late July to finalise a rescue deal because of a referral of its five-year regulatory settlement to the Competition and Markets Authority.