Latest news with #UKbusiness
Associated Press
14-05-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Global Inflows of Overseas Firms Drive Demand for UK Process Agents
Uptick in foreign investment underscores need for local legal support. LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, May 14, 2025 / / -- According to the latest data, the UK is seeing a renewed surge of foreign companies establishing operations or partnerships. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects hit 1,555 projects in the 2023–2024 financial year, creating 71,478 new jobs. The UK's total FDI stock has more than doubled in the past decade to around £2 trillion. In real estate, global capital flows are at record levels: US investors alone deployed a record £13.6 billion into UK commercial property in 2024 (double the prior year). These figures highlight the UK's continued role as a prime destination for international businesses. London and the UK's core industries are clear magnets. Technology and financial services have been especially vibrant – EY reports that London recorded 359 inbound investment projects in 2023 (a 20% jump) driven largely by tech and finance deals. Digital projects now account for over a quarter of all European tech FDI, keeping the UK at the forefront of tech investment. Energy and clean‑tech are also seeing big inflows: for example, Scotland alone attracted over $10 billion in announced renewable energy investment in 2024. And while London remains a major hub, other regions are drawing projects too (industrial/logistics and green energy projects are on the rise). Overall, analysts note that finance, technology, energy, and real estate are among the key sectors propelling inward investment. With this wave of cross‑border business comes critical legal and compliance considerations. Many international contracts (loans, investments, property deals, service agreements, etc.) are governed by English law and require a UK address for legal notices. In practice, any party without a UK presence must appoint a UK‐based process agent – a local agent for service of process – to receive court papers or notices on its behalf. This is standard market practice and often a contractual condition of closing. For example, a foreign borrower taking a UK‑law mortgage must name a UK process agent so the lender can communicate legal documents to a local address within UK jurisdiction if there is a default. Likewise, for any cross‑border deal under English law, it is market standard – and in many instances a requirement by transaction parties – that each counterparty with no presence in England appoints a process agent in England to ensure service of process is effective. In short, appointing a UK process agent is vital to ensure compliance with English jurisdiction clauses and to avoid costly legal delays. As a result, specialised UK firms providing process agent services are playing an increasingly important role. Tremark Process Agents, a long‑established UK process agent reports that demand for its services has grown sharply in line with the upswing in cross‑border deals. These process agent firms act as a representative for businesses who do not have a physical presence in the UK, and can promptly handle legal notices as well as maintaining records – in effect acting as a compliance partner for foreign companies in the UK market. By efficiently managing these obligations, they help overseas borrowers, investors and contractors meet their legal duties under English law and proceed with confidence in new UK ventures. For firms entering the UK market, having a reliable process agent is now seen as a basic requirement of good governance. In today's legal landscape, partners and regulators expect trust, accountability and compliance when entering into cross-border business agreements. A UK process agent bridges that gap, ensuring international companies can be easily reached by UK courts and counterparties. As global business flows to the UK intensify, maintaining strong legal infrastructure – including engaging a professional process agent – is essential for smooth, compliant cross‑border operations. Claire Brook Tremark Process Agents [email protected] Visit us on social media: LinkedIn Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content 'as is' without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
The Guardian
13-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Government seeks to disqualify Lex Greensill from managing a UK firm for 12 years
The government is seeking to disqualify the Australian financier Lex Greensill from managing a UK company for 12 years, the high court has heard. Greensill, a former Australian sugar farmer, is the founder and chief executive officer of Greensill Group – which specialised in supply-chain finance – the UK wing of which entered into administration in March 2021. The secretary of state for business and trade (SSBT) has issued disqualification legal proceedings against Greensill after the Insolvency Service investigated various companies within the group. Lawyers for SSBT said in written submissions for a high court hearing on Tuesday that Greensill made a series of misrepresentations and non-disclosures to insurers and investors, as well as to the boards of his companies, which led to the loss of billions of dollars. They said Greensill – whose company was the main financial backer of Sanjeev Gupta's steel empire – is therefore unfit to manage a company in the UK, 'warranting a period of disqualification in the top bracket'. Greensill became the subject of one of the UK's biggest lobbying scandals after it emerged that the former prime minister David Cameron had sent 62 messages during the Covid pandemic in 2020 to lobby ministers and officials asking for the then-struggling Greensill to be allowed access to the government's coronavirus loan support scheme. Mr Justice Trower rejected an application from Greensill's lawyers to temporarily pause the second of three issues, which relates to financing from Greensill Capital UK (GCUK) to the Catfoss Group where it is alleged Greensill made misrepresentations and non-disclosures to insurers. Hilary Stonefrost, for Greensill, said in written submissions that 'some substantial factual issues' will also feature in legal action in Australia, where a trial is due to begin next summer, days after the trial in London is expected to finish. She said that if the application is not granted, there is a risk of inconsistent judicial decisions and a risk of prejudice to unsecured creditors of GCUK while court time and costs will be wasted. 'The trial in the disqualification proceedings is likely to end only days before the trial in the Australian proceedings starts,' she noted. 'There is a serious risk of inconsistent decisions being made only a few months apart, in particular because the evidence in relation to the overlapping conduct and allegations of dishonesty in issue two is likely to be materially different in the two proceedings. 'Inconsistent decisions could seriously damage public confidence in disqualification proceedings.' David Mohyuddin KC, for SSBT, said the Australian legal action may only conclude in 2028 and that a successful delay application in the English court, known as a stay, could therefore push SSBT's case to finish in 2029 at the earliest. He also said that granting the application could favour Greensill's resulting position from the Australian case as he would avoid having to make damaging admissions in England. In written submissions, he said: 'The stay application is a transparent attempt on the part of Mr Greensill to exclude from the court's purview at the trial in June 2026 a damning allegation against him, and to delay, with the hope that he will eventually avoid, having to face it. 'That is not a permissible basis upon which to seek to invoke the court's case management powers and it should be resisted.' He continued: 'By any measure, the relief sought by Mr Greensill is extraordinary.' Trower rejected the application, citing the likelihood of a years-long delay and the added complexity and costs that would result. He said there was a 'very real prospect' of the issue being delayed until 2029 while there would be 'real problems in carving up the evidence in issue two from issues one and three'.
Bloomberg
06-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Contract Cancellations and Delays Trigger UK Profit Warnings
Contract cancellations and delays are now a record cause of profit warnings among the UK's listed companies, according to a report from consultancy EY-Parthenon. Of the 62 profit warnings issued by UK-listed firms during the first quarter, 40% cited delays and cancellations to contracts and orders as a primary cause, the report shows. That is the highest ever proportion attributed to this specific cause in the 25 years that EY-Parthenon's analysis covers.
