Latest news with #VarunChandra
Sky News
5 days ago
- Business
- Sky News
KKR abandoned Thames Water rescue despite No 10 talks with Kravis
The investment giant lined up to rescue Thames Water abandoned its offer days after talks took place involving one of its co-founders and Downing Street officials. Sky News has learnt that Henry Kravis, one of the architects of KKR's ascent to becoming one of the world's most powerful investors, discussed its plan to bail out Britain's biggest water company with Varun Chandra, Sir Keir Starmer's top business adviser, over the weekend. Sources close to the now-abandoned deal said the call between the pair had been organised following a request from Thames Water and its advisers at Rothschild. An insider said the discussion had been "constructive", with Mr Chandra said to have sought to reassure Mr Kravis that the government was supportive of the deal. One source close to KKR said, however, that its senior New York-based executives were unable to get comfortable with the level of operational and financial risk attached to investing as much as £4bn of equity into Thames Water. They were also concerned about negative rhetoric directed at Thames Water and the rest of the industry in recent weeks by Steve Reed, the environment secretary, and other ministers, the source added. KKR's decision to pull out of the discussions leaves the water company, which serves more than 15m customers across London and the Thames Valley, relying on an alternative deal being assembled by its biggest bondholders. That proposal is being progressed, Thames Water said on Tuesday, although the spectre of temporary nationalisation continues to loom over it. The company was fined a record £123m by Ofwat, the industry regulator, last week, and faces further substantial penalties in the coming months.
Times
11-05-2025
- Business
- Times
Will Statesman Starmer offer up a welfare U-turn to soothe MPs?
Varun Chandra, the prime minister's business adviser, was still fielding frantic calls from the United States as he prepared to leave a Sky Arts party on Thursday night at the Sessions Arts Club in fashionable Clerkenwell, central London. For weeks he had been working long hours to secure a US trade agreement, which included making two visits to Washington to join the talks that had culminated in the joint announcement by Sir Keir Starmer and President Trump earlier that day. Chandra was then accosted by a woman. Raising the trade deal, and specifically the agreement to cut taxes on beef exports and imports, the woman, who was growing increasingly irate, said: 'You've stitched up the farmers!' Such is the lot of a UK government
The Guardian
08-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Varun Chandra: Starmer adviser proving ‘vital link' for Labour in US trade talks
Days before his global investment summit last year, Keir Starmer was facing a crisis. DP World, the Dubai-based owner of P&O Ferries, was threatening to cancel its attendance, along with a £1bn investment in the UK, in response to public criticism of the company from the transport secretary, Louise Haigh. So the prime minister turned to the only man in his team who had a pre-existing commercial relationship with the Emiratis – his business adviser Varun Chandra, who promptly hit the phones to his contacts in Dubai. Just 72 hours later, the prime minister and his business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, had publicly disowned Haigh's comments, and the investment was back on. Chandra is only 40 years old and not well known outside business circles and Downing Street. But having already led one of the world's most elite business consultancies, he is now being credited as one of the key officials who helped get the US trade deal – which is set to be announced on Thursday – over the line. One Whitehall official said: 'Varun has emerged over recent months as a vital link in the centre of government, alongside Morgan McSweeney [the prime minister's chief of staff], Jonathan Powell [the national security adviser], Liz Lloyd [the head of delivery] and Michael Ellam [the head of international economic affairs].' A Downing Street source added: 'Varun is well liked across government, and the support and advice he has given to ministers has been invaluable in shaping key decisions and relationships.' Ben Wegg Prosser, a friend of Chandra and the chief executive of the corporate consultancy Global Counsel, said: 'The Trump administration has made the political weather like no other. Varun has been able to read the crosswinds and played a key role advising UK ministers in this process.' As a young man, Chandra worked on David Miliband's campaign to be Labour leader. But in most other ways, he stands apart from the tight-knit group around the prime minister, having come from the corporate sector rather than politics or the civil service. When he became managing partner of Hakluyt at just 34, the corporate intelligence firm was often jokingly referred to in business circles as a retirement home for secret service agents. Chandra was the first head of the organisation not to have worked for government or the intelligence agencies, and wanted to expand the kind of work it did and the transparency with which it did it. 'Say you're a chief executive who is about to move to Dubai,' said a former colleague. 'Varun would be there with a list of possible schools for your children.' Another said: 'He's a brilliant salesman. He really can sell you your own watch.' But Chandra's corporate background has also brought complications, given he still owns around £7m worth of shares in Hakluyt, and therefore stands to benefit financially from the commercial agreements he helps negotiate. Rose Whiffen, senior research officer at Transparency International UK, said: 'When special advisers retain their financial holdings, this could consciously or unconsciously impact the recommendations they give to ministers.' The government said Chandra had declared any relevant interests to the Cabinet Office. Chandra's soft skills have been tested in recent months as the government has deployed him to defuse anger in the business community after recent rises in national insurance and the minimum wage. One FTSE 100 chief executive said: 'He said to us after the budget, 'I really get why this isn't the answer you wanted. But over time I'm going to make it better.'' Another task has been to attract large-scale international investment into the UK, while several sources said he also played a vital role advising Rachel Reeves on her recent overhaul of UK business regulators. The chancellor ended up forcing out the chair of the Competition and Markets Authority, whom she deemed insufficiently growth-focused. But it is Chandra's work on the US trade deal that could end up providing the most value to the prime minister. His central role in those talks became evident to many in Westminster when he was spotted sitting behind Starmer during his Oval Office meeting with the US president, Donald Trump. Chandra was in Washington this week to finalise the details of the deal, which was hinted at in a social media post by Trump on Wednesday night. The president said he was about to announce a 'MAJOR TRADE DEAL WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF A BIG, AND HIGHLY RESPECTED, COUNTRY'. Several sources have told the Guardian that Chandra's specific role in agreeing the deal has been to 'man mark' Howard Lutnick, the US commerce secretary, and, to a lesser extent, Jamieson Greer, the US trade secretary. By keeping in regular contact with both men, Chandra's job was to be a reliable go-between amid the noise created by the Trump administration, even if he leaves the actual decision-making to ministers. 'The Trump administration is a different kind of administration, and you need to engage with it in different ways,' said the Whitehall official. 'Varun has been a key conduit given his knowledge of the people within the administration and his business connections beyond it.' One ally added: 'It is a difficult task keeping everyone onside when dealing with Washington right now. 'But Varun is the person who had to speak to the business community on behalf of a Labour government that had just massively increased the cost of doing business. If anyone can manage that relationship, he can.'
Yahoo
26-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Reeves to seek billions for growth from corporate pension surpluses
Rachel Reeves will this week announce plans to unlock tens of billions of pounds from corporate pension schemes as part of government plans to kickstart economic growth. Sky News has learnt that the chancellor will use a crucial speech on Wednesday to disclose that she wants to use so-called surplus release to boost investment in the economy. Government sources said it could unlock more than £60bn of pension surpluses held in defined benefit (DB) schemes, while other estimates suggested the figure could be in the region of £100bn. The surplus release plan could be included in a pension schemes bill expected to be published in the coming months. City sources said that a meeting had taken place earlier this month which was attended by Treasury officials, members of the Number 10 Policy Unit and representatives of the 100 Group of FTSE-100 company finance chiefs. The meeting, which was hosted by Varun Chandra, Sir Keir Starmer's top business adviser, discussed the surplus release plan in detail, according to one finance director briefed on the talks. Ms Reeves's move will form part of a wider set of pensions reforms initiated under the last government and now being accelerated by Labour. These include forcing the merger of local government pension schemes, which collectively hold about £400bn of assets. In her maiden Mansion House speech in November, the chancellor said she would preside over "the biggest set of reforms to the pensions market in decades to unlock tens of billions of pounds of investment in business and infrastructure, boost people's savings in retirement and drive economic growth so we can make every part of Britain better off". An overhaul of defined contribution (DC) schemes, which in aggregate manage £500bn in assets, is also on the cards, with consolidation there also anticipated in the coming years. The Treasury has cited Australia and Canada as examples of the model Britain's pensions system should seek to emulate, with both countries utilising pension scheme capital to invest more heavily in domestic infrastructure. The surplus release plan has the potential to be a major catalyst for economic investment, although it was unclear this weekend how the deployment of this capital into UK growth initiatives would be guaranteed. It was also unclear the extent to which pension trustees would play a role in any surplus release plans. The pensions industry has been pushing for surplus release to be adopted in Britain for years, with the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association having endorsed such a move before last year's election. Edi Truell, the prominent financier and pensions entrepreneur, said on Sunday: "It is time to split DB pension funds from their employers. "The employers should be focussing on their core business; and the pension funds be backed by capital from specialist pension superfund managers." "The Pensions Regulator needs to replace its misguided views of "risk" and recognise that investment in productive assets in the long term provides better pension outcomes." Ms Reeves's speech on Wednesday will come at a critical time for her, with doubts having been raised about her grip on her job for the first time in recent weeks amid financial market volatility in the aftermath of her October Budget. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, Ms Reeves indicated that she would row back from a number of Budget measures, including relating to the treatment of non-doms. Having been repeatedly accused of talking down the economy in the wake of Labour's landslide general election victory, she said this weekend that she wanted Britain to be less "polite" about championing its economic virtues. The chancellor has also formed a pivotal part of the government's move to shake up economic regulation, with the removal last week of the chairman of the Competition and Markets Authority. Sky News revealed several weeks ago that Sir Keir had written to watchdogs to urge them to remove barriers to growth, with meetings between the chancellor and regulators set to continue in the coming weeks. The chancellor's speech this week is expected to confirm government support for major infrastructure projects, including - controversially - a third runway at London Heathrow Airport. The Treasury declined to comment on Sunday on the contents of the chancellor's growth speech.
Sky News
26-01-2025
- Business
- Sky News
Reeves to seek billions for growth from corporate pension surpluses
Rachel Reeves will this week announce plans to unlock tens of billions of pounds from corporate pension schemes as part of government plans to kickstart economic growth. Sky News has learnt that the chancellor will use a crucial speech on Wednesday to disclose that she wants to use so-called surplus release to boost investment in the economy. Government sources said it could unlock more than £60bn of pension surpluses held in defined benefit (DB) schemes, while other estimates suggested the figure could be in the region of £100bn. The surplus release plan could be included in a pension schemes bill expected to be published in the coming months. City sources said that a meeting had taken place earlier this month which was attended by Treasury officials, members of the Number 10 Policy Unit and representatives of the 100 Group of FTSE-100 company finance chiefs. The meeting, which was hosted by Varun Chandra, Sir Keir Starmer's top business adviser, discussed the surplus release plan in detail, according to one finance director briefed on the talks. Ms Reeves's move will form part of a wider set of pensions reforms initiated under the last government and now being accelerated by Labour. These include forcing the merger of local government pension schemes, which collectively hold about £400bn of assets. In her maiden Mansion House speech in November, the chancellor said she would preside over "the biggest set of reforms to the pensions market in decades to unlock tens of billions of pounds of investment in business and infrastructure, boost people's savings in retirement and drive economic growth so we can make every part of Britain better off". An overhaul of defined contribution (DC) schemes, which in aggregate manage £500bn in assets, is also on the cards, with consolidation there also anticipated in the coming years. The Treasury has cited Australia and Canada as examples of the model Britain's pensions system should seek to emulate, with both countries utilising pension scheme capital to invest more heavily in domestic infrastructure. The surplus release plan has the potential to be a major catalyst for economic investment, although it was unclear this weekend how the deployment of this capital into UK growth initiatives would be guaranteed. It was also unclear the extent to which pension trustees would play a role in any surplus release plans. The pensions industry has been pushing for surplus release to be adopted in Britain for years, with the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association having endorsed such a move before last year's election. Edi Truell, the prominent financier and pensions entrepreneur, said on Sunday: "It is time to split DB pension funds from their employers. "The employers should be focussing on their core business; and the pension funds be backed by capital from specialist pension superfund managers." "The Pensions Regulator needs to replace its misguided views of "risk" and recognise that investment in productive assets in the long term provides better pension outcomes." Ms Reeves's speech on Wednesday will come at a critical time for her, with doubts having been raised about her grip on her job for the first time in recent weeks amid financial market volatility in the aftermath of her October Budget. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, Ms Reeves indicated that she would row back from a number of Budget measures, including relating to the treatment of non-doms. Having been repeatedly accused of talking down the economy in the wake of Labour's landslide general election victory, she said this weekend that she wanted Britain to be less "polite" about championing its economic virtues. The chancellor has also formed a pivotal part of the government's move to shake up economic regulation, with the removal last week of the chairman of the Competition and Markets Authority. Sky News revealed several weeks ago that Sir Keir had written to watchdogs to urge them to remove barriers to growth, with meetings between the chancellor and regulators set to continue in the coming weeks. The chancellor's speech this week is expected to confirm government support for major infrastructure projects, including - controversially - a third runway at London Heathrow Airport.
