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BreakingNews.ie
12 minutes ago
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Opposition criticises rent control plans as ‘recipe for rocketing' prices
Opposition politicians have criticised the Government's plans to impose rent controls as a 'recipe for rocketing rents' and labelled it a 'sweetheart' deal for investment firms. Three opposition politicians raised a line in a Department of Housing press release that said landlords can increase rents to the market rate after six years of any tenancies created from March 1st, 2026. Advertisement It said: 'All landlords will have the right to reset rent where the rent is below market at the end of each six-year tenancy, unless a 'no-fault eviction' occurs.' Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the proposed 2 per cent nationwide rent cap was an attempt to 'hide your blushes' as landlords can 'hike up rents' now and in the future. She said allowing landlords to reset rent to full market rate every six years was 'the death knell' of Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs). She said plans to restrict rent increases except in cases where renters leave tenancies voluntarily, would see one renter replaced by another whose rent will have 'ballooned'. Advertisement 'Students will be amongst the first hit by your actions. Finding affordable rental accommodation has been a constant struggle for students and their families, but you are now ensuring that this will be even harder. She said the plan would see investment funds build expensive rental properties and charge 'extortionate' rent. 'Your first major action in housing is to enable big landlords to hike up extortionate rents even further,' she said. 'At a time when Government should be acting to cut rents and to ban rent increases, at a time when people across the State fork out on average new rent of €2,000 a month – here in Dublin, of course, rent can hit €3,000 per month or even higher – but instead, you create a new opportunity for tens of thousands of landlords to jack up their rents.' Advertisement Labour leader Ivana Bacik said the Government had performed a 'screeching U-turn' on RPZs. She said the RPZs scheme had been called into question before, and was now being extended nationwide. 'So perhaps we should start calling you the Grand Old Duke of Cork, because you led your men up to the top of the hill before marching them all the way back down again. And it's just a mercy, I suppose, that they weren't sent over the top – a mercy for renters.' She said the 'panicked announcement' was sowing fear among renters and uncertainty among investors. Advertisement 'You're extending the RPZ, sure, but if you're hollowing out what is meant by an RPZ, if you're reducing protection to those within RPZs then that doesn't have the desired effect.' Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O'Callaghan said that according to the line in the press release, renters will face 'astronomical rent increases they cannot afford every six years'. 'You're throwing renters under the bus. Incredibly, you're planning even more favourable treatment for vulture funds than already exists. 'They currently pay almost no tax, they charge some of the highest rents in the country, and now, when it comes to rent regulation, you're rolling over to them yet again. Advertisement 'So Taoiseach, who is in charge here? Is it the Government, or is it the vulture funds?' People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said the Taoiseach had been asked the same question three times about the line in the Department of Housing press release. He said that rents being 'reset' to the market rate when a tenant leaves a tenancy was 'a recipe for rocketing rents'. 'Not just new landlords, not just big landlords, not just small landlords, every single landlord, which means existing tenants, new tenants – yes, please, if the minister could inform the Taoiseach of what's going on here, what's in the policy, that'd be very, very helpful. 'So what you're saying to existing, new tenants – all of them – is they get the limited protection of the 2 per cent, or [inflation] if it's new, for six years. At six years, it's a free-for-all. They get to reset to market rate. Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he was accused of getting rid of RPZs months ago, when 'it was never, ever contemplated to end RPZs'. 'What is now emerging are probably the strongest set of rent protection measures we've ever had in the history of the State.' Responding to the criticism of the line in the press release, the Taoiseach suggested the plan does include a provision for when a renter voluntarily leaves that rents can be rematched to the market rate. 'Forget all the noise, the sound and the fury, and go through it detail by detail. This is a well-balanced package.' Ireland Nationwide rent controls planned as Government loo... Read More He said the State is the lead investor in housing in Ireland, contributing more than €7 billion a year, but the Department of Housing said that around €20 billion is needed to get to 50,000 houses a year. 'Now, where do people think we're going to get to €20 billion from? 'I don't believe you can replace all of it by 100 per cent State either constructive housing, State rental housing or whatever.'
Skift
2 days ago
- Business
- Skift
Travel Tech M&A Ramps Up: 40+ Deals in 3 Months
Economic uncertainty leads to lower valuations, and that means it can be a good time to buy for companies that have the means. Analysts were right: 2025 is shaping up to be a busy year for travel tech M&A. In the past three months alone, Skift has tracked more than 40 deals — many driven by companies flush with recent funding or looking to consolidate in a changing market. Skift has tracked more than 40 travel tech deals in the past three months alone. Much of the activity comes from tech companies with fresh funding from the past couple of years, which they secured in part to grow via M&A. Many large companies and investment firms are scooping up travel tech companies as well. Multiple late-stage startups — established businesses with a proven track record — raised big amounts last year as they seek to modernize the travel industry. But for younger startups, funding has been tight: So far this year, Skift has tracked fewer than 60 startup funding rounds, and only two were over $100 million. That's pacing much lower than last year when we tracked more than 200 fundings, with more than a dozen over $100 million. As investors have told Skift, economic uncertainty leads to lower valuations, and that means it can be a good time to buy for companies that have the means. Between startups running out of money and independent owners looking for an exit, there should still be plenty of opportunity. Below are details about more than 40 M&A deals involving travel tech from the past three months. The selling price for most of the deals was undisclosed. That often — but not always — means the deals were small. Boeing Selling Aviation Software for $10.55 Billion Private equity firm Thoma Bravo in April said it plans to purchase Boeing's aviation software business in an all-cash transaction of $10.55 billion, expected to close by the end of the year. The deal includes the software for airline operations, flight planning, and lease management: Jeppesen, ForeFlight, AerData, and OzRunways assets. Boeing is keeping a piece of fleet management software. The software business employs 3,900 people, including those who will remain with Boeing and those who work for the assets being sold. Amadeus Makes Two Acquisitions Amadeus, the distribution tech company, has made two acquisitions so far this year. The Madrid-based company acquired ForwardKeys, a travel data analytics firm, in the first quarter of the year. Amadeus paid $17.4 million (€15.3 million) for the company, which had about 100 employees, according to a document filed with the Spanish government. And at the end of April, Amadeus announced that it acquired Hermes, a tech product meant to streamline traveler screening at international borders. Amadeus bought the tech from Netherlands-based software company WCC Group. Amadeus made two acquisitions in 2024: Vision-Box for $347.7 million to expand its biometrics services for airports, and Voxel for $123.2 million to strengthen its payment tech services. Sabre Sold Its Hospitality Unit Sabre in April said it plans to sell its hotel tech business for $1.1 billion in cash to the private equity arm of San Francisco-based TPG. The deal is expected to close in the coming months. Sabre CEO Kurt Ekert had put a lot of effort into building the hotel tech unit since he started his role in 2023, but a top priority is reducing over $5 billion in debt. About 1,000 employees are moving with the sale, reducing Texas-based Sabre's headcount to about 5,500. Ekert talked more about the decision in an interview with Skift. JetBlue Ventures Sold to Private Equity The airline JetBlue in May said it sold its venture capital arm, JetBlue Ventures, to the private equity firm Sky Leasing as part of a focus on profitability. Amy Burr, CEO of JetBlue Ventures, spoke with Skift about what's next. JetBlue Ventures has invested in 55 early stage startups and made more 40 follow-on investments since it was founded in 2016. Eight of those companies have either been acquired or gone public, and a handful have gone out of business. JetBlue was the sole investor in JetBlue Ventures, and the investments always came from the airline's balance sheet, Burr said. That means the airline still has a stake in all the startups it has invested in so far, and the plan for now is to maintain that. JetBlue Ventures' total equity investments were valued at $89 million at the end of the first quarter this year, according to a public filing. American Express Acquires Center for Expense Management American Express in April acquired Center, a startup platform for expense management. American Express said it will integrate Center's tech with its corporate card program for commercial customers. The Center team joined American Express, the company said. The credit card company's expense management services historically have come through third-party platforms, including Concur and Emburse. Washington-based Center said its platform is meant to give businesses real-time visibility into employee spending, as well as automate accounting tasks and streamline expense submission processes. Lighthouse and Duetto Complete Their First Post-Funding Deals Lighthouse and Duetto both made their first acquisitions since getting fresh capital in recent months. Lighthouse, the London-based tech platform meant to help hotels drive revenue, raised $370 million last November. It acquired The Hotels Network in April, a Barcelona-based tech company focused on marketing and distribution for hotels. The deal added a new offering for Lighthouse and more than 20,000 hotel clients. (See Skift's story.) Duetto, the San Francisco-based hotel revenue management platform, last June was acquired by private equity firm GrowthCurve Capital for an undisclosed sum. The company in April acquired UK-based hotel data analytics firm HotStats. Lyft Acquires Freenow to Enter Europe Rideshare app Lyft in April said it plans to acquire taxi reservation app Freenow from BMW Group and Mercedes-Benz Mobility for $197 million. The deal is expected to close in the coming months. San Francisco-based Lyft operates in the U.S. and Canada. It reported that it reached an all-time high of 44 million annual riders in 2024. Germany-based Freenow operates in 150 cities across Ireland, the UK, Germany, Greece, Spain, Italy, Poland, France, and Austria. Lyft said the combined company will have more than 50 million annual riders. Bolt Makes Its First Acquisition Bolt, the rideshare app, in March acquired Viggo to expand services into Denmark. Estonia-based Bolt operates in more than 50 countries. Besides rideshare and airport pickup, Bolt offers car rentals, delivery, and e-bike and scooter rentals. Viggo operates a fleet of more than 300 electric vehicles and has 450,000 users in Copenhagen and Aarhus. Bolt already had e-bike rental operations in Copenhagen. Hotelbeds Acquires Civitfun, Its First Deal Post-IPO HBX Group, the owner of hotel wholesaler Hotelbeds, said in May that it acquired hotel tech company Civitfun. The company bought Civitfun for $3.4 million (€3 million) 'plus a deferred consideration contingent on the achievement of future EBITDA levels,' according to a filing with the UK government. Spain-based HBX Group negotiates discounted rates for 250,000 hotels — including 100,000 that it has direct contracts with — and then marks them up for more than 60,000 travel sellers. Spain-based Civitfun primarily offers digital check-in and check-out tech for hotels and vacation rentals, as well as products for hotel and guest communications, upselling, and company said it had 3,500 clients. HBX Group said its hotel partners now have access to the Civitfun tech, and the company plans to strengthen that tech. Spain-based HBX Group went public in February at a valuation of $3.3 billion (€2.84 billion) deal. Former CNBC Host Acquires Dylan Ratigan, the former CNBC and MSNBC host and serial entrepreneur, in March acquired hotel-booking site and became the new CEO. Ratigan said he was attracted to for the domain name, and the potential to expand its hotel business, as well as to branch out into travel-adjacent verticals, such as restaurants and event tickets. In 2022, HotelPlanner and were slated to merge with a shell company and go public in a SPAC deal valued at $688 million. But the three companies called off the marriage without explanation in February 2022. Mondee Acquired Out of Bankruptcy Mondee, a booking platform for travel agents, in April said that it had been acquired and exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Mondee co-founder and Chairman Prasad Gundumogula acquired a majority stake in the company as a co-owner of the buyer, a company called Tabhi. Other Tabhi owners include affiliates of TCW Asset Management Company, Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Mondee had been a public company before it was delisted from Nasdaq in December. SITA Acquires Airport Design Company CCM SITA, the airline-owned tech provider for much of the air travel industry, in March said it acquired airport design company CCM. Switzerland-based SITA provides tech for passenger processing, baggage handling, and airport operations, and more. Milan-based CCM said it has designed more than 300 airports worldwide. SITA says the deal is meant to combine tech and interior design as more airports prioritize self-service, biometrics, mobile apps, and IT spending. SITA says it is working to improve the passenger journey process ahead of an expected two-fold increase in air traffic by 2040. Juniper Travel Technology Adds Another Company Juniper Travel Technology acquired RezMagic, a Florida-based event management software company that focuses on the cruise industry. Juniper Travel Technology is a business unit of Juniper Group, which is an operating portfolio of Vela Software, one of the six divisions of Toronto-based Constellation Software. Juniper Group owns more than 30 companies, including around a dozen in travel. The company plans to buy as many as a dozen travel tech companies this year, said Jaime Sastre, CEO of Juniper Group, in an interview with Skift in January. Tripadvisor completed its $430 million merger with parent company Liberty Tripadvisor Holdings, a deal announced last December. Amex GBT and CWT extended the deadline for their merger to close from March 21 to Dec. 31, been an ongoing U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit to block the deal, which was first announced in March 2024. CWT's value was reduced from $570 million to $540 million. Tech firm Prosus in May completed its acquisition of Despegar, Latin America's largest online travel company, for $1.7 billion. The deal was announced in December. Other Acquisitions
Bloomberg
03-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
US Hedge Fund Raider Turns London Defeat to Victory
US hedge fund manager Boaz Weinstein was rebuffed when he tried storming the boardrooms of seven UK investment firms earlier this year. But the activist has since shown he didn't need to win to achieve his goals and to make money. To recap, Weinstein sees an opportunity in publicly traded companies that invest their capital in stocks and sometimes private firms. Shareholders of these so-called investment trusts get something similar to a mutual fund with the added benefit of daily liquidity and access to equity investments they might be unable to make directly. These trusts typically trade at a discount to their underlying portfolio value. Blame corporate bloat – the costs of a board, advisers, financial reporting and so on – and often mediocre to poor investment performance.
Wall Street Journal
25-05-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Four Books Sound the Alarm About the Power of Private Equity
Private-fund managers are using April's market mayhem as a political tool in their campaign to pry open a vast new market: your retirement account. Firms such as Apollo Global Management APO 0.05%increase; green up pointing triangle and Blackstone BX -0.59%decrease; red down pointing triangle are arguing in Washington that when turmoil strikes public markets, Americans would be better off investing in their private-equity and private-credit funds. They contend that the funds provide ballast because their assets rarely trade, so their valuations are more stable during downturns.
Times
15-05-2025
- Business
- Times
Cutting the cash Isa limit won't get more savers investing
If you had not heard already, change is coming for the cash Isa. Alongside the budget in March, the government said that it would reform the Isa system to 'get the balance right' between cash savings and investing, and to 'boost the culture of retail investment'. In normal speak, they want to steer savers away from cash and into the stock market. Behind the scenes, investment firms had been lobbying the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, to cap the cash Isa allowance. At the moment it's £20,000, but it is thought that this could be slashed to as little as £4,000 in a bid to make Britain a land of investors. And it appears the wheels are in motion. It was reported last week that a review
