Hand Picked Hotels
Guy Hands (born 27 August 1959) is an English financier and investor. He is most notable as the founder and chairman of Terra Firma Capital Partners, one of the largest private equity firms in Europe. Hands also served as chairman of the UK music company EMI. Hands is well known for his frequently outspoken comments about the private equity industry. In April 2009 he moved from the UK to Guernsey where Terra Firma is based. Biography Hands was born in London, to South African parents, by way of Southern Rhodesia. He was educated at Holy Trinity School, Cookham, where he was diagnosed as severely dyslexic. Subsequently, at the age of nine he was sent to Ravenscroft Preparatory School, which had a specialist class for dyslexics, and then to The Judd School, Tonbridge.Kennedy, Siobhan, Business big shot: Guy Hands' dated 30 July 2007, online at timesonline.co.uk More recently, Hands contributed the funds for the construction of the Guy Hands Library at the Judd School. In a Ra ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Romans as '' Londinium'' and retains its medieval boundaries.See also: Independent city § National capitals The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national government and parliament. Since the 19th century, the name "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which largely comprises Greater London, governed by the Greater London Authority.The Greater London Authority consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The London Mayor is distinguished fr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust. The trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence of ''The Guardian'' in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of ''The Guardian'' free from commercial or political interference". The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for ''The Guardian'' the same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in journalism rather than distributed to owners or shareholders. It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK. The editor-in-chief Katharine Viner succeeded Alan Rusbridger in 2015. Since 2018, the paper's main news ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shell Company
A shell corporation is a company or corporation that exists only on paper and has no office and no employees, but may have a bank account or may hold passive investments or be the registered owner of assets, such as intellectual property, or ships. Shell companies may be registered to the address of a company that provides a service setting up shell companies, and which may act as the agent for receipt of legal correspondence (such as an accountant or lawyer). The company may serve as a vehicle for business transactions without itself having any significant assets or operations. Shell companies are used regularly for tax evasion, tax avoidance, money laundering, or to achieve a specific goal such as anonymity. Anonymity may be sought to shield personal assets from others, such as a spouse when a marriage is breaking down, from creditors, or from government authorities. Shell companies can have legitimate business purposes. They may, for example, act as trustee for a trust, and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ministry Of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD or MoD) is the department responsible for implementing the defence policy set by His Majesty's Government, and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces. The MOD states that its principal objectives are to defend the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and its interests and to strengthen international peace and stability. The MOD also manages day-to-day running of the armed forces, contingency planning and defence procurement. The expenditure, administration and policy of the MOD are scrutinised by the Defence Select Committee, except for Defence Intelligence which instead falls under the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament. History During the 1920s and 1930s, British civil servants and politicians, looking back at the performance of the state during the First World War, concluded that there was a need for greater co-ordination between the three services that made up the armed forces of the United Kingdom: t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rolling Stock Company
A rolling stock company (ROSCO) or rolling stock leasing company owns and maintains railway engines and carriages which are leased to train operating companies who operate the trains. Africa * Sheltam Grindrod * Swifambo Rail Leasing Australia *Rail First Asset Management Europe *Alpha Trains * Macquarie European Rail United States * Chicago Freight Car Leasing Company (CFCL) United Kingdom *Angel Trains *Beacon Rail *Europhoenix *Eversholt Rail Group *Porterbrook *Rock Rail Rock Rail is a British rolling stock company (ROSCO). It was established by Rock Infrastructure in 2014, and was structured as a subsidiary of the firm during July 2016. Rock Rail signed its first rail leasing deal for 25 Siemens Mobility-built ... References Rolling stock leasing companies {{UK-rail-transport-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Angel Trains
Angel Trains is a British rolling stock company (ROSCO). Together with Eversholt Rail Group and Porterbrook, it is one of the three original ROSCOs. Angel Trains was established in March 1994 as part of the privatisation of British Rail. In November 1995, it was bought by Nomura Holdings Babcock & Brown and former InterCity (British Rail), InterCity manager John Prideaux. By September of the following year, Angel Trains had contracts with 19 of the 25 train operating company, train operating companies (TOCs) in the UK, and owned approximately 3,755 vehicles. During December 1997, Angel Trains was sold on to the NatWest Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, leading to criticism of the firm having been previously undervalued. The firm quickly expanded into the continental European rail leasing business; this international branch of the firm would be split off as ''Angel Trains International'' during 2008 and was subsequently rebranded as Alpha Trains. In addition to its British Rail-era ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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William Hill (bookmaker)
William Hill is a British gambling company founded in 1934. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. The business is split into two divisions, UK and International. UK operations are conducted from its headquarters in London, alongside satellite offices in Leeds and Gibraltar, while its International business operates from its hub in Malta. The company was previously listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Caesars Entertainment in April 2021. In July 2022, William Hill was subsequently acquired by 888 Holdings for £2.2 billion. History The company was founded by William Hill in 1934. It changed hands many times, being acquired by Sears Holdings in 1971, then by Grand Metropolitan in 1988, then by Brent Walker in 1989. In September 1996, Brent Walker recouped £117m of the £685m it had paid for William Hill when Grand Metropolitan were found to have exaggerated the company's profits at the time of the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Annington Homes
Annington Homes is a provider of privately rented homes in the United Kingdom, specialising in converting former Ministry of Defence (MoD) housing for the general public since 1996. Since 2012, the company has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Terra Firma Capital Partners. In 1996, the MoD sold all its housing for military personnel and their families, 57,400 properties, to Annington Homes for £1.67bn as part of a broader process of privatisation of state assets, making Annington the largest owner of residential property in England and Wales. Annington Homes had been established earlier that year as a shell company by Nomura Holdings; Nomura's Guy Hands played a central role in the deal. The MoD lacked funds to maintain the properties, and intended to rent the homes from Annington at a discounted rate, while allowing the company to sell homes the armed forces no longer required. The rent per house paid by the MoD nearly doubled between 1997 and 2016, and in 2016 the MoD paid d ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Private Equity
In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a type of ownership of assets ( financial equity) and is a class of assets (debt securities and equity securities), which function as modes of financial management for operating private companies that are not publicly traded in a stock exchange. Private-equity capital is invested into a target company either by an investment management company (private equity firm), or by a venture capital fund, or by an angel investor; each category of investor has specific financial goals, management preferences, and investment strategies for profiting from their investments. Each category of investor provides working capital to the target company to finance the expansion of the company with the development of new products and services, the restructuring ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nomura Securities
is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nomura Holdings, Inc. (NHI), which forms part of the Nomura Group. It plays a central role in the securities business, the Group's core business. Nomura is a financial services group and global investment bank. Based in Tokyo and with regional headquarters in Hong Kong, London, and New York, Nomura employs about 26,000 staff worldwide. It operates through five business divisions: retail (in Japan), global markets, investment banking, merchant banking, and asset management. Established December 25, 1925 in Osaka, it is the oldest brokerage firm in Japan. It is named after its founder Tokushichi Nomura II, a wealthy Japanese businessman and investor. Nomura Securities operates in Asia. In the US it is known as Nomura Securities International, and in EMEA it is Nomura International plc. History Background (before 1925) Nomura was founded by Tokushichi Nomura, father of Nomura Securities founder Tokushichi Nomura II as a money changing business. This ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Eurobond (international)
A eurobond is an international bond that is denominated in a currency not native to the country where it is issued. They are also called external bonds. They are usually categorised according to the currency in which they are issued: eurodollar, euroyen, and so on. The name became somewhat misleading with the advent of the euro currency in 1999; eurobonds were created in the 1960s, before the euro existed, and thus the etymology is to "European bonds" rather than "bonds denominated in the Euro currency". The eurobond market was traditionally centered in the City of London, with Luxembourg also being a primary listing center for these instruments. Eurobonds have since expanded and are traded throughout the world, with Singapore and Tokyo being notable markets as well. These bonds were originally created to escape regulation: by trading in US dollars in London, certain financial requirements of the US government unpopular with bankers could be evaded, and London was happy to wel ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |