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Top story
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Next slice of funding for waterfront
Liverpool's waterfront is to receive £1.9m from the Northwest Regional Development Agency for infrastructure, environmental and public realm improvements. The grant is being allocated for the second phase of the Waterfront Connections project to improve linkages between the Kings Waterfront, the Albert Dock, Mann Island, the Pier Head and Princes Dock. The phase includes new street furniture at Albert Dock, mooring at Salthouse Dock for boats using the new canal link, public art at the Kings Waterfront and a pedestrian link to the new ferry terminal at the Pier Head. Liverpool Vision will lead the project.
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Deals
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Warwick in £129m club-backed MBO
Warwick International, the North Wales-based global chemicals group, has undergone a £129m management buyout lead by Close Brothers Private Equity (CPBE) and funded by a banking club led by The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). The management team, led by chief executive Bob Ellis, has acquired the business from US parent company Sequa Corporation. CBPE invested £55m alongside £85m of senior debt, mezzanine and working capital facilities from a club including RBS, Barclays, HSBC and Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets. The £180m-turnover business is looking for expansion through organic growth and bolt-on acquisitions. 
HSBC launches ABL team
Asset-based lending (ABL) always seems to thrive in economically troubled times and HSBC Commercial Bank has today launched a specialist ABL team. The division - led by new appointment Graham Moffitt and supported by Barry Lee as ABL corporate development manager for the north - will allow customers with a turnover above £25m to raise finance on the strength of balance sheets and stock to finance transactions, provide working capital and fund restructuring. The team forms part of the recently restructured HSBC Invoice Finance business.
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Business
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Liverpool's MTV Awards faces fake ticket threat
Bogus tickets for this year's MTV Europe Music Awards in Liverpool are being touted for thousands of pounds on the internet. Officials at the Echo Arena, which is hosting the event on 6 November, say legitimate tickets do not go on sale until September but a number of websites are already advertising VIP packages for the show costing more than £1,000 per person. This is the third time the UK has hosted the MTV Europe Music Awards after London in 1996 and Edinburgh in 2003 played host to the major event.
Eagle-I posts sales growth
AIM-quoted Eagle-I, the Runcorn-based provider of integrated vehicle positioning technologies to the fleet and risk management markets, has posted half-year results that reveal sales up 40 per cent to £740,000 and losses down 17.5 per cent to £527,000. The six months to 31 May, in which the company secured a major contract with Axa Assistance, set the company well on its way to achieving the three-year strategic plan announced last year.
Vertex names Sheffield
Vertex, the Liverpool-headquartered global outsourcing business, has appointed Anne Sheffield as its new company secretary and general counsel. Sheffield was most recently head of corporate development for Anglian Water Group and general counsel and company secretary for the group's property arm Morrison. She originally qualified with Wragge & Co before working at Allen & Overy.
Size is everything as manufacturers feel the pinch
Despite a 12th consecutive quarter of growth, many manufacturers are
facing an uncertain future, with new orders at a three-year low and
profit margins deteriorating, according to a survey by EEF and
accountancy firm Grant Thornton. Sectors such as defence and aerospace
remain strong for the North West, which is still reporting positive
orders, and larger companies with cash on the books are well
placed. Ian Wilson, partner at Grant Thornton in Manchester, told Insider:
“Everyone is focused on liquidity and staying in business, making sure
there is enough cash on the balance sheet. Having been through a
15-year growth phase, a lot of corporates have cash on the balance
sheet. Smaller companies are going to suffer.”
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Property
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McGoff & Byrne completes the job
Wirral nursing home Hoylake Cottage's new premises are complete. Altrincham contractor McGoff & Byrne has finished the £3.25m building, which will replace the original Victorian building, within the scheduled 65-week timeframe. The facility has room for up to 60 residents in hotel-style accommodation. Lin Cooke, chief executive of Hoylake Cottage, said: "The residents now have high-quality accommodation and facilities which will help to promote independence and choice."
So Blackpool help me out
The executive of Blackpool council will be asked on Wednesday to set aside £723,000 from the council's capital budget for 2009 to 2010 towards a £2.5m plan to improve housing along the town's Central Corridor. National regeneration agency English Partnerships is contributing £643,000, with £1.1m coming from the council's capital receipts to the project, which will involve the demolition of six industrial units on Baron Road as the council looks to improve housing in key gateway areas. St Annes housebuilder Newfield Jones Homes is expected to be named as preferred developer.
Elliott in the Manchester chair at BDP
Gavin Elliott has been appointed as chairman of the Manchester office of BDP, the architecture and masterplanning firm that will this month move its 260 staff in the city from Sunlight House to its new headquarters building at Piccadilly Place. The Manchester studio won 20 awards in 2007 and in the last financial year contributed £17.8m to a group turnover of £84.2m. BDP maintains a strong Liverpool presence, with projects including Liverpool One.
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Events
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Dates for your diary this week
You can tell it’s September because the events diary is packed again. This week’s events include: The Energy Roadshow 2008 from UK Trade & Investment at the Reebok Stadium tomorrow, an opportunity for energy businesses to increase their export potential; and Thursday evening sees the Cumbria Green Business Forum hosting a Greening Business event at Staveley Mill Yard. Or, if building things out of wood is your thing, The Bluecoat in Liverpool is tomorrow hosting Form Wood, a one-day conference looking at timber as a sustainable and innovative building material. The free event includes presentations from Royal Institute of British Architecture 2008 Gold Medallist Ted Cullinan, as well as representatives from Liverpool’s partner Capital of Culture, Stavanger in Norway, about its adoption of wood.
Second year for top brands survey
Law firm Hill Dickinson's second annual Top 100 North West Brands survey goes live today, with 10,000 businesses able to access the survey via Facebook. The awards cover 14 areas including the new most ethical/CSR-focused brand and best brand marketing categories. The awards will name the overall Top North West Brand - a title claimed by Urban Splash last year. The survey is being undertaken in association with the CBI North West and the Chartered Institute of Marketing North West and Wales.
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Contact Us
Insider
8th Floor, Boulton House
17-21 Chorlton Street
Manchester
M1 3HY
Telephone: +44 (0)161 907 9711
Email:
nw@insiderdaily.co.uk
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