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Top story
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Maersk Line relocates headquarters to Liverpool
After revealing to Insider in early January that inward investment negotiations were at a “fairly advanced stage” with several businesses in the financial services, maritime and digital and creative sectors, The Mersey Partnership (TMP) has today announced details of the first of those companies that is to invest in the city. International shipping business Maersk Line is set to relocate its UK headquarters from London to Liverpool in a move that will create 70 new jobs. The company, which already employs 110 staff at The Plaza in Old Hall Street, said it expects the relocation to be completed in the second quarter of 2009. “This is a very significant win for Liverpool city region,” said TMP chief executive Lorraine Rogers. “In the prevailing economic conditions operating costs are critical to every firm and, as Maersk has seen, there is a distinct business advantage to be gained by locating in Liverpool. We are delighted that they have chosen to make Liverpool their UK headquarters.” Partners working with TMP to facilitate the move included Liverpool Vision and the Northwest Regional Development Agency.
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Deals
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MBO for MLR
MLR Networks, a network infrastructure company based in Widnes, has been acquired in a management buyout led by managing director Ian Morris, alongside Steve Woods, who becomes operations director. The company employs 35 staff and has teams of electrical engineers operating nationwide, working with blue-chip clients on network infrastructure projects. Manchester corporate finance boutique Stewart Price Associates advised the management team and the transaction was financed by Skipton Business Finance.
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Business
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Taking fibre optics to South Africa
Newton-le-Willows fibre optics company i3, formerly H2O Networks Group, is expanding overseas, working with selected partners to use the group’s patented Fibre Optical Cable Underground Sewer System (FS System) to deploy high-speed fibre optic cable using the sewer system. South Africa will be the first country to benefit. H2O South Africa will receive extensive training at the group’s training facility in North Wales, as well as ongoing technical support. 
Scantec recruits Artemis
Wirral-based PR agency Artemis Media & Public Affairs has secured Scantec Personnel, one of the UK’s fastest growing recruitment firms, as a new client. Scantec, based in Birkenhead, had its most successful year in 2008 when it grew its turnover from £52m to £62m and moved to 87th position in the top 100 UK recruiters. Artemis director Emma Parker Goff said the agency would be working to boost its profile in key sectors including oil and gas, defence, nuclear, engineering and green energy.
Superlambanana news
The city of Liverpool has reached a resolution in the dispute with Japanese artist Taro Chiezo over ownership of his much-loved Superlambanana sculpture. Following six months of negotiations between the city council and Chiezo’s lawyer, Francis McEntegart, it has been agreed that the city will create a replica of the 17-foot original, which will be licensed to be on public display for the next 80 years. The original sculpture, which arrived in the city in 1998 but was limited to a ten-year display licence, will be handed back to Chiezo. He will oversee the construction of a new sculpture, manufactured from hardier materials, which is expected to go on show within the next six months at a location still to be decided.
New look for the Swan
The pub and restaurant formerly known as the Swan Hotel in Aughton is to be relaunched as the Swan Inn, following a £600,000 investment. The site, just off the A59, is undergoing an intensive refurbishment programme that will see its open its doors in time for Easter. The Swan Inn will include a traditional pub with a separate meeting room and ten hotel bedrooms. The Swan Inn is owned by the Sanguine Monetier Hospitality Group, which is headed by local entrepreneurs Simon Mathews-Williams and Paul Bolton.
Three sign up for The Hub
A new Liverpool business lounge has marked its official opening with the news that it has signed up its first clients. The Hub, a joint venture between Liverpool John Moores University and facilities management company SOG, has signed up regeneration agency Liverpool Vision, management consultancy Moore Fleming and RJ Lewis Management Services to use the facility. The business lounge offers an ‘office away from the office’ and provides discounted meeting rooms, access to networking events and consultancy services.
DWF teams up with DLIB
Private sector lobbying and networking club Downtown Liverpool In Business (DLIB) has unveiled a new legal sponsor for 2009. Law firm DWF joins accountancy firm Grant Thornton, property developer Iliad and manufacturing business Noname Kitchens as a headline sponsor of DLIB, which will celebrate its fifth anniversary later this year.
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Property
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Public support key to Wirral Waters
Peel Holdings has submitted its plans for the first part of its £4.5bn Wirral Waters scheme. The Northbank East proposals will see 1,700 new homes, a supermarket, office, retail and leisure facilities and better access to the waterfront provided in the area between the Corn Warehouses and the Hydraulic Tower, which will be converted into a hotel. But Peel development director Lindsey Ashworth warned that the recession made predicting a timescale difficult and that this is “the start of a very long journey that will take many decades to complete”. He stressed the need for continued public support to overcome the inevitable objections: “Public support is vital to progress a scheme so far reaching. Generally, for every one objector to a planning application we probably get thousands of supporters but supporters tend to be silent, which is not helpful at all. Thankfully this hasn’t been the case at Wirral.”
Liverpool’s week in the sun
The organisers of Liverpool at MIPIM, the world’s biggest property fair held in Cannes this year from 10 to 13 March, believe that, despite the uncertainty caused by the current economic climate, the case for attending the annual event is as strong as ever. Mike Taylor, investment and enterprise director at Liverpool Vision, said: “It’s vital that we continue to maintain Liverpool’s presence on the biggest of stages and this is an important international market place where business will still be done. Liverpool is very much open for business and as much in these times, as in good, we must make others aware of our phenomenal economic assets and low cost base that make us more attractive than ever. This is not the time to hide our light under a bushel.”
Speedy builds up at The Parks
Merseyside’s largest listed business Speedy Hire has signed up for a self-contained 13,271 sq ft building at The Parks in Haydock. The company also occupies 16,250 sq ft at another building on the park, located at junction 23 of the M6. Richard Wharton of King Sturge, joint letting agent at the park along with Bailey Deakin Hamilton, said: “This is a great letting in such a difficult market. The building’s refurbishment was only completed in November so to let it so quickly is a real testament to its quality.”
Construction prepares for contraction
Construction bosses in the North West are being urged to maintain a commitment to staff training to preserve the industry’s workforce during the recession, as new figures from the Construction Skills Network report are published today. The annual report, produced by ConstructionSkills, the sector skills council for the construction industry, reveals two distinct periods for the industry. The year-on-year data indicates there will be a 3 per cent contraction in 2009, followed by nil growth in output nationally in 2010, followed by a gradual return to growth of 1 per cent in 2011, 2 per cent in 2012 and 3 per cent in 2013. The figures for the North West are slightly below the UK average, with output growth falling to 0.2 per cent over the next five year.
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