Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
04 NEWS TUESDAY 4 APRIL 2017<br />
CITYAM.COM<br />
Liberty Living now second-biggest<br />
student home provider in the UK<br />
SOAP OPERATION Goldman Sachs mulls<br />
£600m bid for The Body Shop from L’Oreal<br />
HAYLEY KIRTON<br />
@HayleyLEK<br />
LIBERTY Living yesterday completed a<br />
deal for another 13 properties,<br />
making it the second largest student<br />
home provider in the UK.<br />
The student accommodation<br />
company purchased the residences<br />
from Blackstone for £460m. The sites<br />
are spread out across the UK,<br />
Germany and Spain and add around<br />
another 6,500 beds to the property<br />
firm’s portfolio.<br />
The purchase has not only<br />
provided Liberty, which itself was<br />
bought by the Canada Pension Plan<br />
Investment Board in March 2015,<br />
with a footprint in continental<br />
Europe, but also brings its total<br />
portfolio up to around 25,000 beds.<br />
In the UK, it now only lags behind<br />
sector giant Unite in size.<br />
“We have ambitious growth plans<br />
to meet the changing demands of<br />
the student community,” said David<br />
Shearer, executive chairman of<br />
Liberty Living. “We are focused on<br />
expanding our branded, servicedriven<br />
business through acquisitions<br />
and developments in key markets.<br />
“Liberty is committed to providing<br />
high quality residences, with first<br />
class services, and I am delighted to<br />
complete this significant milestone<br />
in our development.”<br />
THE MERCHANT banking arm of Goldman Sachs is considering a £600m bid for The<br />
Body Shop, according to Sky News. French cosmetics giant L’Oreal wants to offload<br />
the ethically sourced cosmetics and soaps retailer after poor performance.<br />
New disclaimer<br />
on Sadiq’s site<br />
dilutes pledges<br />
JASPER JOLLY<br />
@jjpjolly<br />
THE MAYOR of London Sadiq Khan<br />
has added a disclaimer to his old<br />
campaign website saying the contents<br />
do not necessarily count as policy<br />
pledges.<br />
The website, first set up before<br />
Khan was selected as Labour’s candidate<br />
for the mayoralty, contains some<br />
policies which are no longer part of<br />
the mayor’s manifesto.<br />
However, the more recently added<br />
disclaimer disavows the contents of<br />
the website, and points users instead<br />
to Khan’s manifesto document,<br />
which drops some of the earlier<br />
pledges. Some of the policies not included<br />
in the final manifesto include<br />
a pledge to plant 2m trees in the capital,<br />
as well as to cut bus fares during<br />
his first year as mayor.<br />
Neither pledge or any equivalent<br />
measure is mentioned in the mayor’s<br />
final manifesto document.<br />
The disclaimer says: “Some of the<br />
information on this page may be out<br />
of date and does not reflect campaign<br />
pledges or mayoral policy. As<br />
such it contains some pages that are<br />
out of date, including some old campaigns,<br />
some early ideas, and some<br />
policies that were later overtaken by<br />
events.”<br />
Khan said he was “not sure” when<br />
the disclaimer was added and who<br />
instructed it to be added when he<br />
was questioned on the disclaimer at<br />
mayor’s question time in the London<br />
Assembly.<br />
Conservative London Assembly<br />
member Andrew Boff said the campaign<br />
website presented a “misleading<br />
picture” of the mayor compared<br />
to his “much smaller manifesto”.<br />
Boff said: “This is a campaign website<br />
littered with promises that any<br />
reader would assume were pledges<br />
Khan would try to deliver if elected.”<br />
He added: “Since I began asking<br />
him some awkward questions about<br />
it, a disclaimer has mysteriously appeared<br />
on the site, effectively conceding<br />
the promises amount to nothing.<br />
You couldn’t make it up.”<br />
Khan told the London Assembly he<br />
was “responsible” for the “defunct”<br />
website, but said events had overtaken<br />
the “early ideas” on the site.<br />
Hermes becomes latest investor<br />
to attack Tesco-Booker merger<br />
EMMA HASLETT<br />
@emmahaslett<br />
ANOTHER major investment group<br />
yesterday came out against the £3.7bn<br />
merger between Tesco and Booker.<br />
The boss of Hermes Fund Managers<br />
warned it could give the pair “too<br />
much power” over smaller stores.<br />
Hermes does not own any shares in<br />
either Tesco or Booker, but it does act<br />
as a consultant for other investment<br />
groups.<br />
Speaking to the Times, Saker<br />
Nusseibeh, chief executive of Hermes,<br />
said the deal could put too much<br />
pressure on the 8,000 corner stores<br />
the pair will have influence over once<br />
the deal goes through (Booker<br />
owns the Londis and Budgens<br />
brands).<br />
“Too much power in the hands of<br />
any one supplier is never a good<br />
thing,” he said. “In the long term<br />
there could be a backlash against<br />
[Tesco].”<br />
Tesco’s shares closed down 0.48 per<br />
cent to 184.7p last night.