Good morning,
One of Silicon Valley’s top venture capital funds has thrown its weight – and cash – behind Adam Neumann’s new property venture. Andreessen Horowitz has declared the WeWork founder to be a “visionary leader” as it handed over a $350m cheque to value his new residential property business, Flow, at $1bn. Flow is set to launch next year, although exactly what it will do is still unclear.
Meanwhile, Europe’s office markets are facing their biggest test since the financial crisis as the cost of servicing debt outstrips rental income. Bank of America says credit spreads have doubled for UK-listed real estate companies and almost tripled for European groups.
And interest rates are expected to rise by a further 50 basis points to 2.25% next month, economists have warned. That will be the highest level in 27 years.
Ted Baker is close to agreeing a reduced takeover bid worth about £200m from Authentic Brands.
And more than 400,000 new businesses were created in the UK in the first half of this year. That’s around 90 every hour.
New lender Perenna has been granted a licence by UK financial regulators to offer mortgages with fixed rates of up to 50 years.
The author Bill Bryson is supporting the campaign to stop Marks & Spencer from tearing down its Oxford Street flagship store. A public inquiry into the scheme will begin in October.
And Hong Kong’s accounting watchdog has launched a second probe into Evergrande and PwC.
And finally, a new building proposed for downtown Tirana, shaped to resemble the head of an Albanian cultural hero. The 85m-high block aims to depict Skanderbeg, the Dragon of Albania and slayer of Ottoman Turks, with waves of concrete picking out his angular features and impressive beard. The architect, MVRDV, said this is a new form of building design, predicting that “figurative sculptural projects” will soon be all the rage. All well and good, if the execution meets the expectations. But as MVRDV is also the firm behind the wretched Marble Arch Mound we are not overly optimistic.
