Good morning, this is your AM bulletin with the latest news and views from EG, as well as a few of the best bits from the morning papers.
Signa’s €5bn mountain of debt is backed by a molehill of capital, amounting to just €250m. Christof Stapf, the Viennese insolvency lawyer who has taken over the running of Signa Holding, the Selfridges and Chrysler Building co-owner, said that less than 5% of the company’s debt was secured against tangible assets.
Meanwhile, architect Thomas Heatherwick is the star of this week’s EG Interview. He talks about the “global blandemic” of “dumb environments and utterly selfish buildings that have impoverished the world” and made us depressed. “I am not advocating that everywhere should be beautiful. I am advocating against total rubbishness.”
And former New West End Company chief Jace Tyrrell, who went Down Under to set up Australia’s “first true BID”, tells EG why he has now returned to London.
In other news:
Savills raises £47m from inaugural January auction
Government picks Towns Unit chair
Arax lands cybersecurity firm in Knowledge Quarter building
Abrdn sells Edinburgh industrial estate
Mitie cleans up thanks to property contracts
Retail sales fall at fastest pace since lockdown
Residential rents rise to record highs, but pace slows
Court freezes Michelle Mone’s £75m property portfolio
