LaSalle Investment Management's Encore+ Aims to "set new standards" in Sustainability

Encore+ will work with Accumulata Real Estate Group to build a seven-floor hybrid timber office block, in Munich's Westend district, on a site acquired in 2019, on Elsenheimerstrasse. It will include an environmentally friendly building management system. Key players include David Ironside at Encore+ and Daniel Manta, project manager at Accumulata.

Bharti Global and UK Government Take Control of OneWeb Satellite Company

The formerly bankrupt OneWeb satellite company is now owned principally by Bharti Global and the UK government. $1bn of new equity has been injected into the company.  

Neil Masterson, formerly co-COO of Thomson Reuters, where he spent 20 years, is the new CEO, and returns from New York to London for this role.

UBS Starts New Fintech Fund - Invokes Anthemis as Chief Investment Assistant Officer

On 27 October 2020, UBS announced its new fintech fund, UBS Next, which will be tasked with investing $200m in early stage startups. It will play to internal modernisation efforts within UBS.

Sabine Keller-Busse, who joined UBS in 2010 and is now UBS Group COO, is an Ex-McKinsey Partner and alumna of the University of St Gallen. She stated that the move will keep UBS at the "forefront of the digital movement".

Mike Dargan, Group Head of Technology for UBS, also added supporting words.

UBS Next will utilize a partnership with Anthemis to help identify up-and-coming fintech startups and boost deal flow. 

Sean Park, a co-founder (and Chief Investment Officer) of Anthemis, with a passion for skiing, was a founding investor in Betfair (now integrated from a corporate standpoint with Paddy Power and known as Flutter Entertainment PLC).

Brookfield Asset Management Buys Up $2bn of Indian Office Space

Brookfield Asset Management, an alternative asset manager with $550bn in AuM, with headquarters in Toronto, has bought up $2bn of rent-yielding office and co-working spaces from RMZ Corp. Accenture, Google and HSBC are examples of clients of RMZ's spaces.

Nvidia Said to Be Ready to Acquire ARM Holdings from Softbank for $40bn (25% over Original Purchase Price)

This would conclude a four-year holding period for Masayoshi Son, the deal hinging on the recent conclusion of a dispute between Arm and the head of its China joint venture, Allen Wu. Softbank payed $32bn for ARM back in 2016 (shortly after the UK voted to leave the EU).  To facilitate the deal, Softbank also reversed a move to strip out the IoT component of ARM. Nvidia recently overtook Intel to become the world's most valuable chipmaker.

BP Goes Big with Offshore Wind in Equinor Partnership

 BP is investing 50% into two large US based offshore wind projects with Equinor, its first foray into offshore wind, paying Equinor $1.1 bn for its share of existing assets and to enter into the partnership.  BP has a stated aim to develop 50GW of renewable power by 2030. Bernard Looney, CEO for BP (an Irish citizen who started at BP in 1991 as a drilling engineer) stated that this is an important step in its journey to become an "integrated energy company" highlighting that "Offshore wind is growing at around 20% a year globally and is recognized as being a core part of meeting the world’s need to limit emissions"

Jane Fraser to Lead Citi

Scotland-born Jane Fraser, who has worked for Citi for 16 years, is to lead the bank when Michael Corbat (who has been CEO since 2012) retires in February. One of his mission statements was to simplify Citi.

Michael has formerly presided over Citi's wealth management unit as well as the non-core businesses under Citi Holdings where he divested more than $500bn of assets.