Mark Kleinman is Sky News’ City Editor and the man who gets the Square Mile talking in his weekly City AM column
Can Osborne usher in a golden era for HSBC?
George Osborne’s words to his Chinese audience were clear: “Through the ups and downs, let’s stick together. Let’s stick together to grow our economies. Let’s stick together to make Britain China’s best partner in the West. Let’s stick together and create a golden decade for both of our countries.”
Ten years on from the then chancellor’s speech in Shanghai, will he get the chance to oversee a golden decade for HSBC Holdings?
The question has suddenly become pertinent because of my revelation last weekend that Osborne is among a trio of candidates to succeed Sir Mark Tucker as chairman of Europe’s biggest lender.
In one sense, he is the least qualified of the three: Naguib Kheraj, the former Barclays finance chief, ex-Standard Chartered deputy chair and until recently chairman of Rothesay, has extensive UK public company boardroom experience.
The other candidate still apparently in the frame is Kevin Sneader, who has no FTSE-100 pedigree but has run a major global organisation in the shape of McKinsey.
Osborne’s CV has other advantages, however. He has close ties both in Beijing and Washington, which in the current geopolitical context – and more enduringly given HSBC’s footprint – are critical.
At Robey Warshaw (now subsumed into Evercore), where he has been a partner for four years, he helped advise HSBC on its defence against Ping An’s activist campaign to reshape the bank, and on its rescue acquisition of Silicon Valley Bank UK in 2023; so a lack of familiarity with the issues the bank faces would not be a valid criticism.
Given that he has made it this far, months after first being approached about the role, it also seems logical to assume that Osborne’s name has already been floated with regulators.
Neither does it seem anything other than lazy politics to suggest that his status as a former Tory chancellor would create a headache for HSBC under a Labour government which – at this rate – might have little more than three-and-a-half years of life left in it.
HSBC’s drawn-out search for a new chairman has suddenly become much more intriguing.
Drastic Dave? More like Liquid Lewis if new Diageo boss can turn around Guinness-owner’s fortunes
The dictionary definition of ‘drastic’ refers to action which is “extreme in a way that has a sudden, serious or violent effect on something”.
In that sense, it’s not an entirely suitable word to apply to Sir Dave Lewis, the surprise appointment last week as Diageo chief executive. ‘Drastic Dave’ might have been his alliterative soubriquet at Tesco, which he dragged back from the brink of calamity after joining in ?, but he is a far more calculating corporate leader than that word implies.
Given the portfolio of non-executive roles Lewis had amassed since stepping down as Tesco boss, it was reasonable to assume that his CEO days were behind him.
Diageo shareholders amply demonstrated their relief that this was not so, adding £2bn to the struggling Guinness-maker’s market capitalisation in the hours after the announcement.
It would be a mistake simply to draw parallels, though, between Lewis’s Tesco track record (impressive though it was) and the trouble that Diageo is now in.
Equally relevant is his history at Unilever, where beauty sales grew from £12bnto £22bn on his watch, and where he created a premium beauty segment from scratch to £2bn of annual sales.
Lewis doesn’t start until January, but by the end of next year, expect to see his imprimatur on the company: a sharper focus on brand marketing and new product development, a more efficient supply chain, and a rigorous – and ruthless – approach to disposing of, or discontinuing underperforming brands.
Critics of excessive executive remuneration in the UK will be laughed out of town if they suggest that Diageo is overpaying for Lewis. If he succeeds in turning around the drinks behemoth, he’ll be the toast of every drinker at the bar.
Marketing services dealmaking reflects AI spectre hanging over Mad Men
You’d have got long odds on the marketing services sector being the most prolific source of end-of-year dealmaking in the London market, but that’s where all the action is right now.
The sense of frenzy has been fuelled by reports late last week and over the weekend that WPP, a shadow of its former self with a measly market cap of little more than £3bn, has aroused the interest of rival Havas and financial sponsors Apollo Global Managememt and KKR.
A 12 per cent surge in WPP’s stock price on Monday morning suggested that investors believed the rumours; the absence of any confirmatory statement, and subsequent denial by Havas CEO Yannick Bollore that it was in talks to buy its British rival, soon removed most of the marketing froth.
Nevertheless, few believe that WPP will exist in the same form in 18 months time. The same might be said, albeit on a smaller scale, at M&C Saatchi, where its embattled board has just rejected an approach from rival Brave Bison for part of its business.
And over at Next 15, an offer from buyout firm Epiris for some of its subsidiaries has been scuppered, I’m told, by an attempt to chip the price of the deal.
With AI driving rapid and fundamental change across the marketing services business, though, expect the M&A spirits to persist.Information in this email including any attachments may be privileged, confidential and is intended exclusively for the addressee. The views expressed may not be official policy, but the personal views of the originator. If you have received it in error, please notify the sender by return e-mail and delete it from your system. You should not reproduce, distribute, store, retransmit, use or disclose its contents to anyone. Please note we reserve the right to monitor all e-mail communication through our internal and external networks. SKY and the SKY marks are trademarks of Sky Limited and Sky International AG and are used under licence.