Corporate governance codes make much of non-executives’ independence nowadays – so it is surprising to see one of our biggest property companies putting a director of one of its biggest customers on its board.
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There is not only a dearth of takeovers at present, there is a trend to abandon bids that have already been announced. Are bidders’ eyes proving bigger than their stomachs or have predators lost their nerve?
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For decades to come, Debenhams (LON:DEB) will be a business school case study. It is also the story of the 21st century boom and bust - bought by private equity, loaded with debt, floated expensively, shunned, an Icelandic target, forced to raise new capital – and now the private-equity funds have exited.
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There has been one set of rules for foreign firms wanting a London share listing and another for UK companies. It is right to level the playing field but it is wrong to choose the lowest common denominator by easing standards for British companies.
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If stock lending is so bad the regulators have considered banning it, why is selling votes any better? Treasury minister Lord Myners seems determined to end the concept of one share, one vote.
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In 1994 the Office of Fair trading investigated rights issue fees and suggested alternative ways to issue equity more cheaply. The alternatives have been adopted, but instead of fees falling, they have soared. Time for a new inquiry?
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Sir Richard Branson has sold a third of his spaceship venture at a price valuing the project at $900m. What planet are the buyers on? Abu Dhabi, it seems.
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If you don’t like the way a company is run you can sell the shares. Or you can use every trick in the book to undermine the chairman. For some investors, the latter route seems more popular.

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Capitalists might not like to hear this. But it looks like the biggest ever experiment in Keynesian economics might just have worked.
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Who says you can’t fool all the people all the time? Aviva (LON:AV) has managed to fool everybody over its dividend – including, unfortunately, itself.

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