New Star Asset Management up for sale
News that New Star Asset Management is effectively up for sale has caught many investors and observers by surprise. This is the business which recently crashed with over £200 million of debts and where the banks agreed to take over the running of the business in exchange for writing off some of the company's debts. There had been speculation that the consortium of banks would run the business as a separate entity from their existing operations but UBS is rumoured to have been approached to find a buyer for the whole business.
This will not please John Duffield who set up the business and is renowned in the City as a mover and shaker. He personally has lost hundreds of millions of pounds and investors have lost significant amounts of money as well. Even though existing shareholders were not due to receive anything in the rumoured re-organisation, nobody expected the business to be put up for sale so quickly.
This really does look like the end of road for New Star Asset Management although as we have commented in the past, the name of John Duffield is unlikely to be away from the City for too long. Circumstances appear to have come together and crushed his empire with the fall in the value of UK property said to have been the catalyst for the collapse.
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