The dastardly Mr Deedes
Fred Goodwin’s trusty lieutenant, Derek Sach, has resurfaced. Sach, 68, was head of Royal Bank of Scotland’s Global Restructuring Group, a ruthless division that squeezed struggling firms for profit. He’s now working at private equity giant CVC as an ‘industrial adviser’. Cruel-mouthed, with an unpleasantly patrician air, Sach and his colleagues were described by eagle-eyed Treasury Select Committee chairman Andrew Tyrie as ‘wilfully obtuse’.
Barclays boss Jes Staley’s future is much discussed after backing his brother-in-law in a legal battle with his bank’s client KKR. Staley’s tribe are a colourful bunch. Grandfather Edward ran department store WT Grant, whose 1976 bankruptcy was the second biggest in American corporate history. Brother Peter, 56, is an Aids activist who once chained himself to the New York Stock Exchange. Should Barclays give Jes the bullet, he could pen a lively memoir.
Some 40,000 people are expected to descend upon Omaha in Nebraska this weekend for Berkshire Hathaway’s AGM. The issue of who’ll succeed founder Warren Buffett, 86, is likely to be discussed. Buffett refuses to disclose who it is, though most predict it’ll be publicity-shy head of insurance Ajit Jain. He’s regarded as ‘unbelievably smart’ and, aged 64, probably a more viable long-term choice than Buffett’s 93year-old deputy, Charlie Munger.
Sailing in the America’s Cup is a costly business. Britain’s Land Rover Bar team, led by oil trading tycoons Chris Bake and Ian Taylor, have spent £100m. Current holder, show-off Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, 72, has spent £90m. Legendary financier JP Morgan, who won the trophy in 1899 and 1901, opined of the costs: ‘If you have to ask how much, you can’t afford it.’
RBS chairman and self-appointed gourmand Sir Howard Davies recommends to Management Today readers a dish he recently tried during a stopover in Warsaw called Erich’s Pork Knuckle. The delicacy is named in honour of East Germany’s brutish Communist leader, Erich Honecker, who, Davies says, ‘liked knuckles both in his tummy and other people’s face.’