Ex-climate change secretary Rudd to join £250m London SPAC
Amber Rudd, the former cabinet minister, is joining a new special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that will float in London and target a merger in the renewable energy sector.
Sky News has learnt that Ms Rudd, who served as secretary of state for energy and climate change between May 2015 and July 2016, is to become an adviser to Energy1, one of a hotly anticipated wave of new UK SPACs.
Banking sources said that Energy1 was being established by Sanjay Mehta, a start-up investor, and David Kotler, a former Lazard and Morgan Stanley investment banker who now runs Access Corporate Finance, an energy and natural resources advisory firm.
Philip Aiken, the chairman of London-listed Aveva and former chairman of Balfour Beatty, is expected to join Energy1’s board, while Sir Peter Gershon, the former National Grid chairman, is understood to be in talks to become an adviser to the SPAC alongside Ms Rudd, according to the sources.
The new SPAC will look to raise between £250m and £300m from investors, they added.
Citi and JP Morgan are understood to have been hired to advise on the listing, with an announcement targeted by the end of the year.
Ms Rudd’s involvement will again underline the extent to which senior former politicians are capitalising on their Westminster careers.
As well as serving as energy and climate change secretary, Ms Rudd spent just under two years as home secretary, while she stepped down from her final cabinet role as work and pensions secretary in September 2019.
Since stepping down as an MP before the 2019 general election, she has landed advisory roles with Darktrace, the cybersecurity company which has enjoyed one of London’s most successful initial public offerings (IPOs) this year, and Pinwheel, a green electricity start-up.
The roles were all approved by Whitehall’s Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA), but Ms Rudd’s new posts no longer require such approval owing to the length of time since she ceased being a government minister.
Rudd stepped down as an MP before the 2019 general election. Pic: REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
This week, Ms Rudd quit Teneo Advisory, the public relations firm, to join FGH, the agency founded by her brother, Roland.
Her role at Energy1 adds substantial political experience to a vehicle harbouring ambitions of pioneering a new era of London-listed SPACs.
In July, the Financial Conduct Authority published new rules aimed at making the UK a more competitive destination for such “blank cheque” vehicles, which raise money from investors to acquire an unspecified target.
London has been left behind by New York, and to some extent by Amsterdam, because of the more liberal framework for enabling SPACs to list, although in the last year there have been signs of considerable indigestion in US markets, with many falling sharply within a year of their mergers being completed.
Nevertheless, bankers say there has been a spurt in the number of enquiries from SPAC “sponsors” wanting to list in London once the listing reforms are implemented.
Sky News reported on Friday that a pair of insurance executives plan to list Financials Acquisition Corp on the London Stock Exchange’s standard segment, and have received cornerstone commitments from investors including Qatar Insurance Company and Toscafund.
A swathe of renewable energy-focused SPACs has sought to take advantage of booming investor demand for companies which can play important roles in the energy transition.
Several leading British cleantech companies will be showcased at the forthcoming Global Investment Summit, while next month’s COP26 climate conference in Glasgow will be deluged by technology companies and investors.
Tony Hayward, the former BP chief executive, has listed a SPAC in Amsterdam called Energy Transition Partners to target a deal in the renewables or battery technology sector.
None of those involved in Energy1 could be reached for comment.
Business
Ex-Post Office head of IT says Paula Vennells ‘hoped to avoid’ inquiry – and reveals she blocked her number
A former Post Office executive has said she was forced to block ex-boss Paula Vennells’ phone number after the ex-CEO called multiple times asking for help to avoid an independent inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal.
Lesley Sewell, previously the company’s head of IT, told the Post Office inquiry on Thursday that former CEO Ms Vennells had reached out to her four times between 2020 and 2021.
Ms Sewell said that she blocked Ms Vennells’ number due to discomfort with the contact.
In her witness statement to the probe, Ms Sewell said that one of Ms Vennells’ emails referenced the need to fill in memory gaps regarding Horizon and “Project Sparrow”, a committee addressing issues with forensic accountants who identified flaws in the accounting system.
“Paula contacted me on four occasions in total. I recall blocking her number after the last call as I did not feel comfortable with her contacting me,” Ms Sewell said.
“I had not spoken to Paula since I had left POL [Post Office Limited] in 2015.”
Lesley Sewell giving evidence to the Post Office inquiry. Pic: PA
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According to Ms Sewell’s testimony, former chief executive Ms Vennells said that she had “been asked at short notice” to appear before a parliamentary select committee on “all things Horizon/Sparrow and need to plug some memory gaps”.
Ms Sewell says Ms Vennells added: “My hope is this might help avoid an independent inquiry but to do so, I need to be well prepared.”
Ms Sewell, who struggled to contain her emotions and broke down in tears while giving her oath at the start of her inquiry evidence, was offered support and breaks as needed by chairman Sir Wyn Williams.
Sir Wyn told the former executive: “Ms Sewell, I appreciate this may be upsetting for you, Ms Price will ask you a number of questions in a proper and sensible manner, but if at any time you feel you need a break, just let me know, all right?”
Lesley Sewell taking the oath at the Post Office inquiry. Pic: PA
The Post Office has faced significant scrutiny following the ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office which highlighted the Horizon IT scandal.
The faulty system led to the prosecution of more than 700 sub-postmasters between 1999 and 2015, with many still awaiting full compensation despite government announcements regarding payouts for those with quashed convictions.
London City Airport will on Thursday name its first permanent female chief executive as it targets approval of an expansion plan that would create nearly 1,500 jobs.
Sky News understands that the Docklands airport has told staff that Alison FitzGerald, who has been co-CEO since January alongside finance chief Wilma Allan, has landed the role.
A woman wearing a face mask walks by London City Airport, which suspended its operations during the pandemic
She replaces Robert Sinclair, who left in January after six years to become boss of the High Speed 1 rail link.
The airport is owned by a consortium of Canadian pension funds and Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund, which have backed a plan to increase its annual passenger traffic from about 6.5m to 9m.
It is appealing against Newham Council’s rejection of a planning application that would see it extend operating hours at the site, which is popular with City commuters.
The airport’s proposals include no increase in the annual number of flights and, in what it claims is a first for a UK airport, a commitment that only cleaner, quieter, new generation aircraft will be allowed to fly in any extended periods.
The runway at London City Airport
The appeal is being reviewed by the Independent Planning Inspector.
Its change of leadership makes London City the second of the capital’s airports to name a new CEO in quick succession, following the arrival at Heathrow of Thomas Woldbye last year.
“London City delivers one of the best passenger experiences in the UK and I’m committed to building on this success even further,” Ms FitzGerald said.
Representatives of Thames Water’s multinational syndicate of shareholders are poised to quit as directors of its corporate entities after refusing to inject the billions of pounds of funding required to bail it out.
Sky News has learnt that a number of board members at companies connected to Kemble Water Finance, Thames’s parent, are expected to resign in the coming days.
City sources described the move as “the logical next step” after the owners of Britain’s biggest water utility said they would not commit more than £3bn to help upgrade its ageing infrastructure and shore up its debt-laden balance sheet.
A default on part of Thames Water‘s holding company debts last month has raised the prospect that the company is heading towards special administration, a form of insolvency that would effectively leave the government liable for managing a utility firm which serves nearly a quarter of Britain’s population.
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Thames Water under threat
Thames Water is owned by a group of sovereign wealth funds and pension funds from countries including Abu Dhabi, Australia, Britain, Canada and China.
A number of the investors are represented on boards which sit at various points in the group’s labyrinthine capital structure.
It was unclear on Wednesday whether Michael McNicholas, a representative of the giant Canadian pension fund Omers and who sits on the board of Thames Water Utilities Limited, was among those in the process of stepping down.
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Along with the rest of the privately owned water industry, Thames Water faces a crucial moment next month when Ofwat, the industry regulator, publishes its draft determination on companies’ five-year business plans.
The draft rulings will be subject to negotiation before final versions are published in December.
Thames Water and a spokesman for Kemble declined to comment.
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