Shareholder payouts grew 14 times faster than wages over past three years, says Oxfam report Shareholders have proved to be more successful at securing bumper payouts than workers have at winning higher pay, according to two studies that show dividends outstripping wages by a considerable margin in recent years. Oxfam said analysis of global data showed that dividend payments to shareholders over the last three years grew an average of 14 times faster than worker pay across 31 major economies ..read more

Deal would end six years of turmoil for owner of back catalogues of star artists ranging from Blondie to Neil Young and Justin Bieber The struggling owner of music back catalogues ranging from Shakira to the Red Hot Chili Peppers has agreed a $1.6bn (£1.3bn) improved takeover offer from the US private equity investor Blackstone. Hipgnosis Songs Fund said it was recommending the offer, which trumped a $1.4bn bid by the US-based royalties fund Concord Music ..read more

Offer for ‘cutting edge’ UK firm from Thoma Bravo signals another blow for the London Stock Exchange Business live – latest updates The Cambridge-based cybersecurity and artificial intelligence company Darktrace is likely to become the latest British technology champion to be swallowed up by a US suitor, after it agreed a $5.3bn (£4.2bn) sale to US private equity business Thoma Bravo. Darktrace, whose co-founding investor Mike Lynch is now on trial for fraud and conspiracy in the US, agreed to an offer 44% higher than its average share price over the past three months ..read more

Bank of England executive says creeping sense of complacency and lack of data is putting lenders at risk UK banks are leaving themselves open to “severe, unexpected losses”, by failing to properly measure how exposed they are to the $8tn private equity industry, the Bank of England has warned. In a speech on Tuesday, Rebecca Jackson, a senior executive at the central bank, said there was a “creeping sense of complacency” among lenders, who – despite a boom in loans and financing to the sector – had almost no ability to put together data “or even appreciate its crucial importance ..read more

Trio include Donald Mackenzie, who is planning to sell shares worth up to €150m in private equity firm’s listing Three co-founders of CVC Capital Partners, the private equity firm that bought up and then sold Formula One, have built up a combined €2.6bn (£2.2bn) fortune, according to the company’s prospectus published in the run-up to its stock market float. Donald Mackenzie, 66, holds 7% of CVC’s shares that would be worth just over €1bn if the company achieves its €15-per-share price target when it lists its shares on the Amsterdam stock market on Friday. He is planning to sell shares worth ..read more

Blackstone’s plans for data centre unlikely to generate thousands of jobs failed startup promised with Northumberland battery plant The site in north-east England previously owned by the failed battery startup Britishvolt is to be bought for £110m by a US private equity firm, which plans to build one of Europe’s largest data centres. Blackstone Group is to buy the 95-hectare (235-acre) site near Cambois in Northumberland to take advantage of its links to renewable energy, according to the receivers for one of the Britishvolt companies ..read more

Company manages €186bn of assets, including stakes in the Six Nations rugby and Lipton Teas Business live – latest updates CVC Capital Partners, one of Europe’s largest private equity groups, has announced plans to raise more than €1.25bn (£1.1bn) in an initial public offering in Amsterdam. The company, which manages €186bn of assets, including a stake in the Six Nations, has confirmed it will go ahead with the highly anticipated IPO on Amsterdam’s Euronext ..read more

Exclusive: Charities concerned at profits being made from government contracts to help victims David Rowland: Why is nobody holding private equity to account? Millions in taxpayer funds are being paid to private equity-backed firms to provide specialist support services for rape and sexual assault victims, with charities concerned at the profits being made by investors on these contracts, the Guardian can reveal. The government contractor G4S and Mountain Healthcare Ltd, which is ultimately owned by a private equity group set up by the former boss of the outsourcing group Capita, run 26 of t ..read more

Opaque ownership structures and bumper profits point to an early years sector gone wrong Childcare and nursery education in England is in the process of being transformed. Following ministers’ decision to make it a priority as a way to tackle labour shortages, public funding is set to double by 2027-28. In a few years 80% of all early years places will be government-funded, compared with 50% today. At the same time, pressure on providers caused by long-term underfunding and rising costs has led to a situation in which private equity and investment company-backed nurseries are expanding at the ..read more

Independent owners are declining fast in a sector now dominated by big companies and private equity UK watchdog plans formal investigation into vet pricing “Multiple concerns,” said the Competition and Markets Authority about the veterinary practice market. You bet. Semi-captive customers, rapid consolidation, lack of transparency and inflation-beating prices do not necessarily add up to a conspiracy against the consumer, but such a market is definitely worth a closer look. That’s before one mentions, as the CMA didn’t explicitly, the presence of the private equity industry, which tends to h ..read more