So, at just 46 years old, Nicholas Cullinan, hitherto the director of the National Portrait Gallery, has been appointed to take over at the crisis-beset British Museum. I thought something might be up when I messaged him about this earlier this year, and, unusually (typically, he’s charm incarnate), he didn’t reply. Perhaps he was still haggling over the small print, and hadn’t yet signed the contract.
“We failed.” This was the crux of an important speech that George Osborne delivered as chair of the British Museum in November. Speaking at the annual trustees’ dinner, he was referring to the scandal that beset the institution last summer, when it emerged that, “over probably several decades” (as he put it), around 2,000 objects from its storerooms had been stolen or damaged – allegedly by a senior staff member who has since been dismissed. The museum, Osborne acknowledged, had neglected its pr
Asian merger and acquisition (M&A) activity surged to its second-highest level ever for a first half as South-east Asian and private equity deals hit records, and bankers expect the strong momentum to be maintained for the rest of the year.
Announced deals involving Asian companies came to US$707.7 billion (S$953.2 billion) in the period from January to last month, up 75 per cent from the same period a year earlier and not far off the record of US$758.6 billion logged in the first half of 2018, Refinitiv data showed.
South-east Asia deals jumped 83 per cent to a record US$124.8 billion, driven by blockbuster transactions including ride-hailing giant Grab s US$40 billion merger with United States special purpose acquisition company (Spac) Altimeter Growth Corp.