The Sunday Times - UK (2021-11-28)

Administrators to Arena

Television are suing its

former directors for breach of

fiduciary duty amid

allegations of a huge fraud at

the collapsed broadcaster.

Administrators from Kroll

filed a claim in the High Court

last week against Arena TV’s

former owner and managing

Glaxo Smith Kline is to renew its fight-

back against activist investor Elliott Man-

agement this week by unveiling a series of

plans for revolutionary HIV treatments

that would eliminate the need for regular

doses of tablets and could even point

towards a potential cure.

Glaxo’s HIV business, Viiv Healthcare,

is a crucial part of the company’s strategy

to ensure its drugs business can stand

alone once it splits off its consumer divi-

sion early next year. Led by Dame Emma

Walmsley, the FTSE 100 company is pre-

paring to create two standalone busi-

nesses each worth about £50 billion.

Glaxo has said its pharma business,

dubbed “New GSK”, will reach annual

sales of £33 billion by 2031, compared to

£24 billion for pharma and vaccines com-

bined last year. Key to this will be ensur-

ing that it can replace revenues lost from

a top HIV treatment — dolutegravir —

which made sales of £4.7 billion last year.

Dolutegravir loses its exclusivity in 2028

and 2029, depending on the market.

Glaxo is under attack from Elliott,

which took a multibillion-pound stake

this year. Elliott later published a 17-page

letter outlining its investment case. It tar-

geted the company’s HIV business, say-

ing it was “often met with a shrug” by

investors who were concerned that the

loss of dolutegravir’s exclusivity would

drive the business “off a cliff ”. Viiv is

majority owned by Glaxo, with 12 per

cent held by rival Pfizer and 10 per cent

by Shionogi of Japan.

Elliott has particularly put pressure on

Walmsley, who wants to run the

demerged pharma business. The hedge

fund has suggested that she reapply for

her job. Glaxo chairman Sir Jonathan

was known for its red-coated

staff, launching the careers of

entertainers including Des

O’Connor.

Despite growing to nine

sites at its peak, today Butlin’s

is the smallest of Bourne

Leisure’s businesses. It was

bought by Bourne in 2000.

A source close to

Blackstone said: “We want to

focus our attention — and the

management’s attention — on

Haven and Warner.”

Domestic holiday parks

have had a volatile 18 months,

swinging from spells of

closure to record months of

“staycation” bookings as

overseas travel was

restricted. In its accounts for

2020, Bourne said sales had

more than halved to

£506.8 million, pushing it to a

pre-tax loss of £151.6m.

Blackstone declined to

comment.

Symonds has pushed back against that.

Glaxo’s HIV pipeline includes three

areas: first, work on a long-lasting HIV

treatment that involves an injection of its

cabotegravir drug once every three

months, up from two months now; sec-

ond, a move into HIV prevention, also

using cabotegravir, which could win

approval in America as early as January.

Third, in a presentation to the City

tomorrow, Deborah Waterhouse, chief

executive of Viiv, will provide an update

on the company’s research into a poten-

tial cure for HIV. It plans to begin investi-

gating a cure in clinical trials as early as

next year, and hopes to launch it after

2030. Part of this includes research into
      using a therapeutic vaccine, which would
      entail giving it to someone who already
      has the condition.
      Earlier this month, health chiefs in the
      UK gave the green light to cabotegravir.
      The treatment replaces daily tablets —
      meaning patients do not need to keep
      their treatment at home. About 100,000
      people are living with HIV in Britain. Cur-
      rent treatments involve life-long treat-
      ment regimes taken as tablets every day.
      “Society is not kind to people living
      with HIV,” said Waterhouse. “It’s a highly
      stigmatised disease.” She pointed to uni-
      versity students who may fear flatmates
      discovering their pills. “There’s a huge
      amount of issues for many people living
      with HIV — fear of disclosure, and how
      they live their lives.”
      Kimberly Smith, head of research and
      development at Viiv, said the next chal-
      lenge would be to create a drug that could
      be taken just once every six months. “We
      think it’s possible to get there with cabo-
      tegravir,” she added.
      Shares in Glaxo closed on Friday at
      £15.11, valuing it at £76 billion.

Sabah Meddings

Glaxo fights

back against

US predator

Drugs giant hunts for HIV cure as

embattled boss tries to beat Elliott

BACK INTO THE RED

Investors will be on alert this

week for information on the

spread of the Covid Omicron

variant,writes Jill Treanor.

Stock markets have already

been rattled by the discovery

of the new variant in southern

Africa. Yesterday the first

cases emerged in Britain. On

Friday, the FTSE 100 dropped

3.6 per cent to 7,044, while oil

prices fell 10 per cent amid

fears that any new restrictions

would lead to a slowdown.

Among the biggest fallers

on the FTSE were IAG, owner

of British Airways, which

tumbled 15 per cent, while

Carnival cruises fell 16 per

cent. Some of the risers were

those likely to benefit from

any fresh lockdowns, such as

Ocado, up 5 per cent.

The boss of one of Britain’s

biggest pub chains warned

that the Omicron strain could

be ruinous if the Christmas

season is hit by consumer

anxiety or fresh lockdowns.

Phil Urban of FTSE 250 pub

chain Mitchells & Butlers said:

“If we lost Christmas, I think

that would be the end for

quite a few businesses.”

Professor Calum Semple,

who sits on the Scientific

Advisory Group for

Emergencies (Sage), told the

BBC that vaccines were “still

likely to protect you from

severe disease”.

Even if the government

does not impose new Covid-

19 measures, there are

concerns that consumers may

become more cautious in the

run-up to Christmas. Urban

feared that the new variant

could keep people at home.

The Omicron tumble, pages 2-3

LV seeks to bolster

board amid turmoil

Besieged mutual insurer LV is

lining up directors to beef up

its board if its £530 million

takeover by private equity

giant Bain Capital is voted

through by policyholders

next month.

One of the three

boardroom members being

sounded out for non-

executive roles is Tim Harris,

a former executive at LV’s

closest rival Royal London,

which lost out to Bain in last

year’s bidding process.

Royal London has since

made a fresh approach to LV,

offering to work with Bain.

Some of LV’s 1.2 million

members have complained

that the £100 payout they

each stand to receive from

the Bain deal is not enough to

compensate them for the loss

of the group’s mutual status.

Natalie Ceeney, the former

Jill Treanor head of the Financial

Ombudsman Service, is also

thought to be among those

being lined up, along with

Suzy Neubert who had a long

career in financial services —

most recently at fund

manager JO Hambro Capital

Management. She is married

to easyJet chairman Stephen

Hester. LV would not

comment on any boardroom

changes as it embarks on a

last-ditch effort to convince

policyholders to vote on the

deal at a webinar tomorrow.

l Santander has plucked the

boss for its UK arm from the

mutual sector to replace

Nathan Bostock, who has

been promoted to a different

role in the Spanish bank.

Mike Regnier, 50, is

expected to join from

Yorkshire Building Society.

Santander would not

comment. Yorkshire could

not be reached.

Blackstone to sell Butlin’s

after staycation takeover

The owner of Butlin’s is lining

up an auction of the holiday

park chain, less than a year

after its parent company was

bought by Blackstone.

Sky News reported that

Bourne Leisure, which also

owns Haven and adult-only

Warner Leisure Hotels, had

appointed Rothschild to find

buyers for Butlin’s. Private

equity firm Blackstone took a

majority stake in the

company in January, in a deal

that valued Bourne Leisure at

an estimated £3 billion.

Butlin’s was established in

1936 by Billy Butlin, who

bought a plot of land in

Skegness. It is one of three

Butlin’s holiday parks that

remain open, along with sites

in Minehead and Bognor

Regis. In its heyday, the chain

Sabah Meddings

and Sam Chambers

RICHARD DREW/AP

Nov 26

7, 0 4 3

Nov 22

7, 2 2 3

FTSE 100

BUSINESS

&MONEY

Fraud allegations fly as Glastonbury broadcaster collapses

director, Richard Yeowart,

and Robert Hopkinson,

another former director. The

company collapsed suddenly

this month.

A source close to the

administration said the

collapse was set in motion

when an auditor, acting for

one of Arena TV’s lenders,

attempted to verify serial

numbers for company-owned

equipment used as security

for loans. When the auditor

called the equipment

suppliers, they were told the

serial numbers did not exist.

“It is potentially the biggest

fraud of this kind the UK has

ever seen,” the source said.

Administrators have been

unable to contact Yeowart,

54, who is believed to be in

France. Attempts by The

Sunday Times to contact

Yeowart were unsuccessful.

Hopkinson, 41, did not reply

to a request for comment.

Arena TV, founded in 1988,

became one of the largest

independent outside

broadcasters in the UK,

serving customers including

the BBC, ITV and Sky Sports.

According to his LinkedIn

profile, Hopkinson joined in

2003, a year after leaving

university.

Arena TV is understood to

have borrowed about

£300 million from asset-based

lenders including HSBC, Close

Brothers and Shawbrook,

according to Sky News. Allied

Irish Bank is also said to have

lent to Arena TV. Recoveries

from administration are likely

to be minimal.

Sam Chambers The company’s equipment

was used to produce ITV’s

coverage of Euro 2020, and

this year’s FA Cup Final was

remotely produced at Arena

TV’s headquarters in Redhill,

Surrey. Its large outside-

broadcast trucks have been

deployed at the Glastonbury

festival and the Olympics.

Arena Aviation, a separate

division, has been providing

aerial filming services since

the mid-1990s and operated

news-gathering helicopters

for big networks when it

collapsed. The outside-

broadcast industry has been

steadily consolidating amid

tough competition, with

many of Arena’s rivals bought

by international firms.

In 2019, the last year for

which accounts are available,

the group reported pre-tax

profits of £3.8 million on sales

of £29.6 million. The

company reported that it had

assets worth £58.6 million.

Its accounts were signed

off by auditors from

McKenzies, a small practice

based in Surrey.

Arena employed about 100

people at the time of its

collapse.

BUSINESS

&MONEY

November 28, 2021 · thesundaytimes.co.uk/business thesundaytimes.co.uk/money

‘I LANDED A

£100K TAX BILL’

STRICTLY’S

ROBIN

WINDSOR

MONEY, PAGE 18

o.uk/money

CONCORDE MARK II

PAGE 10

THE BOTS THAT

STOLE CHRISTMAS

PAGE 9