The investment banker who led the £11.5 billion takeover of Cadbury is to leave Lazard this year. Peter Kiernan, who advised Kraft on the controversial deal, told the City advisory firm that he wanted to resign some time ago to take “an extended break and explore new opportunities”. He has agreed to finish projects, such as helping Exponent Private Equity sell VShips. Kiernan — Paddy to his friends — is the latest big name to leave Lazard this year after Ken Costa and Naguib Kheraj.
The self-deprecating Watford supporter, who worked at UBS and Goldman Sachs before spending seven years at Lazard, was set to join the Takeover Panel but changed his mind last year after criticism of his American client.
• M&M’s are quite tasty but does the chocolate brand really need a £10 million, four-floor London superstore big enough to house 100 double-decker buses? Boris Johnson was among the guests at its opening yesterday. Perhaps he was drawn in by the so-called Wall of Chocolate, which, unfortunately, isn’t edible.
• Those turning up to the opening of Tesco’s Asia Academy in Seoul today could learn a thing or two. Not only will the present boss Philip Clarke be attending, but his predecessor Sir Terry Leahy has also accepted an invitation, as has Lord MacLaurin of Knebworth, who joined the supermarket chain in 1959 after being headhunted by Jack Cohen, the founder. Joining them will be David Malpas, a former managing director.
• Should the owner of the Malmaison and Hotel du Vin chains be braced for a call from the lawyers? According to M&C Report, MWB Group is about to open a fancy cocktail lounge called Ember Inn, which you may think has a nice ring to it. Not least because it is already the name of a chain of 135 pubs owned by Mitchells & Butlers, which said that it was “surprised” to hear that one of its long-established brand names was under consideration by a rival.
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In the blue corner: Mike Batt
Not many deputy chairmen are given the introduction “this person was last seen at Glastonbury’s dry cleaners with a mud-splattered Womble costume”. But then Mike Batt’s contemporaries didn’t write Remember You’re A Womble.
Mr Batt revealed to BPI members at its annual meeting that he bought shares in HMV at their nadir to “show solidarity with those bastards”, despite retaining a grudge against the cut that high street retailers take on CD sales. He then introduced Ed Vaizey, the Culture Minister, who said he was a fan of The Wombles and that he had been composing new lyrics to its theme tune during lunch with Mr Batt.