W&F September 2017

Wealth & Finance International - September 2017 5 Lloyd’s chairman takes over reins from outgoing Mike Clasper in latest appointment to help drive innovation in the industry. Bruce Carnegie -Brown Named New CMI President Bruce Carnegie-Brown has been appointed the new president of the Chartered Management Institute. Car- negie-Brown will formally take over from outgoing president Mike Clasper at the professional body’s AGM. Currently the chairman of both Lloyd’s of London and Moneysupermarket. com Group, Carnegie-Brown brings to the role a wealth of experience from a 30-year career in the City. His other appointments include vice chairman of Banco Santander SA. Carneg- ie-Brown has been a Companion of CMI since 2014. CMI is the only chartered body for management and leadership profes- sionals with more than 157,000 in membership. The body now partners with more than 90 universities and 500 education providers to help nearly 40,000 aspiring or established man- agers gain CMI-backed professional qualifications in the last year alone. CMI also offers Chartered Manager status, the highest accreditation in management. In the past two years, CMI has worked with a group of 30 employers to develop the new breed of manage- ment apprenticeships, including the Trailblazer flagship Chartered Man- ager Degree Apprenticeship. A new Master’s level degree apprenticeship for senior leaders is due to launch in October. Carnegie-Brown said: “I’m passionate about the talent of tomorrow and CMI has a great heritage of developing leaders and managers. Investing in young people who have the ideas and motivation to drive businesses forward is essential to helping us grow a globally competitive UK plc. I look forward to working with CMI as it builds on its successes, particularly in its professional apprenticeships that will transform how we train our next generation of managers.” Ann Francke, CMI’s chief execu- tive, said: “Bruce brings a wealth of experience across the private and not-for-profit sectors both in the UK and globally. I’m looking forward to working with him to continue CMI’s success as we aim to eliminate the ‘accidental manager’ and raise leader- ship standards.” In his successful career, Carneg- ie-Brown roles have included manag- ing partner of 3i Group plc’s Quoted Private Equity business, CEO of Marsh McLennan’s UK and European businesses and a managing director of JP Morgan. He is also a Trustee of Historic Royal Palaces, a Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London, a Past President of the Institute of Bankers and a member of the Chartered Insur- ance Institute. Blackstone announced on 26th September that funds managed by Blackstone Real Estate Partners and Blackstone Tactical Opportunities completed the previously announced acquisition of International Market Centers, Inc. (“IMC”). Blackstone Completes Acquisition of International Market Centers, Inc. On 26th September, one of the world’s leading investment firms, Blackstone announced that funds managed by Blackstone Real Estate Partners and Blackstone Tactical Op- portunities completed the previously announced acquisition of International Market Centers, Inc. (“IMC”), the world’s largest owner and operator of premier showroom space for the furnishings, home decor and gift industries, from Bain Capital Private Equity, L.P. and funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. Fireside Investments also partnered with Blackstone on the acquisition. IMC is the world’s largest owner and operator of premier showroom space for the furnishings, home decor and gift industries, with 12.2 million square feet of world-class exhibition space in High Point, NC and Las Vegas, NV catering to over 2,000 exhibitors. The Company’s mission is to build and operate an innovative, sustainable, profitable and scalable platform for the furnishings, home decor and gift industries. “This marks an exciting time for International Market Centers,” said Robert Maricich, Chief Executive Officer of IMC. “We look forward to working closely with our new partner, Blackstone, during our next phase of growth. Blackstone is a firm with a strong track record of enabling trans- formational change and shares our long-term vision for the business.” “Blackstone is excited to partner with IMC’s top-tier management team to drive continued growth of this industry leader,” said Andrea Serra, a Manag- ing Director in Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities group. “Blackstone will leverage its significant resources to ensure IMC’s ongoing leadership position as the industries it serves continue to grow and evolve,” said Tyler Henritze, a Senior Managing Director in Blackstone’s Real Estate group. Blackstone is one of the largest real estate investors in the world, with over $104 billion of assets under manage- ment across its opportunistic, core+, private REIT and debt funds and has made investments with a total enter- prise value of over $4 billion in Las Vegas since 2013. Blackstone plans to support the continued growth of the company and has significant financial capacity to invest additional capital for future re-development, development and acquisition opportunities. “We are extremely proud to leave be- hind a strong, stable and well-capital- ized platform comprised of world-class exhibition space assets that attracts buyers and exhibitors from around the world and delivers an efficient and rewarding market experience. We are confident that the business is well positioned for its next phase of growth, happy that it continues in safe hands and deeply appreciative of the management team who led us on this journey and will continue to steward the business through its continuing success,” said Ryan Cotton and Phil Loughlin, Managing Directors at Bain Capital and Kaj Vazales, Managing Director at Oaktree. News