All articles by Penny Guest

  • Insight

    The AXA man cometh

    27 May 2005

    Axa’s Steve Smith beat seven bidders to the £2.1bn Co-operative Insurance Society portfolio. Penny Guest asks if the wild man of fund management isn’t a frustrated property chief at heart.

  • Open plan: Rayne’s refurbishment of LMS’s offices has coincided with the transition to a more transparent management style
    Insight

    Raynes world

    11 February 2005

    London Merchant Securities does not do deals, funds its own developments and shuns publicity. Chief executive Robert Rayne tells Penny Guest why he is happy being different. Photographs by Toby Glanville

  • Insight

    Bouncing back

    30 July 2004

    Having fallen out of favour with the press, the punters and the prime minister, former doorman Steve Thomas is rearranging the face of clubbing with his nightclub group Luminar. Photographs by Mischa Haller