Robert Smith
@bondhack.ft.com
Corporate Finance Editor at the Financial Times.
Have a tip? Email: [email protected] / [email protected] | Signal: robert_smith_ft.55
Have a tip? Email: [email protected] / [email protected] | Signal: robert_smith_ft.55
Pinned
Robert Smith
@bondhack.ft.com
· 17d
If you're after a wild weekend read, check out our deep dive into the flashy Utah leasing firm that somehow racked up $2bn of exposure to the First Brands debt debacle
Featuring prominent Mormon sports stars, a private jet, cheerleaders and an epic corporate rap video
www.ft.com/content/f0ae...
Featuring prominent Mormon sports stars, a private jet, cheerleaders and an epic corporate rap video
www.ft.com/content/f0ae...
Reposted by Robert Smith
I used to live near the Coppermills water treatment plant that is apparently central to London's water supplies and frankly it is terrifying that an obviously ageing facility run by a failing company with poor access is so crucial www.ft.com/content/97e4...
Single fault at Thames Water works could imperil London’s supply
Coppermills plant, which serves up to 4mn people, underscores scale of the challenge for troubled utility
www.ft.com
November 14, 2025 at 5:50 PM
I used to live near the Coppermills water treatment plant that is apparently central to London's water supplies and frankly it is terrifying that an obviously ageing facility run by a failing company with poor access is so crucial www.ft.com/content/97e4...
Reposted by Robert Smith
Kroll Bond Rating Agency is offering assistance to investors in dealing with the three main scourges of the private credit market: defaults, cockroaches and the Financial Times.
www.ft.com/content/ebd2...
www.ft.com/content/ebd2...
Private credit rating agency fights back against one of the market’s greatest threats: the FT
KBRA excludes media from event ‘debunking some of the recent misleading media headlines focusing on private credit’
www.ft.com
November 17, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Kroll Bond Rating Agency is offering assistance to investors in dealing with the three main scourges of the private credit market: defaults, cockroaches and the Financial Times.
www.ft.com/content/ebd2...
www.ft.com/content/ebd2...
Coppermills water treatment works in Walthamstow serves as many as four million Londoners.
The creaking facility was built in the 1960s and its pumping station is now on its last legs. Construction of a new system will not be finished until 2031. The consequences of a failure would be catastrophic:
The creaking facility was built in the 1960s and its pumping station is now on its last legs. Construction of a new system will not be finished until 2031. The consequences of a failure would be catastrophic:
November 17, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Coppermills water treatment works in Walthamstow serves as many as four million Londoners.
The creaking facility was built in the 1960s and its pumping station is now on its last legs. Construction of a new system will not be finished until 2031. The consequences of a failure would be catastrophic:
The creaking facility was built in the 1960s and its pumping station is now on its last legs. Construction of a new system will not be finished until 2031. The consequences of a failure would be catastrophic:
Thames Water’s main treatment works is so vulnerable that just one system failure could leave millions of Londoners without running water.
Mass evacuations could even be triggered in the event of a failure at the crumbling Coppermills works in north-east London.
Full story here: on.ft.com/4r1IbBc
Mass evacuations could even be triggered in the event of a failure at the crumbling Coppermills works in north-east London.
Full story here: on.ft.com/4r1IbBc
Single fault at Thames Water works could imperil London’s supply
[FREE TO READ] Coppermills plant, which serves up to 4mn people, underscores scale of the challenge for troubled utility
on.ft.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Thames Water’s main treatment works is so vulnerable that just one system failure could leave millions of Londoners without running water.
Mass evacuations could even be triggered in the event of a failure at the crumbling Coppermills works in north-east London.
Full story here: on.ft.com/4r1IbBc
Mass evacuations could even be triggered in the event of a failure at the crumbling Coppermills works in north-east London.
Full story here: on.ft.com/4r1IbBc
Some burnt lenders have insisted that First Brands' collapse came without warning — Brian Friedman, president of longtime banker Jefferies, told investors that “fraud is conventionally not detectable in the real world”.
But others that dug deeper were able to avoid the fiasco.
on.ft.com/4hZboJ3
But others that dug deeper were able to avoid the fiasco.
on.ft.com/4hZboJ3
How Apollo, Soros and others spotted red flags at First Brands
[FREE TO READ] Small group of lenders avoided losses on car parts supplier’s collapse by refusing credit or cutting exposure
on.ft.com
November 14, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Some burnt lenders have insisted that First Brands' collapse came without warning — Brian Friedman, president of longtime banker Jefferies, told investors that “fraud is conventionally not detectable in the real world”.
But others that dug deeper were able to avoid the fiasco.
on.ft.com/4hZboJ3
But others that dug deeper were able to avoid the fiasco.
on.ft.com/4hZboJ3
Reposted by Robert Smith
Always instructive after a credit disaster to look what red flags were missed - report here from Julie Steinberg, @bondhack.ft.com and @ericgplatt.ft.com on First Brands www.ft.com/content/2459...
How Apollo, Soros and others spotted red flags at First Brands
Small group of businesses avoided losses on car parts supplier’s collapse by refusing credit or cutting exposure
www.ft.com
November 14, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Always instructive after a credit disaster to look what red flags were missed - report here from Julie Steinberg, @bondhack.ft.com and @ericgplatt.ft.com on First Brands www.ft.com/content/2459...
Reposted by Robert Smith
This is now outside the paywall, please do read and share
EXCLUSIVE 🚨 A report alleging Panorama broadcast misleading Trump quotes contains misleading quotes itself
✏️ @jamesrball.com
✏️ @jamesrball.com
Exclusive: the error at the heart of Trump’s BBC attack
A report alleging Panorama broadcast misleading Trump quotes contains misleading quotes itself
www.thenewworld.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 12:37 PM
This is now outside the paywall, please do read and share
A bit of a Sanjeev Gupta update: Romanian authorities are probing his steelmaking business for suspected embezzlement and tax evasion involving carbon certificates, prompting police to carry out searches of a steelworks and private homes.
Full story here: on.ft.com/4oIKYOk
Full story here: on.ft.com/4oIKYOk
November 13, 2025 at 9:20 AM
A bit of a Sanjeev Gupta update: Romanian authorities are probing his steelmaking business for suspected embezzlement and tax evasion involving carbon certificates, prompting police to carry out searches of a steelworks and private homes.
Full story here: on.ft.com/4oIKYOk
Full story here: on.ft.com/4oIKYOk
Reposted by Robert Smith
Bluesky says it suspended author Sarah Kendzior because she was "expressing a desire to shoot the author of an article."
But there's more to the story:
But there's more to the story:
Bluesky Is Clearly Not a Johnny Cash Fan
A user was banned for making a Johnny Cash reference. Where's the dividing line between serious threat and jokey pop culture reference?
gizmodo.com
November 12, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Bluesky says it suspended author Sarah Kendzior because she was "expressing a desire to shoot the author of an article."
But there's more to the story:
But there's more to the story:
Reposted by Robert Smith
Unfortunately it appears I have to choose between two ironclad aspects of my personality today: Br*tain is a mess and Noah Smith is one of the internet's greatest morons.
Having done an international connection at Heathrow this year, the latter wins by a country mile.
Having done an international connection at Heathrow this year, the latter wins by a country mile.
Economist Doesn't Follow Signs At Heathrow: Proof The UK Is Failing?
A economist had a bad experience connecting at Heathrow, suggesting it's reflective of bigger issues in the UK. There's only one issue...
onemileatatime.com
November 11, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Unfortunately it appears I have to choose between two ironclad aspects of my personality today: Br*tain is a mess and Noah Smith is one of the internet's greatest morons.
Having done an international connection at Heathrow this year, the latter wins by a country mile.
Having done an international connection at Heathrow this year, the latter wins by a country mile.
One amusing thing that just occurred to me in the whole Trump/BBC furore: because the Panorama documentary was first broadcast over a year ago, isn't he time-barred from bringing a defamation claim in English courts anyway?
November 10, 2025 at 11:37 PM
One amusing thing that just occurred to me in the whole Trump/BBC furore: because the Panorama documentary was first broadcast over a year ago, isn't he time-barred from bringing a defamation claim in English courts anyway?
Cracking profile from Tom Wilson of the incredibly euro commodities wunderkind who became a centimillionaire trading Russian oil
on.ft.com/3WOdnpW
on.ft.com/3WOdnpW
How this 31-year-old made $250mn in 30 months
Christopher Eppinger kept trading Russian oil when sanctions meant others stopped
www.ft.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Cracking profile from Tom Wilson of the incredibly euro commodities wunderkind who became a centimillionaire trading Russian oil
on.ft.com/3WOdnpW
on.ft.com/3WOdnpW
Reposted by Robert Smith
another nice piece on MSTR from @thekrazykobra.bsky.social
November 10, 2025 at 1:29 PM
another nice piece on MSTR from @thekrazykobra.bsky.social
"My 'we do very, very normal due diligence' shirt has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my shirt."
November 10, 2025 at 1:07 PM
"My 'we do very, very normal due diligence' shirt has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my shirt."
Reposted by Robert Smith
Maybe Keir should demand the heads of major US news networks any time they imply Britain is on the brink of civil war or that we live under sharia law. Or does it not work both ways?
November 10, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Maybe Keir should demand the heads of major US news networks any time they imply Britain is on the brink of civil war or that we live under sharia law. Or does it not work both ways?
Reposted by Robert Smith
As with the NHS, I think part of the problem is how the institution has been so thoroughly sentimentalised in both the public imagination and its own imagination, to the extent that even a minor infraction is greeted like the Werthers’ grandad going on a five-day ket rampage.
The BBC will fuck things up from time to time. Lots of major news organisations do; just look at The Times having to memoryhole several fake news stories in a matter of weeks.
No one is calling for the abolition of The Times, however.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
No one is calling for the abolition of The Times, however.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
UK newspaper editor calls Bill de Blasio fake interview blunder ‘humiliating’
A Times associate editor reportedly addressed situation in an email to staff, saying: ‘We should have been on our guard’
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:19 AM
As with the NHS, I think part of the problem is how the institution has been so thoroughly sentimentalised in both the public imagination and its own imagination, to the extent that even a minor infraction is greeted like the Werthers’ grandad going on a five-day ket rampage.
The BBC will fuck things up from time to time. Lots of major news organisations do; just look at The Times having to memoryhole several fake news stories in a matter of weeks.
No one is calling for the abolition of The Times, however.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
No one is calling for the abolition of The Times, however.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
UK newspaper editor calls Bill de Blasio fake interview blunder ‘humiliating’
A Times associate editor reportedly addressed situation in an email to staff, saying: ‘We should have been on our guard’
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:53 AM
The BBC will fuck things up from time to time. Lots of major news organisations do; just look at The Times having to memoryhole several fake news stories in a matter of weeks.
No one is calling for the abolition of The Times, however.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
No one is calling for the abolition of The Times, however.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Very normal scenes at a very normal session of the very normal United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas
More First Brands drama here from the incomparable @pollard.bsky.social and @sindap.bsky.social
www.ft.com/content/7f58...
More First Brands drama here from the incomparable @pollard.bsky.social and @sindap.bsky.social
www.ft.com/content/7f58...
November 7, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Very normal scenes at a very normal session of the very normal United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas
More First Brands drama here from the incomparable @pollard.bsky.social and @sindap.bsky.social
www.ft.com/content/7f58...
More First Brands drama here from the incomparable @pollard.bsky.social and @sindap.bsky.social
www.ft.com/content/7f58...
Reposted by Robert Smith
Learn to cook, fuckwit
November 7, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Learn to cook, fuckwit
If you financed thousands of windscreen wipers in Mexico, but that collateral was then “commingled”, who owns the windscreen wipers? Where exactly are the windscreen wipers? Why did anyone think that buying windscreen-wiper-backed bonds was a good idea in the first place? www.ft.com/content/b492...
Utah’s First Brands whale even leased the office furniture
A non-bank lender with the motto ‘been there, leased that’ finds out
www.ft.com
November 7, 2025 at 9:08 AM
If you financed thousands of windscreen wipers in Mexico, but that collateral was then “commingled”, who owns the windscreen wipers? Where exactly are the windscreen wipers? Why did anyone think that buying windscreen-wiper-backed bonds was a good idea in the first place? www.ft.com/content/b492...
💸🙏🏻 IN LEX WE TRUST 🙏🏻💸
A year before Greensill Capital’s collapse plunged Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance into crisis, the British steel tycoon described Australian financier Lex Greensill as “our perpetual god” who had “poured insane amounts of money” into his companies.
on.ft.com/47Etco8
A year before Greensill Capital’s collapse plunged Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance into crisis, the British steel tycoon described Australian financier Lex Greensill as “our perpetual god” who had “poured insane amounts of money” into his companies.
on.ft.com/47Etco8
‘Perpetual god’: Gupta trial reveals cash crunch and Greensill reverence
[FREE TO READ] Dubai case sheds light on UK steel tycoon’s business empire before main lender’s collapse plunged it into turmoil
on.ft.com
November 7, 2025 at 8:01 AM
💸🙏🏻 IN LEX WE TRUST 🙏🏻💸
A year before Greensill Capital’s collapse plunged Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance into crisis, the British steel tycoon described Australian financier Lex Greensill as “our perpetual god” who had “poured insane amounts of money” into his companies.
on.ft.com/47Etco8
A year before Greensill Capital’s collapse plunged Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance into crisis, the British steel tycoon described Australian financier Lex Greensill as “our perpetual god” who had “poured insane amounts of money” into his companies.
on.ft.com/47Etco8
Reposted by Robert Smith
turns out that when you owe the bank $2b, that can indeed be the bank's problem
If you're after a wild weekend read, check out our deep dive into the flashy Utah leasing firm that somehow racked up $2bn of exposure to the First Brands debt debacle
Featuring prominent Mormon sports stars, a private jet, cheerleaders and an epic corporate rap video
www.ft.com/content/f0ae...
Featuring prominent Mormon sports stars, a private jet, cheerleaders and an epic corporate rap video
www.ft.com/content/f0ae...
November 5, 2025 at 3:23 PM
turns out that when you owe the bank $2b, that can indeed be the bank's problem
In the last few days, the First Brands situation has escalated from “suspected” to “alleged” fraud.
Our crack bankruptcy reporters @sindap.bsky.social and @pollard.bsky.social have had you covered.
Our crack bankruptcy reporters @sindap.bsky.social and @pollard.bsky.social have had you covered.
November 4, 2025 at 6:58 PM
In the last few days, the First Brands situation has escalated from “suspected” to “alleged” fraud.
Our crack bankruptcy reporters @sindap.bsky.social and @pollard.bsky.social have had you covered.
Our crack bankruptcy reporters @sindap.bsky.social and @pollard.bsky.social have had you covered.