Borussia Dortmund bomber. Photo: Twitter The Straits
The 28-year-old man suspected of bombing the bus carrying the Borussia Dortmund football team to their match at home against AS Monaco last April did it for financial reasons, a court in Dormund was told.
The German-Russian man, identified as Sergei W., admitted on Monday that he had staged the bomb attack on the team bus but said he had done so only as part of a money-making scheme and not to harm or kill anyone. He has been charged with 28 counts of attempted murder for detonating the roadside bombs.
He admitted to the court that he planned to reap profit when the club’s share price dropped after the attack, in which the club’s Spanish defender, Marc Bartra, was wounded. The match was delayed by a day.
Facing life imprisonment if convicted, the accused has said he deeply regrets his actions. He had bought about €44,000 worth of options on the day of the attack, which he planned to sell at a profit when the share price dropped.
Stephan Degueurce-Roberge Photo: Monaco Embassy to United Kingdom
Grifco PR, one of the UK’s foremost luxury travel PR agencies, will be handling public relations for the Monaco Government and Tourist Authority and its Visit Monaco website within the UK and Scandinavia. The company will be responsible for the consumer, trade, MICE, and social media communications.
Grifco will liaise with and support key stakeholders to increase the principality’s visibility within these markets, ensuring that it is at the forefront of the discerning traveller’s mind, feastmagazine.org reports.
The agency abounds in Ultra High Net Worth clients, including North Island, Seychelles, and Bramble Ski & Haute Montagne, the Alps’ largest luxury chalet operators.
“We are delighted to welcome Grifco onboard to oversee our UK and Scandinavian PR campaign as the principality enters this new era, and have complete confidence in the team’s ability to deliver”, said Stephan Degueurce-Roberge, Managing Director at the Monaco Government and Tourist Authority.
“Monaco is undoubtedly one of the world’s most iconic destinations, and we look forward to introducing visitors to a side of our principality they may not have known about before; the destination of choice for the indulgent traveller conscious of leaving a positive impact behind when they leave.”
This year will also see the launch of “Green is the New Glam” campaign in Monaco. Bridging the gap between luxury and sustainability has been a priority for the country for a long time. The initiative will see the destination’s luxury eco-travel credentials reach unparalleled heights, launching a variety of new experiences that are green and glamorous at the same time, according to breakingtravelnews.com.
Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, Commodore of the Gustavia Yacht Club, and Charles P “Buddy” Darby, Founder and CEO of Christophe Harbour, have officially launched the inaugural Gustavia Yacht Club-Christophe Harbour CUP.
Designed to strengthen community ties across the 45 nautical miles between the two Caribbean islands of St Barts and St Kitts, the informal and friendly event from Sunday, February 25, to Tuesday, February 27, 2018, is open to any owner of a sailing yacht 50+ ft – or “close enough”.
There is no registration fee with the two host partners covering all event costs.
And, as “no party is complete without a Cup from which to drink champagne”, the Gustavia Yacht Club has commissioned, “at significance expense”, from master craftsmen in the UK a Sterling Silver Cup that the 2018 winner will get to keep for one year. In January 2019, it will be replaced with a smaller keepsake version and the original cup will be up for winning for the second edition of the St Barts to St Kitts race.
The exclusive Gustavia Yacht Club, founded in 2016 and with more than 200 active members, has been actively helping the community of St Barts to cope with the effects of the hurricane IRMA on September 5, 2017. The Club has already raised and dispensed €190,000 to worthy causes on the island.
The February sailing yacht race will also showcase Christophe Harbour in St Kitts. With its elite superyacht services and world-class amenities, this naturally protected harbour is certain to be the Eastern Caribbean’s next premier yachting destination. The marina – which offers secure alongside mooring, 24/7 dockage access, a deep-water harbour with wide turning basin, in-slip fuelling, and ample power for superyachts up to 250 ft – provides onsite customs clearance and immigration services, as well as a warm welcome to owners, captains and crew visiting or home porting.
Yacht owners interested in the Gustavia Yacht Club-Christophe Harbour CUP should email info@GustaviaYachtClub.org, or call Celia +590 690 85 58 37 or Cristina +39 348 37 068 61 – no later than January 30.
Organisers may cancel the event if there is not enough yacht participation.
Article first published January 2, 2018, on StBartsLife.net.
AS Monaco breathed a collective sigh of relief on Tuesday night after the 2-1 away victory in the local derby against Nice.
The win avenges the 4-0 thrashing Monaco received last September, and pushes Monaco into the semi-finals of the French League Cup.
Striker Keita Baldé set up both goals for Monaco, missing star striker Radamel Falcao. Thomas Lemar headed the ball home three minutes into the game and shortly afterwards had a goal disallowed for offside. After Nice equalised in the 18th, Monaco took the lead again in the 38th minute.
Monaco coach Leonardo Jardim pointed out why the win was so important: ”It was important for two reasons: because we have qualified for the semi-finals and it was an objective of ours to go as far as possible in this competition, and because it was a derby and so it was important for our supporters.
“It has not gone well here the last couple of times. Today was hugely satisfying. We used a different approach to get our two goals. It is to be expected that we are stronger with the injured players back. We have a competitive squad to enable us to play every three days.”
Lucien Favre, the Nice coach, was clearly disappointed: ”It is hard to swallow because the chance was there for us to go through. We are very disappointed to be eliminated. We will need to pick ourselves up in the league.”
Monaco’s undefeated basketball team kept their record intact after winning 94-65 away to Enisey Krasnoyarsk in an important Group A game in the Champions League on Wednesday, January 10.
Despite the 15-hour travel time to Siberia, Monaco’s players found their form late in the game after trailing at half-time, putting on a fine show and rolling to another decisive victory.
First in their European pool, the Roca Boys are also leaders of the regular season of Pro A and will put their title in play at the next Leaders Cup from February 16 to 18 at the Disney Events Arena.
Monaco’s next game is at home to Limoges on Sunday, January 14, at 6:30 pm.
Francesco Grosoli, Barclays’ newly appointed Europe, Middle East and Africa Chief Executive Officer for Wealth and investment Management, shows Louise Simpson the colour of money over lunch
“This is a first for the principality,” says Francesco Grosoli.
We’re sitting in a light-infused boardroom in Barclays Monaco as Mr Grosoli tells me about his recent promotion over lunch. It’s the first time that a Monaco-bred-and-based professional has risen through the ranks of a global company to such a high level.
“Usually it’s the opposite,” he continues. “Top roles are recruited from abroad.”
Barclays is used to breaking the mould. Dating back to…
1690, it was arguably the first bank (still trading under the same name) to develop an international, multi-tasking mandate. It was also one of the first foreign institutions to set up in Monaco in the 1920s. Nowadays Barclays Monaco is a stable banking brand in an unstable market dogged by changes of ownership within the principality (including the recent sale of Coutts International to Union Bancaire Privée and the expected sale of Credit Suisse) and scandals across the European private-banking sector. Such uncertainty has helped to solidify Barclays’ reputation as a safe choice for the Anglo-Saxon community.
“We sell the Britishness of our organisation. We’re the bridge for our clients between the UK and the rest of the world. We work with those wanting less or more UK exposure (e.g. for real-estate/kids’ education/lifestyle reasons). We help international clients with our three main platforms in Monaco, Switzerland and Dubai.”
This golden triangle is at the heart of his international strategy as Mr Grosoli seeks to integrate the three businesses of Europe, Middle East and Africa into one streamlined EMEA organization.
Since his arrival at Barclays in 2007, Mr Grosoli has quadrupled the size of the business, quadrupled the revenues and multiplied the staff by 250%. He has repositioned the Monaco branch as one of the top four wealth managers in the region and as the largest investment house within the Monaco banking sector with over 1.5 billion euros in trading activity in 2015. During his tenure, he has also overseen a 16-month, top-to-bottom building renovation (that involved 220 phases of moving people around) and installed an in-house chef (in collaboration with the Fairmont Hotel) to cook for up to 25 clients per day. Mr Grosoli seems to have the Midas touch.
“My real passion is my job,” he says.
Our conversation is momentarily broken off as an assistant adorned with a Hermès scarf comes in to pass a message onto Mr Grosoli. As they speak, I gaze around the boardroom with its Damian Hirst crystal wall panels, across the polished model yacht pivoting our dining table and out the Belle-Époque windows towards the manicured casino garden terraces. I muse that everything about Barclays Monaco is impeccably groomed including its CEO.
Mr Grosoli’s ability to smooth things over is apparent as we touch upon the recent Libor-fixing scandal (which saw Barclays pay a £1.5 billion fine). Conduct risk moved to the top of Barclays’ agenda and regulations were introduced to tighten up the grey areas of banking. Mr Grosoli credits Prince Albert with furthering the trend towards transparency and for his work in helping to evolve the principality’s reputation.
“The dodginess of the principality is fading away.”
Over our main course of roasted sea bass, we turn to the subject of technological infrastructure. Mr Grosoli describes how the banking sector is keeping abreast of huge advances in digital technology at a time when it’s already drowning in newly-coined regulatory frameworks that slow down the service output. He admits that the limited time schedule to implement regulatory changes has presented a challenge and has highlighted the industry-wide lack of investment in the technological side of wealth management business over the last few decades.
“Our new generation of clients will need a high level of digital technology. Their day-to-day lives involve Amazon and Shazam and will soon involve Blippar. We have to respond to that.”
2016 presents another challenge for Mr Grosoli with the current tricky trading period. He talks of the importance of servicing clients closely through more challenging investment cycles.
“Some bankers just phone the clients when the performances are good. That’s too easy. You should call the client twice or three times more often in a bad period because the market cannot go up all the time.”
I feel sure that Mr Grosoli will rise to all these challenges. His chameleon-like adaptability stems perhaps from childhood. He was born in Padua in Italy to an opera-singer mother and an industrialist father who made his millions in the meat–processing business with the help of a lucrative contract with car-company Fiat as well as multinational contracts from China and Russia to Romania. In 1975, his family joined other Italians moving to Monaco for security reasons in the wake of multiple kidnappings by the notorious Italian paramilitary organization, the Red Brigade.
“The move was supposed to be for just a few years while waiting for the situation to resolve itself in Italy.”
A few years became four decades. From a shy eight-year-old boy who didn’t speak a word of French for his first three years in the principality, Mr Grosoli progressed through the Monegasque schooling system and finished his studies in economics at university in Nice. His banking career started at the bottom on an internship with BSI (at the time a small asset management company).
“On my first morning, I was asked to go out and buy water from the supermarket and make photocopies.”
Mr Grosoli rose rapidly through the ranks helping to oversee the company’s transition from an asset management company into a bank from scratch. From BSI, he moved to Republic National Bank (that later became HSBC) where he was promoted to head of private banking. After his move to Barclays, Mr Grosoli retrieved the third floor of the Barclays building from BSI. With a twist of serendipity, his current desk is located just under his first private office at BSI.
As we delve into our mango-and-raspberry Carpaccio dessert, Mr Grosoli enlarges on his recipe for success in banking. While intellectual credentials open the door, he believes that the essential ingredients for interns are modesty, passion and hard work.
“When you start, don’t assume you know everything. You have zero experience and experience comes with work, work and work. You need to spend a lot of time at your desk. There’s no other recipe.”
We stretch our legs before coffee with a tour of the bank’s artworks by Monaco-born Benjamin Shine: the most striking is a Barclays Spread Eagle punctuated by global currencies made entirely of lacquered five-cent euro coins on a laser-cut aluminium base. Apart from euros, I wonder what makes Mr Grosoli tick.
“Of course I like cars, watches and other boys’ toys.”
His free time is spent with his two children and his Cuban wife. He enjoys family travel to the Maldives and Miami, but admits that his thirst for leisure travel has waned with the increase in his business travel (Mr Grosoli took 50 flights to and from London alone last year). He also enjoys playing Ipad games with his eight-year-old son, although he is conscious of the danger of children shutting themselves into this virtual reality.
“It’s very different from my childhood growing up with Pac-Man.”
Back in the boardroom, chocolates arrive with my macchiato. I notice that they’re Marcolini – my favorite Belgian chocolatier.
“He has an interesting story,” says Mr Grosoli. “He’s an Italian émigré who started in the business at the bottom and then made it all the way to the top.”
The same could be said for the remarkable Italian émigré sitting in front of me.
Article first published March 2016.
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And, as “no party is complete without a Cup from which to drink champagne”, the Gustavia Yacht Club has commissioned, “at significance expense”, from master craftsmen in the UK a Sterling Silver Cup that the 2018 winner will get to keep for one year. In January 2019, it will be replaced with a smaller keepsake version and the original cup will be up for winning for the second edition of the St Barts to St Kitts race.
