First up, The FT via CNBC:
Two of the best-known business dynasties in Europe and the US will come together after Lord Jacob Rothschild’s listed investment trust and Rockefeller Financial Services agreed to form a strategic partnership.
RIT Capital Partners [RITPF 17.460.21 (+1.22%)
] is to buy a 37 per cent stake in the Rockefeller’s wealth advisory and asset management group for an undisclosed sum, giving Lord Rothschild’s London-listed trust a much sought-after foothold in the US.
The transatlantic union brings together David Rockefeller, 96, and Lord Rothschild, 76—two family patriarchs whose personal relationship spans five decades.
The Rockefeller group traces its roots back to 1882 when John D. Rockefeller established one of the world’s first family offices dedicated to investing his wealth. It has since developed into a provider of wealth and asset management services to other families, foundations and institutions. It is majority-owned by the 19th century oil magnate’s family and has $34 billion of assets under management....MOREAnd from the Guardian:
Bilderberg 2012: the technocrats are rising at this year's annual conference
Our man at Bilderberg is back for a fourth year and has touched down in Chantilly for the 2012 gathering. The shadowy elite leaders' conference starts tomorrow, so what's on the agenda?
Dutch Queen Beatrix arrives at the 2011 Bilderberg conference in Sitges, Spain.
Photograph: Nero Angelo
It's all change Occupy Bilderberg knocking at the gates.
Everything's set. The hotel is being primped and hoovered, the security is arriving, the press is nowhere to be seen, and I just had a really boring crab salad. It's shaping up to be a vintage Bilderberg.
We were lunching adjacently in the Palm Court restaurant of the Westfields Marriott hotel, in Chantilly, Virginia. A few days from now, this hotel will be dripping with billionaires and bankers, industry CEOs and finance ministers, here for the annual Bilderberg summit. "The leaders of the world are coming to our hotel", beams one member of staff. "Are you here for the brunch?"
We are. Most of the other guests have left by now. The hotel is edging towards lockdown. All that's left is a team of nervy conference organizers who start filming us with their iPhones, several dozen security operatives, me, my wife and a pair of really quite pleasant crab salads. While we brunched, our chatty operative droned on about his "internal and external drivers", about how "I got a panel of three-star admirals together" to secure a "$30m contract" and how "CACI excels in capture management".
He talked fondly of CACI International Inc (a giant defense contractor), although more recently he's had "a nice success rate with Booz Allen" (another giant defense contractor). His world was the deathly dull blur between the federal government and private defense corporations. The grim feeding trough of "systems solutions", "security logistics" and "mission assurance". My crab ended just as he was declaring, wisely: "When you leave the navy and you go to a contractor, you say: what's my mission?"
His mission for the next week or so is to keep the queen of the Netherlands, the chairman of Barclays, and the chairman, vice-chairman and CEO of Shell Oil safe and sound for a three-day conference. The hotel is encircled by the offices of the world's largest arms' manufacturers, 15 minutes up the road from the headquarters of the CIA...MORE