Queens of the deal: These women reached the top of corporate Britain while raising children – so what are the secrets of their success?

Takeover mania has the stock market in its grip with two multi-billion pound bids sealed last week alone.

Nothing so unusual about that, you might think – except that both were led by women.

Amanda Blanc, the chief executive of insurance company Aviva, pursued smaller rival Direct Line, and Margherita Della Valle, the boss of telecoms giant Vodafone, pulled off a merger with Three.

The duo follow Debbie Crosbie, at UK’s biggest building society Nationwide, who recently sealed a deal to buy Virgin Money.

The City loves a takeover, where one company buys another, often accompanied by clashing egos, huge fees and bitter rows.

For decades, bids have been a testosterone-fuelled macho preserve but this year high-flying women are Queens of the Deal.

Crosbie, Blanc and Della Valle have presided over takeover bids collectively worth £20billion.

All three are in their fifties and each has combined motherhood with a rise to the top of corporate Britain, where they earn multi-million-pound pay-packets.

A major conference – Women, Money & Power – has been held in London this week. Are these Queens of the Deal role models for a new generation.

And who are they?

Amanda Blanc

• Job: Aviva chief executive
• Age: 57
• Children: Two daughters
• Big Deal: £3.6billion takeover of Direct Line
• Pay: £6.6million
• Loves: Stilettos
• Hates: Sexists

Bold move: Amanda Blanc, the chief exec of insurance company Aviva, has successfully pursued smaller rival Direct Line

Blanc, 57, has been chief executive of the £13billion insurer Aviva since 2020. During that time, the share price has more than doubled – and she was made a Dame in the 2023 New Year’s Honours.

Her ability to deliver for shareholders – in stark contrast to the men before her – has generated huge excitement.

Her takeover of smaller rival Direct Line for £3.6billion, creating a motor insurance powerhouse, is her boldest yet.

Direct Line has been haemorrhaging customers. Blanc’s purposeful pursuit is typical of her resolve and efficiency.

When she arrived at Aviva, she rolled up her sleeves, sold overseas operations she considered not to be core to the business, cut costs and is now looking to increase market share.

Anyone who has spent any time with Blanc will attest to her steely determination. One commented: ‘Your first thought is that you would not want to be on the wrong side of her.’

Amanda Fisher – Blanc is her married name – comes from Treherbert in the Rhondda Valley in south Wales. Both her grandfathers were miners.

Blanc retains her south Wales accent, and its disarming qualities set Blanc apart from her largely posh male counterparts.

She is unashamedly fond of structured dresses and coats and adores stiletto heels. And has been open about the sexism she has experienced.

Early on at Aviva she came under pressure from activist Cevian to boost returns. In some quarters, this campaign was felt to have an undercurrent of opposition to a woman at the head of a FTSE 100 company.

At Aviva’s 2022 annual meeting, sexist shareholders jibed she was ‘not the man for the job’. She also encountered homophobia and misogyny on the board of the Welsh Rugby Union, and resigned.

The City loves her. Aviva’s current share price is 489p, but analysts are targeting 540p.

If this comes to pass, will Blanc celebrate with another pair of sharp stilettos? Probably.

Secrets of her success:

Challenge the chauvinists. Work out what you want to achieve and how to do it. Dress for success: Blanc’s outfits embody femininity plus power.

Debbie Crosbie

• Job: Nationwide boss
• Age: 53
• Children: One daughter
• Big deal: £2.9billion takeover of Virgin Money
• Pay: £2.4million
• Loves: Dominic West
• Hates: Branch closures

Banking coup: Debbie Crosbie, the woman in charge of the UK’s biggest building society Nationwide, recently sealed a deal to buy Virgin Money

Until this summer, Debbie Crosbie, 53, was the boss of Britain’s biggest building society, Nationwide. 

She is now the most powerful female banker in the country after she masterminded a £2.9billion takeover of Virgin Money.

Crosbie, described by one observer as a ‘streetfighter’, is seen by her fans to have pulled off the banking coup of the year. 

Her aim is to create a mutual financial services business big enough to take on the High Street banks.

Because Nationwide has no shareholders, she believes she can channel better interest rates and benefits to members.

Born and raised in Glasgow, she is often described as ‘steely,’ ‘no nonsense’ and ‘what you see is what you get’. Would the same comments be made of a male executive with a direct manner?

Her contention is that the merger will transform not only Nationwide, but the sector generally, by promoting mutuality.

But mergers are by no means guaranteed to succeed.

Nationwide has made a £2.3billion gain on the deal, because Virgin Money was under-valued. Now, she is running a much bigger operation following the takeover of Virgin Money, founded by Richard Branson and now the UK’s sixth-largest retail bank.

Branson will net about £400million from a deal that is the pinnacle, so far, of Crosbie’s 25-year career.

Before joining Nationwide in 2022, she was the boss of TSB.

She is not afraid to take on the banking establishment and was behind Nationwide’s series of satirical TV adverts starring Dominic West as an arrogant and complacent manager intent on fleecing customers and aggrandizing himself – annoying rivals.

In the year to April, Crosbie was paid £2.41million. She stands to earn £3.42million if her performance is outstanding. 

She might also spend some of it on shoes, since pictures of this Queen of the Deal show she shares Blanc’s penchant for a stylish heel.

Crosbie says she has only ever impressed her daughter when, as acting chief executive of the Clydesdale Bank, she became the first woman to have her signature on a Scottish bank note.

If she turns Nationwide and Virgin Money into a modern mutual powerhouse, she might impress her a second time.

Secrets of her success:

A sense of humour is a big asset – as the ads show, it’s possible to make serious points with a smile.

Margherita Della Valle

• Job: Vodafone chief
• Age: 59
• Children: Two sons
• Big deal: £16.5billion takeover of Three in the UK
• Pay: £4.38million
• Loves: Aubergine parmigiana
• Hates: Bad customer service

Margherita Della Valle is known for grace under pressure.

Telecoms takeover: Margherita Della Valle, the boss of Vodafone, pulled off an audacious merger with Three

A City figure says: ‘She is a safe pair of hands. She is properly on top of stuff, having been at Vodafone for three decades.

‘There’s no ego in her manner, like some male CEOs I know. ’

Della Valle has just signed off the £16.5billion merger of her company’s UK arm with Three, the mobile operator owned by the Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison.

The deal is a milestone in the UK telecoms industry.

This married mother of two, whose English still bears the traces of her native Veneto region of Italy is more often to be seen wearing trainers than heels with her well-cut trousers and satin shirts. 

Among the challenges now facing her are concerns about job losses and higher prices in the wake of the deal.

When she took over in April 2023, she declared that ‘everything has to change.’ She has a formidable task to overcome a host of problems at this £22.34billion business. 

The company has been beset with myriad issues in its international divisions and gaps in its coverage.

The takeover of Three represents an opportunity to boost deplorably poor connectivity – Britain is 22 out of 25 European countries for 5G technology.

Della Valle’s focus in the integration will be the technology, but with the customer in mind. In future, she will be serving no fewer than 29m of them.

In this she will rely on what she perceives to be her superpower – being a woman. As she argues, this means ‘you bring a different perspective’ – particularly pertinent in male-dominated ‘telcos’.

She is fanatical about customer service, believing it to be neglected. In her view, excellence in this field is a route to growth.

Della Valle’s promotion stabilised the share price but it is 50pc down over five years at 72p. Experts at Goldman Sachs rate the shares a ‘buy’ targeting 100p.

Secrets of her success:

Master your business. Perseverance pays off. Build knowledge and experience. It may take women longer to climb the ladder than men, but that means they’re better equipped when they do.

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