German bank that sacked 300 Britons pays Janet Jackson £11,000 a minute
Specila guest: Janet Jackson in concert"
A German bank that shed 300 British jobs at the height of the financial crisis has paid US singer Janet Jackson half a million pounds to entertain its wealthy clients for just 45 minutes.
Deutsche Bank, the world’s largest foreign exchange dealer, took over a five-star golfing hotel in Hertfordshire for 48 hours last week, closing it off to the public.
The banking giant spent close to £1.1million on accommodation, drinks and entertainment for 300 clients from the world of finance at The Grove golf and spa hotel at Chandler’s Cross, near Watford.
The bank’s wealthy guests were provided with champagne, spa treatments and unlimited rounds of golf.
Events reached a peak when the late Michael Jackson’s sister was chauffeured from the West End to perform for the audience of bankers and hedge fund managers.
Miss Jackson, 45, performed hits such as Control, Rock With You and The Best Things In Life Are Free during her brief set – which cost Deutsche Bank a staggering £11,111 a minute. A stage and huge marquee were put up for the star’s performance, at a cost of £150,000.
Guests were also treated to culinary creations by Michelin-starred TV chef Heston Blumenthal who was on hand to ‘meet and greet’ the financiers upon arrival on Wednesday evening.
The celebrity chef’s duties – for an undisclosed fee – also included organising a team of chefs to make hundreds of gin and tonic cocktail meringues, which were cooked in front of guests in liquid nitrogen.
Although Miss Jackson’s £500,000 performance was considered a coup for the bank, sources revealed she was not even its first choice.
North London's exclusive Grove Hotel was the venue for a Deutsche Bank 'jolly' that included a performance by Janet Jackson"
Organisers had initially contacted one of the world’s biggest bands, The Black Eyed Peas, asking them to perform instead.
‘They had offered even more money to The Black Eyed Peas to appear,’ a source revealed. ‘Unfortunately the group’s management said they refused to perform live for the bankers, even for that kind of money, and would only lip-sync to their hits.
‘Deutsche Bank wanted to have a live act though and went with Janet Jackson instead. The money being thrown around was incredible.’
Guests included Arianna Huffington, editor in chief of The Huffington Post, and Ireland’s Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan.
A source said: ‘The guests were absolutely delighted. It was the most exquisite experience at the highest end of corporate hospitality.
‘Heston shook hands and talked with many of the bankers for an hour or so whilst his team made bizarre cocktails for them all. It was quite a theatrical experience, with all the smoke coming up from the nitrogen cylinders.
'The bankers were flying in from all over the world and Heston made them a special mixture of his cocktail meringues. It was a very lavish affair.’
All 272 hotel rooms were booked up – with the cheapest costing around £300 a night. Hundreds more staff and guests were accommodated in two hotels nearby.
Deutsche Bank employ 8,500 in the UK alone, with 100,000 employees worldwide. At the height of the economic downturn in 2008 it made 300 redundancies from its UK sales and trading division.
George Moody, Labour MP and deputy chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, said: ‘This displays incredible insensitivity. Because of the past actions of bankers, people are going through such hard times trying to keep their homes and families together.’
A Deutsche Bank spokesman said: ‘We hold events for clients from time to time and choose convenient venues which allow us to re-invest our spending in the local economy.’
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