Sponsored by Digital Look Events

Sunday newspaper round-up: Lloyds TSB, Xstrata, Scottish & Newcastle

Related Companies

Related Indices

Related Sectors

News for Spread Betters

PreviousPrevious
NextNext

There's a new Investor Edition of CMC Markets' spread betting platform... and it's exclusive to DigitalLook.com users...

Get full details about Marketmaker:Investor Edition here. Advertisement

Date: Sunday 24 Feb 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - Lloyds TSB is to weigh up potential takeover approaches to Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley as it scents opportunities to snap up rivals hit by the credit crunch, says the Sunday Telegraph.

Mining groups Vale and Xstrata are inching towards a deal that will create the world’s largest mining group. Senior banking sources said Vale was close to tabling an offer for Xstrata of £46 a share, writes the Sunday Times.

The American company behind Budweiser beer, Anheuser-Busch, is this weekend examining whether to launch a last-ditch counter-offer for Scottish & Newcastle, Britain’s biggest brewer, reports the Sunday Times.

Continued market turmoil has delayed the London Stock Exchange listing of Travelport, which at $2bn (£1.5bn) would have been one of the biggest initial public offerings of 2008, according to the Independent on Sunday.

The Royal Bank of Scotland will attempt to silence its critics this week by announcing a hike in its full-year dividend, says the Sunday Times.

Macquarie, the Australian bank, is eyeing up a £1.5bn-plus bid for Land Securities Trillium, the infrastructure fund and property outsourcing giant, writes the Independent on Sunday.

Persimmon and Barratt are expected to trigger fresh worries over the state of the housing market this week by confirming that reservation levels at their developments have plunged by more than 20% compared with a year ago, reports the Sunday Times.

WPP, the marketing services conglomerate headed by Sir Martin Sorrell, will this week unveil a 20 per cent increase in its full-year dividend but will break from years of tradition by failing to give any guidance about budgeted revenue growth for 2008, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

One of Germany’s biggest financial institutions is to sue UBS, the Swiss banking giant, claiming it was mis-sold hundreds of millions of pounds worth of sub-prime securities, says the Sunday Times.

The London Stock Exchange is to tackle its principal New York rival head-on by vying to attract $1bn-plus companies from Latin America to list in Britain, writes the Sunday Telegraph.

The world’s sovereign wealth funds will be asked to accept a voluntary code of conduct governing their investment activities under proposals poised for approval next week by the European Commission, reports the FT.

Robert Walters, the recruitment consultants, will tomorrow announce an expansion into mainland China through an acquisition designed to increase its exposure to one of the world's fastest-growing job markets, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

A campaign is being launched by the City's most influential trade associations in a last-ditch attempt to persuade ministers to postpone controversial tax proposals for "non-domiciled" workers for at least a year, says the Independent on Sunday.

The insurance tycoon Peter Cullum is in talks to sell a 25% stake in his business to a private-equity group in a deal that will value his company at more than £3 billion, writes the Sunday Times.

Mid-Ocean Partners and 3i, the rival investment firms, are toughing it out in a cut-price battle to buy Esporta, the beleaguered fitness club chain that has been put up for sale by its administrators, reports the Sunday Telegraph.

Kurt Geiger, the luxury shoe retailer, has been bought for £95m in a management-led buyout backed by the private equity firm Graphite Capital, according to the Independent on Sunday.

Morgan Crucible, the FTSE250 industrial ceramics-to-body armour manufacturer, is set to sell off its £330m pension schemes, says the Sunday Telegraph.

Centrica, the owner of British Gas, is plotting an offer worth up to $600m (£305m) for a clutch of North Sea gasfields owned by Shell and Exxon Mobil, writes the Sunday Times.

Blackstone and Permira are among a pack of private equity houses expected to consider bids for 1st Credit, a debt purchase and collection business likely to be sold for up to £350m, reports the Sunday Telegraph.