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Monday newspaper round-up: Punch Taverns, Northern Rock, BT

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Date: Monday 10 Mar 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - Punch Taverns is open to teaming up with other parties in a joint bid for rival pub group Mitchells & Butlers, insiders at the company said, in spite of having launched its own offer for the rival pub operator, says the FT.

Most of the officials at the Financial Services Authority (FSA) who were directly responsible for the flawed supervision of Northern Rock have quit, the Times has learnt.

Alistair Darling was last night accused of "desperate last-minute shuffling" after it emerged he will not be able to confirm in Wednesday's Budget a key concession on controversial "non-doms" tax changes, reports the Telegraph.

The FT writes that Ben Verwaayen could stay on as BT chief executive until 2009, partly because of the need to improve the telecommunications group’s faltering performance, according to company insiders.

Schroders, the global asset manager, has closed its highly successful $6bn (£3bn) agricultural fund after too many investors rushed to plough money into it, according to the Telegraph.

The Co-op is planning a push in financial services this year as the society brings its services under one brand and tries to cross-sell to members of the wider co-operative movement for the first time, says the Independent.

A transatlantic battle of the buses between UK transport companies operating in the US is revving up with the introduction of a new coach company by FirstGroup, reports the Telegraph.

Peloton Partners, the stricken hedge fund manager, has put its plush Soho offices on the market just a week after its $2bn (£1bn) flagship fund collapsed with the loss of all investor money, writes the FT.

The private equity industry is facing a fresh onslaught from union leaders seeking to introduce new laws that would enable them to injunct PE firms leading buyouts of UK companies, according to the Telegraph.

The FBI is investigating whether Countrywide, America’s biggest mortgage lender, lied to shareholders and regulators about the quality of its loan book and finances, amid concern that the credit crunch may be entering a new and dangerous phase, says the Times.

Toscafund, the $7bn (£3.5bn) London hedge fund that backed the Virgin bid for Northern Rock, expects other struggling banks to look for outside backers and is prepared to step in to help buy control, according to Martin Hughes, founder and chief executive, reports the FT.

The Confederation of British Industry has stepped up pressure from business on the Chancellor ahead of his first Budget by calling for a major overhaul of corporate tax, writes the Independent.

Specsavers, the UK-based privately-owned glasses and contact lense retailer, has embarked on a major expansion in Australia as it looks to increase its global share of the optical market, according to the Telegraph.

British business leaders expect that the UK will slide into a recession and result in a massive cull of top executives who are unprepared to deal with a major economic slowdown, says the Independent.

Friends Provident is coming under mounting pressure to start talks with would-be acquirer JC Flowers, writes the Telegraph.

Alistair Darling will increase petrol duty and impose swingeing penalties on high-emission cars this week in what ministers will call “the green Budget”, reports the Times.

Standard Chartered is thought to be considering bids for Royal Bank of Scotland's stake in Saudi Hollandi Bank and Egypt's state-owned Banque du Caire to plug gaps in its booming business in the Arab world, according to the Independent.

A fight in the group personal pensions market has escalated as Norwich Union, the UK’s biggest insurer, has defended the payment of upfront commissions to intermediaries, says the FT.