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Friday newspaper round-up: Mitchells & Butlers, Tesco, Marks & Spencer

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Date: Friday 28 Mar 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - Mitchells & Butlers will discover today which private equity groups, if any, are willing to take up its offer of partial stakes in the pubs group, having concluded that market conditions have all but killed off the prospect of an outright cash offer, says the FT.

The Times added that Mitchells & Butlers is considering an approach to Georgica, Britain’s biggest tenpin bowling operator.

Nationwide and Halifax increased their rates sharply yesterday in an attempt to close the door to all but the most creditworthy customers, reports the Times.

Dealmaking activity plunged in the first quarter of the year as turbulent credit markets made it difficult for private equity firms to pull off the same kind of audacious transactions that they were doing during the opening months of last year, writes the Telegraph.

A full-blown recession on these shores is now a 35pc probability as the credit crunch engulfs Britain's housing market and broader economy, warns an authoritative report, according to the Telegraph.

KPMG, one of the "big four" global accounting firms, is facing criticism over its role in the collapse of New Century Financial, the sub-prime lender whose bankruptcy last year was an early clue to the severity of the credit crisis, says the Independent.

Primark and Tesco have closed the gap on rival Marks & Spencer - and are threatening to oust the iconic retailer from its number one spot in clothing, reports the Telegraph.

Britain's banks were left short-changed again yesterday after the Bank of England made only £13.6bn available for them to borrow – nearly three times less than they wanted, writes the Independent.

Investors in Tisbury Capital are trying to withdraw $1.4bn of the London hedge fund’s $2bn of assets under management after the fund abandoned an ill-fated US venture, according to the FT.

John Meriwether, the man behind the most famous hedge fund collapse a decade ago, is under pressure again as he struggles to stem losses and keep investors in his latest fund from jumping ship, says the Telegraph.

Whistle-blowers are to be granted immunity from prosecution in return for evidence. The Chancellor is planning to hand the Financial Services Authority plea bargaining powers known as “specified prosecutor status” similar to those already granted to the Serious Fraud Office, writes the Times.