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Sunday newspaper round-up: British Energy, FKI, Friends Provident

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Date: Sunday 13 Apr 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - The Swedish state-owned power giant Vattenfall is examining a takeover bid for British Energy, a move that would place it at the heart of Britain's future nuclear power generation, reports the Sunday Telegraph.

The Sunday Times adds that the government is to clear the way for a £10 billion sale of British Energy by agreeing to pick up the bill for cleaning up the nuclear company’s power stations.

Citigroup and Merrill Lynch will heap further pain on Wall Street this week as they reveal additional sub-prime write-downs totalling $15 billion (£7.6 billion) or more, says the Sunday Times.

The Independent on Sunday adds that the biggest US banks are coming under pressure to slash their generous shareholder dividends, to free up money that critics say should be employed instead for new lending to keep the economy moving.

The £500m takeover of FKI, one of Britain’s best-known engineering groups, may be sealed within days, writes the Sunday Times.

One of the biggest shareholders in Friends Provident has called on the life assurer’s board to open talks with long-standing suitor JC Flowers, says the Sunday Times.

Fashion tycoon Sir Philip Green is understood to be looking for buyers for BHS, his department store chain, to concentrate on Topshop, which is expanding into the US with its Kate Moss clothing range, according to the Independent on Sunday.

Britain's most senior banking executives will meet Gordon Brown for crucial talks in Downing Street this week as one of the country's biggest mortgage lenders prepares to tap shareholders for hundreds of millions of pounds in fresh capital, writes the Sunday Telegraph.

Financial markets face more pressure after this weekend’s Washington meeting of the Group of Seven finance ministers and central bankers failed to agree measures to tackle the global credit crunch, according to the Sunday Times.

Pierre Lagrange, co-founder of the hedge fund group GLG, has taken a personal stake in Power Amp, a portfolio of British musicians run by industry guru Jazz Summers and Tom Bywater, a former Citigroup banker, says the Independent on Sunday.

Shareholders in the upmarket international restaurant group Nobu, who include the Hollywood actor Robert De Niro, have appointed advisers to sell a controlling stake in the business, reports the Sunday Telegraph.

The new BT chief executive, Ian Livingston, is challenging the telecoms regulator Ofcom to make sweeping changes to his company’s universal service obligation (USO) before he will commit to investing billions of pounds in a new fibre-optic network, writes the Sunday Times.

Prepaid card group Altair Financial Services is preparing for a listing on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in the third quarter this year, which could see it raise up to £50m, according to the Independent on Sunday.

Stephen Butt, chairman of Silchester International, the activist London-based hedge fund, paid himself over £23m in one of the most lucrative pay deals of the year, says the Sunday Telegraph.

BMI, one of the UK's biggest airlines, has told the Civil Aviation Authority that it is seeking a judicial review of the CAA's decision to push through increases in landing charges at Heathrow and Gatwick airports, writes the Independent on Sunday.

Directors of Silverjet have held talks with Lufthansa and Gibraltar’s Bland Group in their search for a buyer for the Luton-based business-class airline, reports the Sunday Times.

Activist hedge fund Trafalgar Asset Managers is suing directors of clean-up specialist International Nuclear Solutions (INS), listed on the Alternative Investment Market, contesting they accepted too low an offer when agreeing to be taken over by support services company Babcock International, according to the Independent on Sunday.

Hermes Private Equity has been forced to inject millions of pounds into Mayfair Gaming, one of Britain's biggest operators of bingo clubs, underlining the 'perfect storm' facing companies across the troubled industry, says the Sunday Telegraph.

Scotland’s Ossian Retail Group, which owns the fashion chain Internacionale and the Au Naturale homeware outlets, is poised to go into administration this week, writes the Sunday Times.

Prudential has begun the search for a chairman to replace Sir David Clementi, who is to retire in two years' time, reports the Independent on Sunday.

Robert Tchenguiz, the billionaire pubs and property tycoon, and a host of fellow investors in Mitchells & Butlers, the embattled bars operator, will seek to oust chief executive Tim Clarke unless the company agrees to unlock billions of pounds from its real estate portfolio, according to the Sunday Telegraph.