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Tuesday newspaper round-up: Barratt, BP, Enodis

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Date: Tuesday 01 Jul 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - Struggling housebuilder Barratt Developments is close to securing a rescue refinancing with lenders that will relax its banking covenants and help it ride out the property downturn.

Barratt, which has debt of £1.7bn and a market cap of around £200m, has hired investment bank NM Rothschild and a restructuring team from Deloitte to negotiate with its lenders. The housebuilder's banking syndicate, led by HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and Lloyds TSB, has given preliminary approval to a deal to include £400m of fresh bank debt, reports the Telegraph.

Doubts over BP’s future in Russia escalated last night after authorities in Moscow refused half of the work permits requested by TNK-BP. It means that more than 70 foreign employees of TNK-BP, including the BP-backed chief executive Robert Dudley, may soon have to leave Russia unless they can secure new visas quickly. The potential departure of Mr Dudley as well as the chief financial officer and others from the executive team would in effect leave control of the company in the hands of their Russian partners, writes the Times.

Tesco has launched an unprecedented appeal following the Competition Commission's two-year investigation into the UK grocery sector. The supermarket chain, which lodged its appeal with the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) yesterday, is to challenge proposals by the Commission to introduce a "competition test," reports the Telergaph.

Kangaroo, the video-on-demand tie-up between the three main terrestrial broadcasters, is to be investigated by the Competition Commission, casting doubt on the likelihood of the service going live this year as planned. The joint venture proposes a single place for viewers to access a vast archive of TV programmes from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, reports the Independent.

Bradford & Bingley's minority investors have been urged to block the bank's fund-raising plan on hopes that Resolution, which dropped a rival proposal last week, could return to the table. The UK Shareholders Association (UKSA) released a statement yesterday calling for the 930,000 small stakeholders to turn on the board at the extraordinary general meeting next week, following its refusal to consider Resolution's proposals, reports the Independent.

Manitowoc, the American industrials group, last night emerged as victor in a long-running takeover tussle for Enodis, the UK food equipment maker, beating its US rival, Illinois Tool Works (ITW), in a rare single bid auction process conducted by the Takeover Panel. Enodis last night agreed to recommend an offer from Manitowoc of 328p in cash per Enodis share, which will see the US company assume about £124m of Enodis’s debt, valuing the company at £1.3bn, reports the Times.

Trinity Mirror shares suffered a record one-day fall yesterday after the newspaper publisher admitted that advertising at the Daily Mirror and its sister titles had collapsed by between 12% and 14% in May and June. The rapid deterioration - the worst rate of decline since the weeks after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 - reflects the continuing softening of the British economy as a broad range of companies rein in marketing spending, reports the Times.

The most senior official to be ousted from the Financial Services Authority in the wake of the Northern Rock disaster walked away with a £612,000 farewell package and a £30,000 “performance-related bonus”, it emerged yesterday. Clive Briault, who was head of the retail division at the City regulator, left “by mutual consent” on April 30 just after the FSA admitted to a string of errors in its supervision of the mortgage bank, reports the Times.

John Charcol, one of the UK's largest mortgage brokers, has axed a quarter of its workforce and closed three of its eight UK branches because of the turmoil in the housing market. After a six-month review of the business, the company announced that Ian Kennedy, chief executive, had left and would be replaced by John Garfield, one of the original founders, the FT reports.

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