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Sunday newspaper round-up:Somerfield, NTL/Telewest, ITV

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Date: Sunday 03 Jul 2005

LONDON (ShareCast) - The £1.1bn sale of Somerfield was in chaos this weekend after Jon Asgeir Johannesson, head of Icelandic investor Baugur, was charged with fraud, reports the Sunday Times.

Baugur is a main player in a consortium preparing to bid for the UK’s fifth largest supermarket group.

More than 40 separate charges have been brought against Johannesson, members of his family and other Baugur executives after a long-running investigation by the authorities in Iceland.

UK cable companies NTL and Telewest will finally announce a $12bn merger later this month to create a pay-television group big enough to take on satellite broadcaster BSkyB, reports the Independent.

Senior executives at T-Mobile, wireless arm of Germany's Deutsche Telekom, have secretly discussed selling its US arm, which could raise $25bn, according to the Observer. If T-Mobile pushed on with the plan, Vodafone would be a leading bidder because - for the first time - it would offer the British firm the opportunity of securing 100% control of an operator in the lucrative US market.

American media giant Time Warner and investment bank Goldman Sachs emerged this weekend as key members of a consortium stalking ITV. With venture capital group Apax, they are weighing up a bid worth £6.6bn, says the Mail on Sunday.

Peter Cruddas, founder and owner of internet securities dealer CMC, is the richest man in the City this year, according to research by The Sunday Times. “A lot of people in the City want to hide their wealth,” Cruddas said. “Not me. I’m proud to be ranked No 1 and take it as a mark of distinction.”

The soaring price of oil will lead to Shell and BP returning more than £34bn to shareholders over the next two years — equivalent to Bulgaria’s gross domestic product, and £6bn more than the amount British motorists spend each year refuelling their cars, reports the Sunday Times.

The huge figure, which is a combination of share buy-backs and dividends, is unprecedented, and if the price of oil soars above $60 per barrel it could go even higher.

The Observer, meanwhile, reports oil prices could rocket to $100 within six months, plunging the world into an unprecedented fuel crisis, controversial Texan oil analyst Matt Simmons has warned.

Richard Nichols, chief executive of the Huntsworth public-relations group, is this weekend at the centre of a deal to sell about £60m of assets to AIM-quoted marketing- services firm Media Square, says the Sunday Times.

The Government faces a multi-billion pound claim for damages from institutional investors in Railtrack if it loses the case currently being fought against it in the High Court by small shareholders, reports the Telegraph.

The Sunday Times adds that Tony Blair personally made the decision to “extinguish” the rail regulator to save him from throwing a financial lifeline to Railtrack, according to documents filed in the High Court last week.

Chrysalis, the listed radio and music publishing group that owns the Heart and Galaxy stations, has been using shareholders' money to sponsor race horses belonging to its founder and chairman, Chris Wright, writes the Telegraph.

In an apparent mixing of Wright's private interests and those of the public company he chairs, Chrysalis has been sponsoring his horses since the mid-1990s.

A group of dissident shareholders will tomorrow attempt to sack the board of Abraxus Investments, an Aim-listed property company. The group has written to other shareholders claiming the company is being mismanaged by its current board, according to the Telegraph.

Lawyers acting for Sibir Energy, the oil minnow, are considering asking the Serious Fraud Office to investigate the circumstances surrounding the loss of a stake in an oil field in Russia worth $1.5bn (£850m), reports the Telegraph.

Electronic Arts, the world's largest computer games company, is preparing a bid for Superscape, the troubled UK mobile game specialist, says the Telegraph.

Embattled supermarket chain Wm Morrison will seek urgent talks with its unions this week in an attempt to avert a crippling strike by its distributors, writes the Independent.

Centrica, the owner of British Gas, has warned it may have to increase gas prices in October - a move that would cause "hardship" to some of its poorer customers, reports the Independent.

Bills could rise by 3% in the London region, ahead of further national price rises that are already being planned for later in the autumn.

Marks & Spencer will announce this week that it has finally sold its controversial Lifestore in Gateshead. The buyer, Danish furniture retailer Ilva, is said to be paying £35m for the 70,000 sq ft site, the Independent says.

Debenhams is considering gatecrashing the agreed £70m million takeover bid by House of Fraser for Beatties, one of Britain's oldest department store groups, says the Mail on Sunday

HoF chief executive John Coleman announced his agreed move for Beatties early last week as part of an ambitious expansion plan. He paid £46m for Edinburgh store Jenners in March.

Fresh evidence that shoppers are holding on to their money is expected this week when the monthly sales data from the British Retail Consortium will show spending continuing to slow, reports the Observer.

MG Rover's administrator, PricewaterhouseCoopers, has rejected an attempt by Russian millionaire Nikolai Smolenski to buy the Longbridge-based business, says the Observer.

PWC last week wrote to Smolenski, dubbed the 'baby oligarch', to tell him that his offer would not be in the best interests of MG Rover creditors, who are owed more than £1.4 bn.



















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