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LONDON (ShareCast) - Vodafone is contemplating a bid for South Africa's third-largest mobile phone group, MTN, a move that could cost as much as £19bn but would transform its presence in some of the world's fastest-growing telecoms markets, says the Sunday Telegraph.

EDF was the only bidder to have made an offer for British Energy by Friday’s deadline, but the UK nuclear generator is still hopeful that at least one other bid will come in the next week, writes the FT.

The Independent on Sunday adds that British Energy will not announce the results of its search for a buyer until at least next month, despite Friday's bid deadline.

Barclays will this week disclose whether it plans to go ahead with the third rights issue by a big British bank in a month, when it gives an interim trading update on Thursday, says the Independent on Sunday.

Mike Turner, chief executive of BAE Systems, is in talks to become the chairman of Babcock International, the support services group, in what would be his first significant role after retiring from the defence company, according to the FT.

BT is in talks to sell its British data centres to Hewlett-Packard (HP) for £1.5 billion in a deal that will significantly deepen its ties with the American computer giant, reports the Sunday Times.

AIG, the insurance giant, and investment firm Global Infrastructure Partners are circling Prague airport, which is due to be auctioned for around €3bn (£2.4bn) at the end of the year, writes the Independent on Sunday.

The Bank of England will this week admit for the first time that it is set to breach its inflation target in the coming months and warn that Britain is destined for two years of soaring costs and weak growth, reports the Sunday Telegraph.

British Airways has hired headhunter Whitehead Mann to search for a chief operating officer to replace the two directors who lost their jobs after the Terminal 5 fiasco at Heathrow, according to the Independent on Sunday.

Centrica is suing the global consultancy group Accenture for £182m over an IT system it claims reduced British Gas’s customer-billing process to a shambles, says the Sunday Times.

Citigroup, the beleaguered investment bank, is to wind down Nikko Principal Investments (NPI), a UK and Australian-based private equity business, as part of a structural overhaul announced on Friday, writes the Independent on Sunday.

Hugh Osmond, who has amassed a £350m fortune through businesses such as Pizza Express and Punch Taverns, gave warning this weekend that he and other business owners are considering leaving Britain because of worsening relations with the Government and HM Revenue & Customs, reports the Sunday Telegraph.

Robert Friedland, the Canadian billionaire, has appointed three banks led by Credit Suisse to organise a London and Toronto float for a Kazakhstan gold mine known in the City as "the curse" in London and Toronto. The initial public offering values the Bakyrchik mine at $1bn-plus, according to the Independent on Sunday.

Ministers have flown into another business tax row after the US government made a blistering attack on a new £2.5 billion aviation duty, questioning its green credentials and claiming that it broke international law, says the Sunday Times.

Financial Services Authority chiefs are believed to have found the "smoking gun" in the recent share-shorting incident that caused the value of HBOS to slump by a fifth in one day. The regulator is set to go public on its findings by the end of the month, writes the Independent on Sunday.

DSG, the Currys and PC World retailer, will slash its dividend and announce plans to close dozens of stores in the first phase of new chief executive John Browett’s plan to turn round the company, reports the Sunday Times.

Up to 1,800 estate agents may go bust by the end of the year unless lenders ease up their squeeze on new mortgages, as fears grow that the UK is heading for a full-scale housing crash, with price falls of up to a fifth, according to the Independent on Sunday.

One of the City's most prolific dealmakers, Caroline Silver, has quit her role as vice chair of investment banking at Morgan Stanley to join rival American house, Merrill Lynch, says the Independent on Sunday.

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