LONDON (ShareCast) - Mining giant Xstrata has the support of eight of the nine biggest Lonmin shareholders for its $10bn (£5bn) tilt at the platinum producer, says an insider. A source close to Xstrata made the bold claim as the war of words between the two companies escalated late last week, says the Independent on Sunday.
Centrica is planning to offer a cash sweetener for the Government's stake in British Energy in an effort to secure its backing for a £22.5bn merger with the nuclear power generator. The owner of British Gas is galvanising up to £4bn to cover the cost of part or all of the stake in the hope that cash will persuade the Government to allow it a place in the deal, reports the Sunday Telegraph.
Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, is expected to reveal this week that inflation in Britain has surged to a 16-year high of 4.5 per cent – 2.5 per cent higher than the target level prescribed by the Government. Mr King will once again be forced to write a letter to Chancellor Alistair Darling explaining why prices have leapt so high, writes the Independent on Sunday.
Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic is poised to launch a £3m advertising and lobbying campaign as it attempts to frustrate plans by British Airways, its arch-rival, for a transatlantic tie-up with American Airlines, according to the Sunday Telegraph.
Meanwhile, British Airways has had to rewrite its terminal five advertising campaign after The Sunday Times pointed out that it made incorrect claims about punctuality. The promotion, which will soak up about 10% of BA’s £60m-a-year advertising budget, highlights time-keeping at T5, the airline’s new Heathrow base that opened amid scenes of chaos earlier this year.
BAE Systems is in talks to sell dozens more Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft to Saudi Arabia in a deal that will reawaken bribery allegations made over earlier arms sales to the Gulf kingdom, says the Sunday Times.
Britain's beleaguered pub, bar and hotel operators are set for further misery following a decision by HSBC, the world's third largest bank, to stop lending money or extending overdrafts to certain companies in the leisure sector, reports the Sunday Telegraph.
The high-street bank HBOS must inject about £100m of fresh cash into Crest Nicholson in the coming weeks to prevent the housebuilder from breaching banking covenants. If HBOS, which owns 50% of Crest Nicholson, decides that it is unwilling to support the builder, its investment could be wiped out and the lending banks could step in and take control, writes the Sunday Times.
The Holiday Inns owner InterContinental Hotels is planning to open up to 200 hotels in Asia under its boutique Indigo label in the next two years, the group is expected to reveal this week, according to the Independent on Sunday.
America's biggest delivery giant United Parcel Service (UPS) is plotting a €10bn (£7.8bn) bid for Dutch rival TNT, a move that could herald the long-awaited consolidation in the global express-delivery business, says the Sunday Telegraph.
Fund manager Henderson is seeking investors for a third infrastructure fund that will be managed by its Equity Partners managing director, Paul Woodbury, and Guy Pigache, also a director, reports the Independent on Sunday.
Gap, the preppy US clothing retailer, has made its London-based European design team redundant in a cost-saving exercise only two-and-a-half years after it was launched, the Sunday Telegraph has learned.
Land Securities is believed to have taken a £30m hit on its stake in the Bullring, the Birmingham shopping centre, confirming the continued decline in the value of commercial property, writes the Independent on Sunday.
The beleaguered Swiss banking giant UBS is expected on Tuesday to write off a further €3.5bn (£2.7bn) of assets hit by the credit crunch, drawing the curtain on the second-quarter reporting season for Europe's banks, according to the Independent on Sunday.
Administrators for the failed wedding-list company Wrapit are investigating whether the group was trading insolvently before it went under last week, says the Sunday Times.
Britain's love affair with the summer holiday is expected to shelter travel giants TUI Travel and Thomas Cook from the ravages of the credit crunch as the pair post trading updates this week, reports the Independent on Sunday.
Indian financial services group JM Financial is believed to have joined the bidding fray for City broker Collins Stewart, which reports first half profits this week, writes the Independent on Sunday.
Sir James Dyson is considering a proposal to build his £56m design and engineering school overseas after suffering another planning setback in Bath. The vacuum-cleaner entrepreneur has been approached by American backers who want to part-fund the centre if it is built in the US, according to the Sunday Times.
The Scottish government is in talks with two Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds to provide the cash for a £4.8bn offshore energy grid, to be built off the east coast of the UK, says the Independent on Sunday.
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