Date: Monday 12 Jul 2010
A battle to break into Britain’s crowded high street banking market is in the offing with an American private equity firm and a British consortium both gearing up for acquisitions.The New York-based JC Flowers is in talks to take control of Kent Reliance, a building society with only one branch. The deal would give Flowers — which unsuccessfully bid for Northern Rock in 2007 — a banking licence. Flowers would then be in a position to create a new bank that could swallow up to ten more building societies, creating a lender with significant impact on the high street, the Times reports.
Nationwide, meanwhile, has called time on any further deals with rival building societies after coming to the rescue of three of its smaller competitors during the financial crisis, The Independent has learnt. The decision has been taken because of the potential negative impact on the society's members were it to step in to rescue another struggling rival. It comes at a time when wafer-thin margins have left many societies in difficulties while the Financial Services Authority wants them to raise more capital, the Independent reports.
Taylor Wimpey is negotiating with lenders over a refinancing package that would increase the ability of the UK’s second-largest volume housebuilder to buy land. The company is seeking to refinance its bonds and bank loans after last year completing a £1.55bn debt restructuring that extended the repayments due on its debts to July 2012, the FT reports.
Shareholders large and small are expected to deliver a bloody nose this week to four FTSE 100 companies — Marks & Spencer, Burberry, British Land and Sainsbury's— over controversial executive pay packages, underlining how out of step Britain's top boardrooms are with investor sentiment on the issue of blockbuster payouts. Pirc, the governance advisory group, has recommended members vote against executive remuneration packages at the companies, describing the deals as "excessive", setting "unchallenging performance targets", and "not being in the company's long-term interest", the Guardian reports.
Companies that spent millions on World Cup sponsorship or short-term ad campaigns linked to the tournament may have wasted their money. A study by Engage Research found that brands that had developed an ongoing relationship with football did better in terms of consumer recognition than those that sought to use the World Cup for short-term promotions, the Times reports.
BP is gearing up to unveil a $40bn (£26.5bn) defence strategy in the teeth of growing speculation that US predators have been given the green light by Washington to swoop on the British company. BP will outline what will effectively be a defence document at its second quarter results on 27 July. Although no approach has been made, ExxonMobil of the US is understood to have sought clearance from the White House for a bid that could create a $400bn global juggernaut. A possible bid from Chevron is also believed to have been approved, the Telegraph reports.
Google’s use of its search engine to support its expansion into new internet services gives it an unfair advantage and puts it on a collision course with antitrust regulators, according to a prominent US media mogul. Barry Diller, chairman of online travel company Expedia and InterActiveCorp, which has amassed one of the largest collections of internet properties, criticised Google for giving prominence in results to its in-house services, the FT reports.
As much as 17% of Britain’s electricity needs could be met by burning rubbish and the methane produced from landfill sites, according to the chief executive of one of the country’s biggest waste processing companies. David Palmer-Jones, chief executive of Sita UK, which handled nine million tonnes of waste last year — 8% of the total — said that Britain was failing to grasp a huge opportunity, the Times reports.
Richard Desmond, the owner of the Daily Express and OK! magazine, is among the frontrunners to buy Channel Five. The station has been put up for sale by RTL, the pan-European broadcaster, and Mr Desmond is understood to be among those to have reached the final round of the auction, which is being run by JP Morgan, the Telegraph reports.
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