What the Sunday papers said

The Sunday Times

• Hugh Osmond will this week launch "his first shot" in a sustained assault for control of Six Continents, the hotel-to-pub giant. He will launch a £5.7bn offer largely financed by issuing shares. But it will contain a cash alternative. Read more on Hugh Osmond's bid for 6C on thePublican.com.

Spirit Group, the pub company, has bought the Tom Cobleigh inn chain from Electra Partners, the private-equity group for about £106m. Electra has made £27m profit from its three-year ownership. Read more on thePublican.com.

TDR Capital and Capricorn Ventures International, the private equity groups considering bids for Pizza Express, have both secured financing from Halifax Bank of Scotland. Last week Luke Johnson announced a £263m offer for the company.

Bacardi-Martini has been voted the eighth best company to work for in an annual poll by The Sunday Times. A profit-related bonus of 15 per cent (paid to every staff member last year), private health insurance, and a free gym are just some of the benefits of working fro the drinks group.

Other companies to feature in the index from the hospitality sector include Glenmorangie, the whisky distiller at 42, drinks giant Diageo at 44, restaurant group TGI Friday's at 52, Edrington Group, another whisky business at 64, Whitbread's Travel Inn at 91, and food wholesaler 3663 First for Foodservice.

Global computer software group Microsoft was voted best, hi-fi retailer Richer Sounds was second and travel agent Flight Centre was third.

The Sunday Telegraph​

• Hugh Osmond and his team stands to make £200m from a Six Continents takeover. They will take 20 per cent of gains generated from Six Continents' assets if he is successful in the bid for the hotels and pubs group.

The Business​

• Six Continents is ready to ape Hugh Osmond's strategy and radically re-shape the demerged leisure businesses. Sir Ian Prosser will look for buyers for various parts of the business, primarily for the hotel assets. The company will also look at various ways of raising cash against the property assets.

Takeover action in the leisure industry may be centred around Six Continents, but it won't be long before predators seek out the next blue-chip target. Whitbread, due to release a trading update this week, is almost certain to drift back on the radar screens of buyout specialists.

Sharewatch: Shares in Honeycombe Leisure have bounced off the bottom in recent weeks to light up a despondent sector. The company has solid medium term performer credentials.

It has recently signed a management deal with Punch Taverns. It also has a contract to manage premises acquired by Nectar Taverns, the venture capital investment trust company. Nectar has £11m to buy pubs.

The Mail on Sunday​

• Six Continents is considering ditching its senior management team as part of the pubs-and-hotels group's defence against a takeover bid expected from Hugh Osmond this week.

The Observer​

• Hugh Osmond will dangle long-term plans to return £5bn to shareholders as the ultimate incentive to accept his bid for Six Continents. He is believed to have lined up four hotel companies to buy various pats of the hotels business, which comprises the InterContinental, Crown Plaza and Holiday Inn brands.

Lapdancing club chain Spearmint Rhino is under threat from legal action by the Metropolitan Police, which suspects its flagship club in London has been used as a venue for prostitution.

Scotland Yard is applying to have the club's liquor licence removed, and hearings begin today (Monday). Camden Council recently abandoned an attempt to revoke the venue's entertainment licence after local residents withdrew complaints about noise.

A host of public companies are on venture capitalist radars after a plunging stock market has seen shareprices wither. Whitbread, the leisure group with pub-restaurants, hotels and fitness clubs is thought to be top of the hitlist.

The Sunday Express​

• Hugh Osmond will table an all-paper bid for Six Continents by Wednesday. He is in talks with Hilton, Marriott, Starwood and Strategical Hotel Capital about a disposal of the hotels arm.

The 2,000-strong pub estate will be subject to a round of sale-and-leasebacks.

The Independent on Sunday​

• On a different tack, the IoS reports that Britain's largest shareholder group is urging members to reject Six Continents' proposed executive share options in the demerger documents - threatening plans to split the company.

The National Association of Pension Funds says the schemes performance targets are too low and the payouts are too high and is urging members to take action at 6Cs' extraordinary meeting on March 12. The move could play into the hands of Hugh Osmond who is about to launch a hostile bid for the group.