What the Sunday papers said
The Business
- More than 10 potential bidders, including Hugh Osmond and Robert Tchenguiz, have asked to see the intimate trading details of the Scottish & Newcastle pub business. The brewer is selling 1,400 manage houses and hopes to raise more than £2.3bn. Read more on thePublican.com...
SHAREWATCH: Results out from Scottish & Newcastle this week are expected to show a pre-tax profit of £510m. However weakened beer markets in Russia and France are likely to cast a shadow over a fundamentally good set of numbers.
The Sunday Telegraph
- Modern Drunkard magazine, a US rag aimed at barflies, old soaks and inveterate long-lunchers, is set to make its British debut. Alcoholics Anonymous and other organisations have slammed the publication.
The Sunday Times
- City job losses have bottomed out and employment in the Square Mile is set to rise in the coming months, a new study shows.
Investment bank Lehman Brothers is set to inject a £100m rescue package into the troubled Le Meridien hotel chain.
Forty per cent of Britain's largest privately-owned companies are now in the hands of private equity groups or banks.
The Mail on Sunday
- At least six private equity companies are lining up to bid for Scottish & Newcastle's 1,450 pubs as one of the biggest deals in the industry finally gets under way. Private equity companies Cinven, BC Partners, Permira, Nomura, Terra Firma and Blackstone are all looking at the £2.3bn estate. Mitchells & Butlers, Laurel and Pubmaster are also taking a look. Read more on thePublican.com...
Secretive Greek shipping tycoon Achilleas Kallakis is in talks with InterContinental Hotels Group to buy the Mayfair InterContinental in London for £141m.
The BBC plans to team up with BSkyB in a joint bid for the rights to Premier League football matches.
A host of high rollers, including leisure entrepreneur Trevor Hemmings, are primed to take advantage of the long-awaited relaxation of Britain's gaming laws.
The Independent on Sunday
- Use of the drug dubbed "liquid ecstasy", which has been used in numerous drug-assisted rapes and sexual assaults will be outlawed. The sedative, gammahydroxybutrate, lowers inhibitions, produces euphoria and takes between 10 minutes and an hour to take effect. Read more on thePublican.com...
The Observer
- German bank WestLB is expected to appoint Ernst & Young this week as an outside auditor to probe the specialised finance division, which includes the principal finance unit, headed in London by Robin Saunders. The unit's investments include tenanted giant Pubmaster.
The Sunday Express
- Four million workers are set to find their pensions £16,000 short - the most damning revelation into Britain's pension crisis.
House price growth is set to slow to less than 20 per cent for the frst time since last summer - fuelling hopes for a cut in interest rates.
