Melrose Industries (MRO) to pump £1bn into GKN (GKN) pensions. Raider answers critics with fund pledge — in bid to clinch £8bn takeover.
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG), Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) – Berkeley Homes takes tilt at CapCo’s Earls Court site. Berkeley, run by veteran builder Tony Pidgley, is understood to have held a preliminary conversation with CapCo about the west London scheme in the past six weeks, but sources said it had not progressed.
Home furnishings designer Ashley Wilde and pop star Kylie Minogue are suing discount retailer B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) for selling two products named “Kylie”. The Australian singer, 49, endorses duvets, pillows and throws made by Ashley Wilde under the “Kylie Minogue at Home” brand.
Pubs giant Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) in benefits row with trustees. The pubs operator behind All Bar One and Harvester is embroiled in a High Court row with its pension trustees over a plan to cut retirement benefits for more than 20,000 people.
Mega mergers on the way after shake-up at Unilever (ULVR). Three-way split expected to lead to takeovers. Unilever is preparing the ground for a series of blockbuster mergers that could include deals with rivals such as Colgate-Palmolive and Estée Lauder, according to City sources.
Directors of Conviviality (CVR) gave the company’s internal controls a clean bill of health in a review last year. The board conducted a study of the “effectiveness” of Conviviality’s financial reporting procedures, and decided against creating an “internal audit function” after judging that its internal safeguards were “appropriate”, according to the annual report. The revelation raises more questions over the stewardship of Conviviality, which chief executive Diana Hunter transformed into Britain’s largest independent alcohol retailer through a slew of acquisitions.
Capita (CPI) seeks to claw back bonus from ousted chief Andy Parker.
Conviviality (CVR) one too many for the road. A shock £30m tax bill has left the drinks retailer with a hangover from which it will be hard to recover.
Did John Laing Group (JLG) need its rights issue? Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada don’t think so, and reckon it said more about John Laing’s challenges to squeeze cash from selling assets and its high cost base. “Investor feedback has raised questions about whether the rights issue was a fitting decision by management,” they wrote. “Communication needs to be improved.” Its explanation for the £210.2m cash call — set at a level typically associated with boardroom desperation — was that it needed to access a flurry of potential American deals that would generate much higher returns. Pay up, or miss out, it demanded. Investors duly stumped up the cash (grimly accepting the £6.3m of fees paid to bankers and advisers to arrange the deal). They were soon rewarded.
Domino’s Pizza Group (DOM) boss David Wild is ready with a Mighty Meaty. The royal wedding will bring families together — for a Domino’s pizza, hopes the firm’s boss
