Friday Papers: BC in talks to buy back Foxtons debt - bid news and gossip

Financial Times

* BC Partners is in talks to buy back some debt in Foxtons in an extraordinary reversal after the private equity firm lost control of the estate agency last year.

* Cinven has emerged as one of the leading private equity contenders to buy the Priory Group, owner of the celebrity rehab clinic.

* Vittorio Colao, Vodafone’s chief executive, has warned that he will not be “forced” into selling the UK group’s minority stakes in four mobile phone operators.

* Shinsei Bank is under pressure from Japan’s regulator to cap pay, including bonuses, to about $230,000.

* 3i is expected to unveil a shake-up of its private equity business, triggering the departure of one of its best-known dealmakers.

* China has overtaken the UK and Germany to become the top export market for Bordeaux wines in value for the first time this year, according to the Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux.

* Visa has been blocked from starting any new business in China for almost one year, after a disagreement with China Unionpay, the country’s state-backed bank card monopoly.

* Immigration limits are costing the UK thousands of jobs and hurting the country’s fragile economic recovery, Vince Cable said.

The Daily Telegraph

* Spanish bank Santander is understood to have lined up Deutsche Bank and Bank of America Merrill Lynch for the

planned £20bn flotation of its UK business.