Friday Papers: Carlyle acquires landmark London properties - bid news and gossip

Financial Times

* Carlyle has completed the £671m acquisition of central London properties that were part of the property empire previously owned by the family trusts of Simon Halabi.

* The $3bn Paulson & Co Recovery fund, which has large positions in US banks such as Citigroup and Bank of America, lost 12.39 per cent in June, according to an investor in the fund; the $9bn flagship Paulson & Co Advantage fund lost 4.4 per cent in June, and is down 5.8 per cent in the year to date.

* Qatari Diar, the property arm of the emirate’s sovereign wealth fund,is seeking to raise a $3.5bn bond in the latest sign of the gas-rich emirate’s willingness to tap international markets.

* The Swiss National Bank may have suffered paper losses of up to SFr10bn (€7.5bn) from huge interventions in the currency markets to restrain the value of the franc.

* Volatile markets led institutional and private investors to withdraw almost $1bn from Man Group’s funds during the three months to the end of June.

* Temasek on Thursday said it planned to invest more in Asia after announcing a 42 per cent rise in the value of its portfolio to a record S$186bn (US$134bn) in the year to March.

* Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications equipment supplier, has launched a push to secure its first big US deal in the face of strong security concerns in Washington that the company is closely tied to the Chinese military.

The Daily Telegraph

* Shares in BP jumped for the fourth day running in the longest winning stretch since the Gulf of Mexico accident, as the oil giant said the leak could be plugged this month.

* Sales at Primark, the low-cost fashion retailer, increased by 15pc during parent company Associated British Foods' third quarter, continuing the chain's extraordinary growth spurt.

* Chloride, the back-up power company, has agreed to implement a £997m cash offer from US engineering giant, Emerson Electric.