Sunday Papers: bid news and gossip

* TPG pays £300m to acquire Republic fashion chain from Change Capital Partners; Republic's co-founders Tim Whitworth and Carl Brewins retained a stake of around 40pc after the Change Capital acquisition and are understood to have reinvested significantly under the TPG deal.

* UK ministers start the sale of the £1.5bn High Speed One rail link this week – with France's Groupe Eurotunnel and Australia's Macquarie bank among those tipped to bid.

* Top shareholders in Brit Insurance have urged the firm's management to negotiate with Apollo, the US private equity firm, which earlier this month tabled a £770m bid, for an improved offer.

* DSG International is expected to report underlying full-year pre-tax profit of between £80m and £90m on Thursday, up from £50.5m last year; Meanwhile Kesa will report its full-year pre-tax profit of £76m, according to City forecasts, compared with a loss of £81.8m last year.

* BSkyB fears 'Foxisation' of its successful services by Murdoch; It was reported last week that News Corporation was preparing a 700p-a-share offer, valuing BSkyB at £12.6bn, for the proportion of BSkyB it does not already own.

* Jim Schiro, the former chief executive of Zurich Financial Services, has emerged as a candidate to replace the Prudential chairman, Harvey McGrath; Pru's board is under mounting shareholder pressure because of its failed $35.5bn takeover of AIA.

* AgustaWestland, the Anglo-Italian helicopter company, is preparing to renew the UK's search-and-rescue (SAR) air fleet, if the coalition Government decides to scrap a £7bn contract for its replacement.

* Royal Bank of Scotland is in advanced talks to sell its Indian business to HSBC.

* Gerald Ronson, the multi-millionaire property magnate, has emerged as a surprise bidder for Tower 42, the tallest office building in the City of London.

* Time Warner is close to acquiring British TV producer Shed Media, the maker of Footballers’ Wives and Supernanny, in a deal that is expected to value Shed at close to £75m.

* Waitrose has ended talks to buy Eat, the sandwich chain founded by husband-and-wife entrepreneurs Niall and Faith MacArthur.