Thursday Papers: Candover talks with Aimco near collapse - bid news and gossip

The UK private equity group prepares to sell Ontex and Parques Reunidos for more than €3bn

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by Himanshu Singh on Jul 15, 2010 at 03:57

Financial Times

* Candover’s talks about its takeover by a Canadian pension fund, Alberta Investment Management Corporation, are on the brink of failure; the move comes as the UK private equity group prepares to sell two of its biggest portfolio companies, Ontex and Parques Reunidos, for more than €3bn.

* DP Poland, the Polish master franchise for Domino’s Pizza, will on Wednesday announce plans to float on London’s junior market this month; the company, which is set to have a market capitalisation of £10m, plans to raise £6m.

* AIG’s chairman Harvey Golub stepped down on Wednesday after losing a power struggle with the chief executive, Bob Benmosche.

* JPMorgan completed a reshuffle of its top ranks yesterday, naming two rising stars - Jeff Urwin and Kevin Willsey - to co-head its investment bank in the US and Canada.

* Investment banks are once again hiring bankers to sell and trade mortgage-backed securities; UBS and Nomura have started to reassemble their US-based mortgage desks; RBS and BNP Paribas also are adding a significant number of employees to their mortgage teams.

* Guillaume Rambourg, the star hedge fund manager at Gartmore under investigation by the Financial Services Authority for breaches of internal trading rules, has quit the company.

* Lions Gate Entertainment has entered battle for control of MGM.

* The Takeover Panel banned the UK’s most high-profile activist investors - Brian Myerson, Brian Padgett and Daniel Posen - from undertaking merger-related activity in the country for three years; the Panel ruled that the three men had worked together to circumvent takeover rules that would have required them to make a full offer in March 2009 for PCIT, which was founded by Myerson.

* Naspers, the South African media group, has taken a big stake in DST.

The Daily Telegraph

* Pimco, one of the UK's fiercest economic critics, has moderated its tone and even begun advising clients to start gambling on a British recovery.