Thursday Papers: Colony Capital close to deal for Miramax - bid news and gossip

Financial Times

* Colony Capital and Ron Tutor, who built a fortune in construction engineering, are close to sealing a deal to buy Miramax from Walt Disney for $600m to $700m, sources said.

* London headhunter, Hogarth Davies and Lloyd, is suing Nomura over fees that it claims remain unpaid relating to its efforts in hiring hundreds of bankers from Lehman at the height of the credit crunch.

* Investments in private banks by rich investors fell by 60 per cent last year as, according to the latest annual survey by UK wealth management consultancy Scorpio Partnership.

* Mezhprombank, a mid-sized Russian bank owned by Sergei Pugachyov, the Kremlin-connected senator and industrial magnate, has failed to repay €200m in eurobonds.

* Hedge funds focused on energy markets have suffered a rocky start to the year, hit by volatile commodity prices and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster; the average energy commodity fund had lost 2 per cent since the beginning of the year to the end of May.

* The liquidators of the failed mortgage investment affiliate of the Carlyle Group on Wednesday filed suit against the private equity firm and several of its directors, seeking to recover $1bn in losses.

* 3i Group said that it had increased investments during the second quarter, in spite of continued market volatility.

* Management consulting firms Booz & Co and AT Kearney have ended discussions for a possible merger, the companies said on Tuesday.

The Daily Telegraph

* Barclays shares jump as investors chew over idea of a break up.

* Balfour Beatty confident despite Britain's austerity measures; expects its order book at the half-year to be ahead of the £14.1bn reported at December 31.