Thursday Papers: Fortress buys 80% stake in AIG arm - bid news and gossip

Financial Times

* AIG said on Wednesday it would sell 80% of its American General Finance consumer finance arm to Fortress Investment Group and take a $1.9bn loss related to the sale; AIG has also approached some of the world’s biggest investors with a view to them taking stakes in AIA, with strong interest from China, sources said.

* Minerva has called a shareholder meeting in September to vote on proposals to oust its chief executive and chairman made by KiFin, the investment vehicle of Nathan Kirsh, the South African entrepreneur.

* Atrium European Real Estate is suing Austria’s Meinl Bank, the bank’s supervisory board chairman Julius Meinl V, and eight other people and companies linked to the emerging European shopping centre developer for more than €2bn in damages.

* BP has agreed to put up its US production revenues, which account for about a quarter of its annual output, as collateral to guarantee the $20bn compensation fund for victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

* Hedge fund managers have piled into the US government bond market this year in an attempt to profit from growing volatility and pricing inefficiencies arising from the US Federal Reserve’s unorthodox monetary policies.

* Shares in Rok dived on Wednesday after the repair and maintenance specialist suspended its finance chief and warned that “serious mismanagement” of contracts would force it to make writedowns.

* Thomas Cook warned that full-year profits would be ‘at the lower end of market expectations’.

* Management overhaul and £1.5bn investment plan for Channel 5.

* India steps up the pressure on BlackBerry manufacturer, Research in Motion.

* Cisco's shares fall despite firm sales after it misses expectations.

The Daily Telegraph