Tuesday Papers: Santander snaps up assets in UK and US - bid news and gossip

Financial Times

* Santander has agreed a preliminary deal to buy $4.3bn of car loans from HSBC; it is also set to announce as early as today the acquisition of 318 branches from RBS.

* New York-based TPG-Axon and Montrica, of London, two hedge funds that were started by former star traders at Goldman Sachs, are set to merge.

* Interest in the auction of Liverpool football club has intensified; Chinese sports entrepreneur Kenneth Huang has approached Liverpool’s bankers RBS and Wachovia seeking support for a deal.

* HgCapital is expected to announce a €565m purchase.

* Atkins eyes US presence with the acquisition of PBSJ Corp.

* Intertek, testing services group, is set to make ‘bolton’ acquisitions.

* Hedge funds have won access to billions of dollars deposited with Lehman’s UK unit.

The Guardian

* British Land and Blackstone sign deal to build UBS City headquarters; agreement signals UBS's commitment to City and will save 5,000 jobs.

* US tycoon Sidney Harman buys Newsweek 'for a dollar'.

* Chinese carmaker Geely completes Volvo buyout from Ford; Geely Automotive paid $1.5bn for the ailing carmaker Volvo; Geely aims to lift production by more than 50% to 600,000 cars.