Wednesday Papers: Bidding war seen as Scott Wilson agrees offer - bid news and gossip

Financial Times

* A £161m offer for the design and engineering consultancy, Scott Wilson, from URS Corporation was topped on Monday by a £189m bid by rival CH2M Hill.

* A group of former Bank of America executives has agreed to acquire a chain of Florida banks for $175m as the first step in an ambitious plan to build a regional bank serving the southeastern US.

* Tesco is to raise £950m from issuing bonds against 41 of its supermarkets in the largest form of securitised debt raising since the downturn in property and debt markets.

The Times

* Simmons & Simmons and Mayer Brown yesterday dropped plans for a £1 billion transatlantic legal tie-up.

* BBVA reported a net profit of €1.73 billion (£1.39 billion) in the first four months of the year.

* Starbucks said that it will be adding iced coffee to its Via instant coffee brand.

* Porvair, the London-listed filtration and environmental technology specialist, reported a first-half pre-tax profit of £1.3 million.

* Assura, the London-listed healthcare group, reported a full-year pre-tax profit of £4.4 million.

* InterContinental Hotels Group has said that it will open 30 more hotels this year in china.

* Travelzest, the specialist tour operator, said that its half-year revenues had risen by 9 per cent to £18.9 million.