Wednesday Papers: US buy-out groups eye Morgan Stanley fund - bid news and gossip

Financial Times

* KKR and TPG have expressed tentative interest in the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund; Colony Capital, which has been building exposure to the property market, has also approached Morgan Stanley.

* Oaktree Capital, the US private equity group, is in talks to take control of McInerney Holdings, the debt-laden Irish housebuilder.

* Royal Bank of Canada is seeking a buyer for a bulk of its US life-insurance arm.

* French group announces deal to control International Power.

* Channel Five chairman and chief executive Dawn Airey is expected to leave and join former parent RTL.

* Employers and economists say short-time working to save jobs in the recession will slow job creation in the recovery – but companies say it will enable them to meet new orders more quickly.

* France’s economic recovery appears to be flagging after industrial production plunged in June.

* The High Court has set an important precedent for the private equity industry when it ruled that a defaulting investor was in breach of contract by refusing to put more money into a buy-out fund.

* The House of Representatives voted to inject an extra $26bn into the struggling US economy and transfer funds to cash-strapped states to stave off thousands of public sector job cuts.

* The Wholesale Market Brokers’ Association Americas on Tuesday named Julian Harding, an executive director at inter-dealer broker Tradition, as chairman.

* Barclays Capital is planning to cut up to several hundred employees following a sharp fall in market activity in the second quarter.