MONDAY
Tachi Yamada, the scientist behind GlaxoSmithKline’s return to strong profit growth, resigns, heralding a boardroom overhaul. Cinven, the buyout firm, drops out of the race for Daily Mail and General Trust’s £1.2 billion regional newspaper business. Richard Ward, former head of the International Petroleum Exchange, emerges as the leading candidate to become chief executive of the Lloyd’s of London insurance market. Martin Barber, chief executive of Capital & Regional, calls on the Treasury to delay the launch of real estate investment trusts in the UK amid growing fears that they will fail without a radical revision of their proposed structure. The Commons Public Accounts Committee claims that up to £2.8 billion of public revenue is being lost because of a failure to pick up errors in tax forms.
TUESDAY
Candover and CVC Capital Partners, the private equity firms, team up in the auction of DMGT’s regional newspapers. It emerges that more than £2.5 billion of British healthcare assets are being prepared for sale as the venture capital owners of Alliance Medical, the diagnostics company, and General Healthcare, the private hospital chain, prepare to dispose of the businesses. Rick Wagoner, head of General Motors, takes a $1.1 million (£630,000) pay cut after caving in to pressure from Kirk Kerkorian, the billionaire investor. Boots is expected to complete its merger with Alliance UniChem by the end of the summer after being given the go-ahead by the Office of Fair Trading. Partners in KPMG face up to big pay cuts after the accounting firm loses a court case over its £88 million pension deficit.
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WEDNESDAY
Woolworths is seen to be in play after indications that Baugur, the Icelandic retail investor, has built up a 6 per cent stake. BAA urges its shareholders to ignore takeover overtures from Grupo Ferrovial, the Spanish infrastructure group. The US taxman is poised to hit GlaxoSmithKline with a new bill for $4 billion, boosting the total amount under dispute in a row over American profits to more than $12 billion. HMV, the music store chain, insists that it is already taking steps to turn the business’s fortunes around after rejecting a £762 million offer from Permira, the venture capitalist. Philip Bowman, the new ScottishPower chief executive, gives warning that the energy group’s 5.2 million customers face big price rises. Abbey, the Spanish-owned bank, unveils plans for a further 2,000 job cuts this year.
THURSDAY
Unilever announces that its Birds Eye business is for sale, blaming the poor image of frozen food for the decision to sell the brand, estimated to be worth up to £1 billion. Star Capital Partners, the private equity firm, is thought to be working on a possible bid for BAA, the airport operator that has attracted interest from Grupo Ferrovial of Spain. The Indonesian cigarette billionaire Putera Sampoerna is in advanced discussions to acquire Les Ambassadeurs in Mayfair, Britain’s most exclusive casino, from London Clubs International for £115 million. Tesco reveals plans to launch a convenience store chain on America’s West Coast, while the rival J Sainsbury looks set to become the first supermarket group to house NHS surgeries in its stores. 3i is poised to raise up to £2.1 billion in a new fund.
WINNER OF THE WEEK
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Lord Browne of Madingley, the chief executive of BP, 58 this month, may be entering the twilight of his career with Britain’s biggest company. But he has set the scene for a glorious finale with a promise this week to return up to $65 billion (£37 billion) to BP’s shareholders over the next three years — music to the ears of most FTSE pension funds.