TWO of the high street’s best-known restaurant chains, Bella Italia and Café Rouge, could be put up for sale for more than £120 million after the appointment of Hawkpoint to study options for the group, The Sunday Times reported.
The paper also said that a consortium led by Scottish & Southern Energy hoped to complete a deal worth more than £2.5 billion this week by buying some of the £6 billion of assets that National Grid Transco has put up for sale.
The Sunday Telegraph reported that five private-equity groups had progressed to the final round of bidding for Saga, the UK holiday and insurance group for the over-fifties. The shortlist reportedly includes Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the US leveraged buyout firm, a combined bid from Apax Partners and Cinven, and a consortium of three other private-equity groups — JP Morgan Partners, HgCapital and Candover.
Fears are growing that Wm Morrison, the supermarkets group that bought Safeway, will be forced to issue a second profit warning, The Observer said, citing claims by analysts at Seymour Pierce, the broking firm.
The Sunday Telegraph said that Vodafone, the mobile phone giant, held talks with Virgin Mobile over a possible takeover just months before the smaller rival’s stock market debut. The talks collapsed over the valuation of Virgin, which floated last month.