JACOB FRUITFIELD HUNGRY FOR BURTON'S - The Irish Times reports that Jacob Fruitfield Food Group, a Tallaght-based company headed by Michael Carey, is vying to acquire Burton's Foods, the UK's second-biggest biscuit company, in a £200m (€297m) deal.
Burton's brands include Wagon Wheels and Jammie Dodger biscuits. The paper says Jacob Fruitfield is up against a private equity group called Duke Street Capital, which tried to buy Burton's seven years ago.
United Biscuits, the UK's biggest biscuit-maker, and Northern Foods, a quoted company, have already dropped out of the race.
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PRONTAPRINT DEAL WORTH €75m - The Irish Independent says Boundary Capital, the investment vehicle of financier Niall McFadden, is set to buy Prontaprint and a number of associated companies from Adare, the print group which was formerly quoted on the Irish Stock Exchange.
The paper says it is uncertain how much Boundary is paying for the UK-based Prontaprint, which has a network of over 175 stores, but industry sources estimated the sale price at £50m (€75m).
The sale is understood to include Kalamazoo, a security print company, and CJ Fallon, the fourth-largest Irish educational publisher.
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'HANDS OFF UK ARMS' CALLS - The Times reports that Boeing and Lockheed Martin are eyeing British defence companies worth more than £5 billion in an attempt to win orders from Britain's Ministry of Defence.
According to the paper, the American defence giants are understood already to have independently approached, and been rebuffed by, Ultra Electronics, the £800m battlefield-IT specialist. They are also thought to be weighing potential bids for Cobham, Meggitt and Chemring.
The Times says the interest being shown by the Americans has put British defence companies on a collision course with the British government over the industry's future. It says industrialists are concerned that 'UK plc' is being sold off to foreigners.
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VODAFONE MINORITY PARTNER WON'T SELL - The Financial Times reports on a statement from the Essar Group, which said it has no plans to sell out of Hutchison Essar.
The FT says this increases the pressure on Vodafone to come up with a workable shareholder arrangement with the company that could end up being its main partner in India.
Ravi Ruia, Essar vice-chairman, said after a meeting at his home in Mumbai with Vodafone chief executive Arun Sarin that he would not surrender the 33% stake in the mobile company his family had helped to build with Hong Kong's Hutchison.
