MANGANS TO NET €45m IN SALE OF FOOD WHOLESALER - The Mangan brothers - Gabriel, Terence and Leo - are set to share in a near €45 million windfall after agreeing yesterday to sell their Ennis-based wholesale group to rival BWG, says the Irish Times. The deal, which is subject to approval from the Competition Authority, will bolster BWG's position as the second-biggest food wholesaler in Ireland behind the Cork-based Musgrave group. Founded in 1932 in Kilmihil, west Clare, Mangans has annual turnover of €195 million, 250 staff and supplies about 225 independent retailers. It operates eight cash-and-carry outlets and controls the Mace franchise for the west of Ireland and the Vivo and Xpress Stop brands around the country. Gabriel Mangan, chairman of Mangans Wholesale, said the family decided to sell because "we believe that now is the time to align the business so that it will have greater scale and resources". Documents lodged with the Companies Office indicate that Gabriel (66) and Terence (59) own 40 per cent each of the business, while Leo (56) has a 20 per cent share of the company.
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PENSION FUNDS SLASHING THEIR INVESTMENT IN IRISH EQUITIES - Pension funds have radically cut the amount of money invested in Irish shares, from 40%five years ago to just 8% now, reports the Irish Independent. The move reflects very poor returns for Irish equities in the past year, a period when the Irish Stock Market dropped in value by around a third. This prompted pension fund trustees to cut their exposure to the Irish market last year by almost 3%, according to a survey by the Irish Association of Pension Funds (IAPF). Chairman of the IAPF Patrick Burke said: "Since our adoption of the single European currency, Irish trustees have gradually moved to reduce their concentration in the Irish equity market down to a weighting of just over 8% at the end of 2007. "This is down by almost 40% over the five years since the end of 2002." The value of Irish pension scheme assets dropped by 1.3% during 2007 to €86.6 billion. This was down from €87.7 billion at the end of 2006, according to the IAPF annual asset allocation survey.
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INDIAN BILLIONAIRES TO BUY CITY'S OLDEST STOCKBROKERS - Hichens, Harrison & Co, the City of London's oldest active stockbroker, is in talks to be taken over by an Indian financial group backed by two billionaire brothers in a deal worth almost £50m, writes the London Independent. Hichens, which has been operating in London since 1803, yesterday confirmed it was in negotiations with Religare Enterprises, a financial services group based in New Delhi, over a possible cash offer worth 285p per share. The two companies have been in talks for the past two months, although a spokesman for Hichens stressed that there was no certainty an offer would be made. Religare is backed by Malvinder and Shivinder Singh. Malvinder Singh is also chief executive of the generic pharmaceuticals giant Ranbaxy Laboratories.
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TOP INVESTOR HITS OUT AT ROSE'S RISE AT M&S - Legal & General has hit out for a second time at Marks & Spencer's plan to promote its chief executive, Sir Stuart Rose, to the role of executive chairman, says the Guardian. The investment management group said Rose's promotion was not necessary and suggested it expected higher standards of boardroom behaviour from a blue-chip company. L&G's continued opposition to Rose's elevation emerged in a statement issued after a meeting between L&G executives and M&S's outgoing chairman Lord Burns and non-executive director Sir David Michels. The two sides met last week to give M&S the opportunity to explain why it has decided to elevate Rose to a position that flouts corporate governance guidelines. The Higgs code says the roles of chairman and chief executive should be kept separate and that chief executives should not be promoted to chairmen. As a result there are only a handful of executive chairmen - at struggling companies such as ITV and Cable & Wireless. Marks & Spencer, however, insists that making Rose chairman is the only way his successor can be properly identified. The M&S boss moves up to the top job in the summer and will stay in place until 2011.
