JOHNSTON PRESS SHORTLISTS THREE BIDDERS - Three groups have been shortlisted by British media company Johnston Press to make final bids for its Irish regional newspapers, writes the Irish Times. It is understood that a group led by accountant John McStay is one of the groups shortlisted for the next round of offers, which must be tabled in three weeks' time. Mr McStay is a former owner of the Leinster Leader group, which was sold to Johnston Press in 2005 for €138.5 million. He faces opposition from British businessman Richard Findlay, who headed Scottish Radio Holdings when it invested in a number of Irish regional newspapers and radio stations in the early part of this decade. Mr Findlay is being advised by AIB Corporate Finance, and is thought to be backed by a UK private equity player. He was an underbidder for Emap's Irish radio stations last year and also sought to acquire a handful of local radio stations in the midlands, a deal that fell through. The third bidder is thought to be a consortium led by retired accountant Joe Hayes, a former managing director of the Kilkenny People and two Tipperary titles before Johnston Press took control of them.
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LENIHAN POISED TO SIGN LAW CLOSING LOOPHOLE FOR SECRET STAKEBUILDING - Finance Minister Brian Lenihan is poised to sign into force legislation that will pave the way for the closing off a controversial loophole that allows secret stakebuilding in Irish companies through contracts for difference (CFDs), says the Irish Independent. It follows on from the Takeover Panel's recent clampdown on the use of CFDs, a leveraged derivative investment instrument, in takeover situations. A little-noticed section of the Investment of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2009 allows the minister to make regulations requiring investors "who have entered into transactions in specified instruments or classes" to disclose them. The provision amends the Markets in Financial Instruments and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2007 and is just waiting for Mr Lenihan to sign a commencement order. Holders of ordinary shares in a company are required to show their hand once they pass the 3% threshold. They must declare any position above 1% when a company is in a takeover period.
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NO BOOST TO SPENDING AS BRITONS PAY OFF THE MORTGAGE - British households are repaying record amounts of mortgage debt, sharply reversing the trend that saw many consumers using their homes as "cash machines" to fund spending, reports the London Independent. The turnaround reflects depressed household confidence and the diminished value of housing. The Bank of England said yesterday that households paid off a net £8 billion of mortgage debt in the last quarter of last year, the equivalent of 3.3 per cent of their post-tax incomes. Some £5.9 billion was paid off in the third quarter of last year. However, as recently as 2006 some £13 billion was being withdrawn every quarter, the equivalent of about 6 per cent of disposable incomes. Some of these funds represented a normal flow of money into funding retirement incomes, but a good deal was simply spent.
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SIT-INS AT THREE FACTORIES AFTER VEHICLE PARTS COMPANY GOES INTO ADMINISTRATION - The crisis in the motor industry prompted a sit-in protest at three factories across Britain and Northern Ireland yesterday after dwindling car sales and mounting losses forced a car-parts maker into administration with the loss of 565 jobs, says the Guardian. Hundreds of workers at Visteon occupied factories in Enfield and Basildon following an overnight occupation in Belfast. Trade union leaders also demanded an urgent meeting with Ford, Visteon's biggest customer and its former owner. The US-based parent, Visteon Corporation, pulled the plug on the UK operations on Tuesday after accumulating losses of £669m since 2000. Administrators from KPMG said they had "no option" but to shut the factories owing to the amount of cash being lost from the business. The 227 sacked workers at Visteon's Enfield plant were invited back yesterday morning to collect their belongings and some refused to leave. About 70 former employees were still occupying the roof late yesterday afternoon while ex-colleagues gathered outside the gates, pleading with the police to be allowed to pass them food and water.
