PRESS DIGEST - Financial Times - July 13

Financial Times

INDUSTRY WELL PLACED TO RECOVER

According to a report published on Monday by the business performance consultancy McKinney Rogers and Ipsos Mori, the polling group, Britain's large and mid-sized manufacturing companies are better placed to take advantage of a recovery than their U.S. counterparts. The report found 60 percent of manufacturers viewed themselves as likely to take market share from competitors, compared with 34 percent of U.S. companies.

HAVENS BUCK PROPERTY SLUMP

A report from Sovereign Group, the advisory group, released on Sunday, said most offshore tax jurisdictions within easy reach of Britain are bucking the European property market slump as wealthy Britons prepare to avoid UK tax rises. The report said property prices in Monaco and Gibraltar were holding firm or improving while prices around them on the Costa del Sol and Cote d'Azure had declined by up to 50 percent.

POPULAR SCHEMES TO HELP FIRST-TIME BUYERS SCRAPPED

The government has quietly scrapped two of the most popular schemes aimed at helping first-time buyers on to the housing ladder. MyChoice-HomeBuy and Ownhome, known collectively as Open Market HomeBuy, had received 200 million pounds of investment from the government over the past year alone. MyChoice, which provided access to a loan of up to 50 percent of the value of a property, had the highest take-up of any publicly funded home ownership scheme. Managed by Places for People, the housing association and the Cooperative Bank, Ownhome was a smaller operation. Officials denied the move was related to last week's announcement of a 1.5 billion pound drive to build 20,000 extra social homes. "Government funding is still available for first-time buyers and we intend to focus all our efforts on helping people into homes through new-build schemes", said a spokesman.

LARGER PROPERTY GROUPS SHOWING RENEWED CONFIDENCE

In a sign that large property companies are moving on to the front foot to take advantage of the changing market, British Land (BLND.L) has created a head of strategy position to look for new opportunities. The move comes ahead of a management statement from Land Securities (LAND.L) on Wednesday that is expected to strike a far more optimistic tone. Land Securities and British Land, in addition to the two other largest real estate investment trusts, Hammerson (HMSO.L) and Liberty International LII.L, have been the target of criticism from shareholders for failing to communicate a defined strategy. Jean-Marc Vandevivere joins British Land as the new head of strategy, moving from Horsley Bridge Partners.

LONDON IN 12 MILLION POUND DEAL FOR PRIVATE BACK-UP FIRE SERVICE

In a move likely to provoke anger among unions, London's fire authority has struck a deal with the Aim-listed AssetCo (ASTO.L) to provide it with a back-up fire service. The 12 million pound five-year agreement -- the first such agreement in Britain -- is expected to lead to a wave of similar contracts as the country's 32 other fire brigades lack contingency plans to offer emergency services in the event of their main forces being unavailable. John Shannon, chief executive of AssetCo, said "most of the other authorities were waiting for the outcome of the London process. It's the pathfinder contract for these deals." The Fire Brigades Union criticised such deals for being "privatised strike-breaking" and said the money should be spent on frontline services.

SWISS TAX RULES LURE MCDONALD'S FROM UK

Joining the growing ranks of U.S. companies moving their European headquarters to take advantage of preferential intellectual property tax laws in Switzerland, fast-food chain McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) is to leave London for Geneva. The firm, which will open its head office in the Swiss city in the autumn, said the move had been almost a year in the planning. The company denied its decision was prompted by changes in the UK taxation of foreign profits this year, and said the move enables it to "conduct the strategic management of key international intellectual property rights, including the licensing of those rights to our franchisees in Europe, from Switzerland."

CENTRICA BID FOR VENTURE SNUBBED

Centrica's (CNA.L) hostile 845 pence share bid for Venture Production VPC.L, tabled on Friday, has been rejected by two leading Venture shareholders. Arclight Capital Partners, a Boston-based private equity fund that has 5.4 percent in Venture, and Larry Kinch, a Venture founder who holds 7.4 percent of the equity, told the Financial Times they wanted ten pounds per share. Arclight and Mr Kinch have seats on Venture's board, which rejected Centrica's offer on Friday night. Centrica, which already owns 29 percent of Venture, has said its offer is final, unless another bidder comes in.

RESOLUTION IN TAKEOVER MOVE FOR FRIENDS PROVIDENT

Resolution (RSL.L) has launched its plan to restructure parts of the UK life and pensions industry with an all-share offer to take over Friends Provident FP.L. Both firms are likely to issue statements to the stock exchange on Monday. Friends is expected to rebuff the initial approach, although it was not certain on Sunday whether it would do so in a public statement. Clive Cowdery's Resolution, the 600 million pound London-listed vehicle, plans to launch bids for three or more companies in the sector and merge them to take advantage of economies of scale and release capital.

TERRA FIRMA AND CITI TARGET EMI DEBT

The private equity firm Terra Firma is in the early stages of talks with Citigoup over a restructuring of EMI, the debt-laden music group. While a formal proposal has yet to be submitted, Guy Hands, head of Terra Firma, is offering to inject up to 300 million pounds of fresh equity into EMI. Hands is also negotiating with Citigroup to write down a large chunk of EMI Music's debt. Citigroup financed Terra Firma's buy-out of EMI in 2007, leaving the former with about 2.6 billion pounds in EMI loans. Hands has sought the permission of investors in Terra Firma's third fund, Firma Capital Partners III, to invest in EMI. He needs 75 percent approval.

ROUGH TRADE TO SET UP SHOP IN TOPMAN STORES

As part of a deal with London-based independent music outlet Rough Trade, Sir Philip Green's Arcadia Group will introduce music sales to its high street chain Topman in September. Initially limited to Topman's flagship store in Oxford Circus, London, the move will be seen as a sign of optimism in music retailing in the aftermath of the collapse of chains Woolworths and Zavvi late in 2008 and the growth of music downloading. Despite recorded music sales around the world reduced by more than eight percent in 2008, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, 75 percent of music sales are of physical products rather than downloads from the Internet. Stephen Godfrey, director of Rough Trade Retail Group, said the deal "supports Rough Trade's belief that the CD format is as popular as ever."

Prepared for Reuters by Durrants.