PRESS DIGEST - British business - April 13

The Sunday Times

M&B TASTE FOR SPIRIT

Mitchells & Butlers (MAB.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has held talks to buy part of Punch Taverns' (PUB.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) estate. The pubs group wants to buy Spirit, and the two sides met last week. M&B will raise funds to buy Spirit by selling a minority stake in itself to a private-equity firm. It has already received proposals from three groups -- Bain Capital, Permira and a combination of CVC and Blackstone.

SCOTTISH RETAILER OSSIAN SINKS UNDER 25 MILLION POUND DEBT

Ossian Retail Group is poised to go into administration this week, and the move is likely to result in the company being broken up, with its brands and 120 stores sold to various buyers. A distressed-debt investment specialist, Agilo, has initiated the move, and had previously bought up Ossian's entire 25 million pound debt last week. Agilo is understood to be confident of keeping most of the company's 2,500 jobs, despite taking such a dramatic step.

BT'S NEW CHIEF THROWS DOWN GAUNTLET TO OFCOM

Ian Livingston is challenging Ofcom to make sweeping changes to BT's (BT.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) universal service obligation (USO) before he will commit to investing billions of pounds in a new fibre-optic network. Livingston said: "We will not spend material amounts of money that will guarantee that we will lose money for shareholders."

The Sunday Telegraph

BA INVESTOR CALLS BROUGHTON TO TALKS ON HEATHROW CRISIS