Sunday newspaper round-up: William Hill, Northern, Arcadia, Brexit, Trump and Tory leadership spill
William Hill has held talks with America’s biggest casino owner about a £6bn merger, The Sunday Times can reveal.
The mooted deal would have seen the FTSE 250 bookmaker swallowed up by Caesars Entertainment. The pair held detailed discussions about a cash-and-shares deal last autumn.
The talks were undermined when Caesars warned in August of falling sales in Las Vegas, and finally fell apart over price. News of the talks, however, is likely to revive speculation that William Hill could become a takeover target. - The Sunday Times
One of Provident Financial’s biggest shareholders has fired a broadside at its former boss, who is leading a £1.3bn hostile takeover bid, saying it intends to reject the offer.
Aberdeen Standard Investments said the takeover by Non-Standard Finance (NSF), run by ex-Provident chief John van Kuffeler, was ultimately not a “good deal”.
Andrew Millington, head of UK equities at Aberdeen, which holds 3.1% of the doorstep lender, said: “We’re also unhappy that NSF has brought forward the deadline for shareholders to accept the bid to this week, before the Competition & Markets Authority [CMA] releases the outcome of its review.” - The Sunday Times
The viability of the rail operator Northern is being investigated amid growing expectation that it will be the next train franchise to be renationalised.
The operator of last resort (OLR), a government arm that takes over ailing rail routes, is understood to be conducting due diligence on Northern, which has been hit by strikes, delays and last year’s timetable chaos.
Last week, city leaders from the north of England called for the vast franchise — which stretches from Liverpool to Hull and from Middlesbrough to Nottingham — to be taken back into state hands. - The Sunday Times
The future of Sir Philip Green’s Topshop empire is on a knife-edge as the pensions authorities threaten to kill a controversial restructuring to close stores and cut rents.
A source close to the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), the lifeboat for final salary schemes, said it was prepared to vote against a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) for Arcadia Group.
Green hopes to win approval for the closure of almost 50 stores and rent cuts on a further 200 on Wednesday, but needs the support of the Pensions Regulator and the PPF, given the £744m “buyout” deficit in Arcadia’s funds. He has offered a package worth a total of £360m in return for long-term cuts to Arcadia’s contributions. - The Sunday Times
Investors in Galliford Try and Bovis have called on the FTSE 250 housebuilders to revive a deal after merger talks collapsed.
Fund managers at JO Hambro — the third-biggest shareholder in Galliford and the eighth-largest in Bovis — said that a combination made “strategic and industrial sense”. They urged both boards to “consummate a transaction”.
Bovis approached Galliford last month with a £950m all-share offer for its Linden Homes division and regeneration arm. Galliford rejected the bid, claiming it was too low. Both sides subsequently said they were no longer in discussions, although the Galliford board is thought to be open to further talks. - The Sunday Times
Jeremy Corbyn was plunged into a new crisis last night after it emerged that his office had blocked the suspension of a senior aide accused of sexual harassment by a female Labour MP.
Leaked emails reveal that Corbyn’s team surprised the party’s governance chiefs by rejecting a formal request to suspend the Labour membership of David Prescott, 49, the leader’s trusted aide and son of former deputy prime minister John Prescott.
The disclosures will reignite claims that Corbyn’s inner circle delays or waters down investigations into his allies on issues such as anti-semitism and harassment. - The Sunday Times
Amber Rudd is preparing to support Matt Hancock and then Michael Gove in the Tory leadership battle after talks with Boris Johnson to formulate a dream team alliance collapsed in acrimony.
The work and pensions secretary tried to persuade the frontrunner to ditch his plans to pursue a no-deal Brexit at a dinner on Thursday but Johnson refused. - The Sunday Times
Michael Gove has told Cabinet ministers he is prepared to delay Brexit until late 2020 rather than leave without a deal on October 31, The Telegraph has learned.
The Environment Secretary has told colleagues that a no-deal Brexit in October risks triggering a General Election that will put Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street.
His position puts him directly at odds with other Brexiteer leadership candidates including Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary, who have committed to leaving on time with or without a deal. - The Sunday Telegraph
Britain should go for a no-deal Brexit with the EU and refuse to pay the agreed £39 billion divorce bill, US President Donald Trump has said on the eve of a visit to London.
The comments by America's outspoken leader came after he said in a separate interview he thought former foreign secretary Boris Johnson would make an "excellent" prime minister to take over from Theresa May, the current leader who is to resign June 7 after failing to get her EU divorce text through parliament.
Trump is to embark on a three-day state visit to Britain from Monday, during which he will meet Queen Elizabeth II and have talks with May. - The Sunday Telegraph
China is accused of rigging a test of 5G mobile equipment in a campaign to discredit Western rivals of its embattled telecoms champion Huawei, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.
Whitehall and industry sources said Beijing is feeding secret details of security vulnerabilities in new network kit to a team of IT specialists.
More than 100 computer security experts are conducting a security test of 5G equipment, from makers including Huawei and Western rivals Nokia and Ericsson, in which hacking techniques are used to check for weak spots. The ostensibly legitimate exercise is part of planning for 5G and its leap forward in speed and data capacity in the world’s biggest mobile market. - The Sunday Telegraph
Donald Trump has branded comments made by the Duchess of Sussex about him as "nasty".
The Duchess has been a vocal critic of the former reality TV star, backing his rival Hillary Clinton and suggesting before the 2016 election she would leave the US if he won.
In an interview with The Sun, Mr Trump said he was not aware of comments made by the duchess about him, and said: "I didn't know that. What can I say?
"I didn't know that she was nasty." - The Sunday Telegraph
Nigel Farage believes his Brexit Party could be on the cusp of winning their first seat in Westminster in a by-election this week as he warned: “Vote Conservative, get Labour”.
The Brexit Party leader said that the Peterborough by-election on Thursday is now a two-horse race between the Brexit Party and Labour, with the Conservatives “nowhere”.
The by-election was triggered after Fiona Onasanya, the former Labour MP, was jailed for lying about a speeding offence. - The Sunday Telegraph
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has compared Donald Trump's language to that of 'a 20th-century fascist' and accused him of 'shamelessly' interfering in the Conservative party leadership race.
Ahead of the US President's three-day State visit to the UK, starting tomorrow, Khan also condemned the decision to roll out the red carpet for the UK's closest ally.
It is the latest instalment in a long-running feud between the multimillionaire and Tooting-born Labour Mayor that dates back to 2016. - Mail on Sunday
Nigel Farage’s Brexit party has surged into first place as voters’ favourites, according to a new poll. It is the first time the party has achieved top position in a national poll. The results suggest hundreds of Conservative seats are at risk.
The Brexit party’s support increased by two points to 26% of the vote in the latest Opinium poll – for the Observer – which asked people how they would vote in the next Westminster election.
Labour is in second place on 22%, but its support has fallen by seven points over the past two weeks. The Tories are third on 17%, with their support down five points, and the Lib Dems are up five points, on 16% of the vote. - The Observer
A controversial target of hiring 5,000 foreign nurses a year for at least 15 years has been cut from a flagship plan to deal with the NHS’s staffing crisis, the Observer understands.
The move will frustrate health chiefs, who are desperate for a clear strategy to reduce NHS staffing pressures, which are expected to worsen.
There are also mounting concerns that new post-Brexit immigration rules could end up making the situation even worse unless the NHS is handed special treatment. The government’s long-awaited plan to tackle shortages included the ambition of recruiting 5,000 nurses a year until 2024 to help relieve short-term pressure. - The Observer