Sunday newspaper round-up: Cadbury, International Power, US banks

17th Jan 2010 11:25

Cadbury's future hangs in the balance this weekend as Kraft, the American food giant, puts the finishing touches to raising its £10.5 billion bid for the chocolate maker. The new offer, which is expected to improve Kraft's bid from 771p per share to at least 820p, will test the resolve of Cadbury's loyal shareholders ? but many insist they will hold out for a higher price, says the Sunday Times.France's state-controlled power giant GDF Suez has made a takeover approach to International Power, the £5 billion energy group, writes the Sunday Times.Wall Street banks plan to highlight caps on cash bonuses and cuts in the proportion of revenues paid out to employees in a rearguard action against the public and political assault on their bumper pay-outs, reports the Independent on Sunday.The Sunday Telegraph adds that Goldman Sachs will top a list of Wall Street giants delivering a combined profit of almost $25bn (£15.3bn) in their full-year results out this week. The announcements will come as Goldman is considering mandating senior bankers to donate a small portion of their earnings to charity in an attempt to deflect the ensuing row expected over the size of its bonus payments. Royal Bank of Scotland shareholders last night joined politicians in condemning Sir Fred "the Shred" Goodwin's return to employment, more than a year after he had been cast into comfortable retirement when his institution received an emergency bail-out from the Government, according to the Independent on Sunday.Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat shadow Treasury spokesman, has waded into the furore surrounding Mitchells & Butlers by suggesting the Takeover Panel had insufficient powers to investigate concert party claims at the embattled pub group, says the Sunday Telegraph.The starting gun will be fired this week on a slew of stock market listings as Travelport, the airline and hotel reservations company, announces plans for a £1.8 billion flotation in London, writes the Sunday Times.Staff at Cazenove, the investment bank now fully owned by JP Morgan, are set to receive further details about redundancies at the firm in the coming days after the integration process kicked off last week, reports the Independent on Sunday.Up market clothes retailer Burberry is forecast to report a 19 per cent crash in sales compared to last year after a tough trading season, according to the Independent on Sunday.Kabel Deutschland (KDG),a broadband and cable provider owned by London and US-based buyout group Providence Equity Partners, is on the verge of a massive listing in Germany, says the Independent on Sunday.One of Britain's leading bankers has admitted that London is suffering as a world global capital because of mistakes that were made in regulation of banking and the recent bonus tax announced by the Government. Peter Sands, group chief executive of Standard Chartered, one the UK's big five banks, said that conditions were now worse in London and that new financial business was more likely to locate elsewhere, writes the Sunday Telegraph.E-Clear, the credit card processing firm linked to the collapse of the airline Globespan, is thought to be close to administration this weekend with Begbies Traynor, the accountant, lined-up to handle the possible collapse, reports the Independent on Sunday.An heir to the Merck Finck & Co dynasty is contesting the 1990 sale of the German private bank to Barclays. Baron Helmut von Finck has filed a claim with Munich courts claiming that the will of his deceased father, August, stipulates that the family-owned bank should remain independent and that he should have received billions as his inheritance rather than the millions agreed with his half-brothers, according to the Independent on Sunday.Marketing for one of London's biggest evergreen power listings will begin next month when Engyco, a solar power producer, looks to raise up to €1bn (£885m) for investment, says the Independent on Sunday.