Sunday newspaper round-up: Land Securities, Brixton Estates, Lloyds

24th May 2009 09:22

The chief executive of Land Securities, Francis Salway, has been given six months to come up with a radical business plan for the FTSE 100 property giant - or face being sacked. Alison Carnwath, the new chairwoman, has laid down the gauntlet after a set of shocking results this month, which saw the company plunge to a loss of £4.8 billion. There is thought to be growing concern among the firm's independent directors that it has lost direction. The outcome of the review will determine the futures of Salway and Mike Hussey, the group's second in command, reports the Sunday Times.MGPA, the Australian fund backed by Macquarie Group, has emerged as one of the parties in early talks to buy Brixton, the struggling property company with £1.72bn of assets. Brixton announced it had "entered into discussions with a small number of parties" on Friday. Rival Segro later told the stock exchange that it was one of those parties, and that it was considering an all-share offer for the listed company, the Sunday Independent reports.Lloyds Banking Group has drafted in heavyweight City advisers to draw up secret plans for an auction of its shareholdings in some of Britain's best-known companies. The stakes in more than 60 businesses, including D&D Restaurants, which was founded by Sir Terence Conran, and Vue Entertainment, the cinema chain, were accumulated by executives at HBOS at a total cost of about £1.3bn, reports the Sunday Telegraph.The government's financial exposure to the rail industry could worsen amid predictions that a shortfall in fare sales could cost the taxpayer up to £400m over the next two years. The Department for Transport is obliged to cover a proportion of train operators' losses if their revenues are below target. According to analysis by stockbroker Blue Oar Securities, franchises could receive £100m from the government this year under the terms of so-called "cap and collar" clauses, the Observer reports.FTSE 100 bosses are paying themselves "footballers' salaries" out of proportion with the rest of the market according to a report from pay consultants MM&K and governance group Manifest, reports the Sunday Telegraph.The upmarket fashion brand Aquascutum, whose British heritage dates back 158 years, is to fall into the hands of a Chinese company. Aquascutum's owner is believed to be in talks to sell the brand to YGM Trading. It emerged on Friday that Kim Winser, the British boss of Aquascutum, has quit after failing in a rival bid that she had spent 12 months trying to negotiate, reports the Sunday Times.Terry Smith is to quit as chairman of Collins Stewart, the stockbroker, to fend off mounting concerns over corporate governance. Headhunters have been appointed to find a successor, along with one other non-executive director. He will remain on the stockbroker's board as deputy chairman. The rest of his time will be dedicated to Tullett Prebon, the money-broking firm where he is chief executive, reports the Sunday Times.Investment banks are facing a backlash from some of the City's biggest institutional investors over their handling of the recent wave of rights issues. Senior executives from Legal & General, Scottish Widows and Standard Life Investments - furious at being frozen out of lucrative sub-underwriting fees - are believed to have made representations to the banks, reports the Sunday Independent. Hoare Govett, the City stockbroker owned by Royal Bank of Scotland, is expected to face fresh turmoil this week when the head of its key smaller companies research unit quits. It's believed that Richard Rae, a long-serving employee, is leaving the broker and could take his 20-strong team with him, the Sunday Independent reports.The Treasury may be forced to water down proposals to make finance directors personally liable for company's accounts after an angry response from executives at some of Britain's biggest firms. The Hundred Group, which represents the views of most FTSE 100 finance directors, will shortly lay out its opposition to the new legislation, reports the Sunday Times.Martin Gilbert, chief executive of the highly acquisitive Aberdeen Asset Management, is studying a takeover of Delaware Group, an American firm with $120bn under management. Aberdeen is one of several firms circling Delaware, which is expected to fetch up to $450m, reports the Sunday Times.Angry investors in Royal Dutch Shell are this weekend calling for the head of Sir Peter Job, the director at the centre of last week's embarrassing pay revolt at the oil group. Shareholders think the removal of Job, former chief executive of news group Reuters, should be the first step in the shake-up of a boardroom criticised as being out of touch, reports the Sunday Times.The Observer adds that shareholder activists have also demanded that Royal Dutch Shell directors return their bonuses.The pension buyout vehicle run by Mark Wood, the former Prudential executive, has been closed to new business after the collapse of secret talks to sell it to its arch-rival. Paternoster, which owns British pension funds worth £2.7 billion, has been locked in talks for several weeks with Eddie Truell's Pension Corporation, reports the Sunday Times.The Government's £2.3bn rescue deal for the ailing automotive industry will be in jeopardy if Britain loses its prized AAA credit rating. A total of £1.3bn of the guarantees are for European Investment Bank loans, but these will be worthless if the UK's credit rating is downgraded, reports the Telegraph.