Sunday newspaper round-up: Renewi, Metro Bank, New homes

8th Oct 2023 11:36

(Sharecast News) - Some of Renewi's major shareholders are divided as to whether the recycling company should engage with Australian suitor Macquarie. One major shareholder has told Renewi's board that it should not until Macquarie raised its £636m bid, but another top ten shareholder told The Sunday Times that it should talk to the Australian outfit anyways. Macquarie has until 26 October to make a firm offer. - The Sunday Times

Metro Bank is engaged in marathon talks with its bondholders to clinch a refinancing deal before the market open in London. The lender is reportedly seeking a £600m lifeline and needs to refinance £350m of debt within a year. It just recently balked at a takeover approach from Shawbrook, according to Sky News. Failure to close a deal may force it to sell the majority of its mortgage book, analysts at Barclays estimated, assuming the loans were sold at face value, which would be a challenge if seen as a forced sale. - The Financial Mail on Sunday

Labour will set a target to build 1.5m new homes over the next five years, party leader Keir Starmer said. It would also strengthen guidance to ensure developers to ensure that enough affordable homes were included. His party would also review the regulations regarding building on the green belt. In parallel, shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves told the Sunday Times a common sense approach was necessary when designating land as greenbelt and brownfield. - Guardian

GSK is preparing to reorganise its research teams, switching from a single unit to individual teams for three areas: vaccines and infectious diseases, respiratory and immunology and oncology. The teams would also focus on earlier-stage science and then pass promising treatments to development teams. The company said however that "very few" redundancies would result from the changes. - The Sunday Times