Thursday newspaper round-up: Arriva, Tui Travel, Thomas Cook

22nd Apr 2010 06:12

Arriva is on Thursday expected to recommend a £1.54bn cash takeover by Deutsche Bahn, marking the first foreign purchase of one of the UK's big five bus and rail groups. The operator of the CrossCountry and Wales train franchises and a clutch of UK bus services was on Wednesday night poised to agree a 775p-a-share offer from the German state-backed rail company, says the Telegraph.A row broke out on Wednesday night between Britain's holiday companies and airlines over who was doing most to repatriate customers stranded by Iceland's volcano eruption. Tui Travel and Thomas Cook, the two leading holiday companies, asked for a further meeting with Transport Secretary Lord Adonis to complain that the Government was allowing a "two-tier system" with different rules for them and the airlines, writes the Telegraph.Lloyd Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, is considering making a high-risk appearance in front of a US Congressional hearing, alongside the 31-year-old trader at the centre of allegations that Goldman misled clients over toxic mortgage investments before the credit crisis, reports the Independent.The FT adds that Lloyd Blankfein on Wednesday attacked the SEC's fraud charges in telephone calls to ­clients as Goldman escalated its campaign to stem the damage to the firm's reputation. One person who received a call from the Goldman chief said he was told the regulator's case against the bank was politically motivated and would ultimately "hurt America". The International Monetary Fund has cut its 2011 UK growth forecast, delivering a pre-election blow to the Government. The Washington-based fund said it expected the UK economy to grow by 2.5pc next year, compared with an earlier forecast of 2.7pc, according to the Telegraph.The restriction on flights across much of Europe has saved Anglo American from a showdown with angry protesters at its annual general meeting today, but the mining giant will still be confronted over its exploration activities in Alaska, says the Independent.Ansh Jain, co-head of Deutsche Bank's global investment bank, has sold his 10pc stake in the Mumbai Indians, one of the eight cricket teams that make up the highly lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL). A spokesman for Deutsche Bank confirmed that Mr Jain, who earned £8.4m in 2009, had last year sold his stake in the team, originally bought in 2008, for the same price that he bought it, writes the Telegraph.Facebook has announced plans to spread its influence across the internet by weaving its service into all websites. Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of the social networking site, described how the new Open Graph platform could challenge Google, allowing users to be guided around the internet by their connections and interests rather than by a search engine, reports the Times.Tarmac, the building materials group, could be offloaded by its owner, Anglo American, after the mining group yesterday received an offer of as much $6bn from Marwyn Materials, according to the Independent.Rescuers were searching for up to 12 oil workers last night after an explosion ripped through a rig leased by BP in the Gulf of Mexico. The United States Coast Guard said that 98 of the 126 workers were safe and were on their way to shore. A further 17 had been flown to hospital after the explosion, about 50 miles southeast of Venice on the Louisiana coast. Seven were critically injured, says the Times.