Guardian.co.uk – Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey has slipped more than 8% on news that Toscafund, the hedge fund run by former bank analyst Martin Hughes, has sold a chunk of shares in the business.

Tosca, which is said to have lost about £300m in the collapse of US bank Washington Mutual, held a 10.2% stake in Taylor Wimpey. But in an official filing just out, Tosca has now reduced that to below the 3% disclosable threshold.

Taylor Wimpey is down 1.75p at 19p, but rival Redrow, where Tosca had a 27% stake, has climbed 6.75p to 163p. On Friday, Redrow said Bridgemere Securities had bought 14.4m shares to take its stake to 16.24%. Traders wondered whether some of these shares might have come from Tosca.

Bridgemere is a fund set up by the Redrow founder, Stephen Morgan, and the purchase has prompted talk of a possible takeover of Redrow.

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Reuters) – Activist hedge fund Toscafund has raised its stake in Aberdeen Asset Management by around another 50 million pounds to more than 25 percent, continuing its rapid stake-building of recent months.

Toscafund, which is run by Martin Hughes, increased its holding to 25.49 percent on Wednesday from 20.02 percent, according to a statement to the Stock Exchange on Friday, having increased its stake marginally on Monday.

"Aberdeen is an excellent global asset manager covering nearly all product areas. We’re supportive of management and believe their prospects are very good," a Toscafund spokesperson said.

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