Business Standard – Indian entrepreneur Lord Karan Bilimoria has put Cobra, the beer company he founded 18 years ago, up for sale for an estimated £200 million, a leading daily here claimed today.

The 46-year-old businessman had drafted in advisers from NM Rothschild to find a new investor in the business, famous for supplying its beer to most of the 10,000 curry houses in Britain, the Sunday Times claimed. The company, however, declined to comment on the potential sale. According to the report, the decision to sell comes just two months after Cobra raised £15 million of fresh capital.

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Times Online – Woolworths’ biggest shareholder has thrown his weight behind management in rejecting Malcolm Walker’s £50m takeover approach, while refusing to deny that he is planning his own bid for the struggling retailer.

Iranian property tycoon Ardeshir Naghshineh, who has built up a 10.2% stake in the firm, told The Sunday Times: “Walker is well respected but the board rejected the bid and rightly so. It’s not a good deal for Woolies or shareholders.”

Walker, founder of the Iceland frozen-food chain, has proposed a deal that would see his consortium – backed by Icelandic retail investor Baugur, also a Woolworths shareholder – take its 815 stores but leave the parent company with a near-£100m pension deficit and most of its £120m debt.

“It doesn’t leave much,” said Naghshineh. “The opportunity goes if the deal happens . . . and the liabilities are left. What is the deal for the rest of the shareholders? What are they left with?”

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Times Online- An activist American hedge fund has drawn up detailed plans to buy BSkyB’s 17.9% stake in ITV.

Silver Point Capital, an American fund that specialises in distressed assets, has held talks with investment bankers who could assist with its plan.

It is unclear whether Silver Point has approached BSkyB, but its proposal involves the creation of a complicated structured vehicle. The “warehouse structure” would enable BSkyB to divest the stake and shed the regulatory risk but still share in any future upside with the hedge fund.

BSkyB, which is part-owned by News Corporation, ultimate owner of The Sunday Times, is expected to learn shortly whether it will be forced to cut its stake in ITV by the Competition Commission to at least 7.5%. It is understood to be considering all options for a sale.

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