The Australian – Hedge funds who invested in Channel Nine’s owner PBL Media are unhappy about a rescue package to refinance the group’s $4.3 billion in debt, The Asian Wall Street Journal has reported.

Private equity group CVC Asia Pacific, the owner of 75 per cent of PBL Media, is "scrambling" to prevent PBL Media from defaulting on its $4.3 billion in debt, the paper said. If the group did default, PBL Media (the owner of Channel Nine and Australia’s largest magazine group ACP) could be placed in the hands of its bankers.

The Australian last week revealed CVC was trying to negotiate a rescue package, which included raising an extra $325 million from its banks, of which about $250 million would go towards repaying PBL’s debt.

PBL Media’s debt is held by nearly 40 creditors, including global banks and hedge funds.

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Telegraph.co.uk – 3i Infrastructure, which is 43pc owned by private equity group 3i, said it had exploited an "anomaly in the market" and added it was keen to take part in any purchase of Gatwick, after BAA was told it must sell two of its three London airports.

The fund has bought debt issued by Ireland’s Viridian, Thames Water and Telediffusion de France, adding that the purchases offered higher than equity returns at lower risk.

Michael Queen, a 3i managing partner, said: "Hedge funds are receiving redemption notices and having to liquidate their portfolios. Because capital is scarce at the moment, the prices at which they’re [selling] are clearly at a discount to fair value.

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Guardian Unlimited – Hedge funds are buying into power supplier Scottish & Southern Energy in hopes of a bid for the company, currently valued at over £12bn.

The latest fund to have bought shares is Centaurus, headed by Frenchman Bernard Oppetit, who is understood to have made millions via a recent investment in British Energy.

It caused a splash in the UK in 2006 when it blocked a bid for engineering company Amec from private equity group Texas Pacific on the grounds that it was too low.

Centaurus has been joined at SSE by other hedge funds such as Lansdowne, GLG and Odey Asset Management.

Oppetit is known in the City as a canny investor and has built up Centaurus into a £5bn fund after leaving BNP Paribas, where he was head of proprietary trading. On its website, Centaurus says: ‘We develop a close and constructive ongoing dialogue with the executives of the companies that we invest in, and focus on achieving an in-depth fundamental understanding of their businesses.’

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