WEEKEND DIGEST:Telecoms giant Hutchison Whampoa is looking to return to Eircom with another bid, the Sunday Independent and others reported at the weekend.
Hutchison Whampoa, which operates the 3 mobile phone service in Ireland, has already had a €2 billion high conditional cash bid rejected by the examiner to the former State telco Michael McAteer.
The Sunday Times said Hutchison Whampoa said a revised bid would have no conditions apart from due diligence, while the Independent reported the company would invest €1.3 billion upgrading services.
* The Sunday Telegraph reports that a series of high street banks face investigation by the Financial Service Authority in Britain over alleged mis-selling to small business billions of pounds of complex interest rate hedging products.
Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland are among those against whom allegations have been levelled.
Lenders have been asked to supply more information ahead of a decision, possibly next month, on pursuit of “enforcement action”.
* Spread-betting firm Marketspreads is seeking up to €10 million compensation from the auditors of AIM-listed former parent Worldspreads, according to the Sunday Times.
Shareholders in the Irish business, recently cleared to resume trading by the Central Bank, claim that accounts for the Irish business for 2009, audited by Ernst & Young, were one of the things that gave it comfort at the time of their management takeover.
A subsequent €7 million restatement to those accounts was a key factor in the Central Bank temporarily suspending Marketspreads’ licence
