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US advertising giant Interpublic Group (IPG) has unveiled a recommended £120 million takeover offer for motor racing track owner Brands Hatch Leisure. Brands Hatch, which is taking over the contract to run the British Grand Prix at its Kent circuit, revealed last month that it had received a takeover approach but kept the bidder's identity secret. IPG's formal share-for-share offer values each Brands Hatch share at around 546p - a premium of 36% above the average closing price of 402p during the 30 trading days before Brands Hatch said it had received an approach. IPG said it hoped to make Brands Hatch part of its Octagon sports marketing and entertainment division. IPG said Brands Hatch chief executive Nicola Foulston would join the management board of Octagon once the deal was complete. Ms Foulston, 31, said her board had unanimously recommended shareholders accept the bid. "Our vision has long been to be the leading international event promoter and venue manager in world motorsports," she said. "To achieve this we need to expand our operations from our UK base around the world. "Interpublic and Octagon offer us a unique opportunity to achieve this goal through their international strength and network, the funding they can provide for us to acquire international business and the international motorsports rights they already control." Brands Hatch has been battling for planning permission to upgrade its track to Formula 1 standard. Ms Foulston has also been trying to buy rival venue Silverstone but dropped her £43 million offer after opposition from the track's owner, the British Racing Drivers' Club. Brands Hatch is taking over the Grand Prix contract from Silverstone in 2002, winning it back for the circuit for the first time since the mid-1980s. The company will host Britain's biggest one-off sporting event for six years as part of a deal with Formula One Administration. Ms Foulston took over the struggling company when her father John was killed in a Silverstone racing accident in 1987. Octagon is one of the top three sports marketing businesses in the world and represents athletes, manages sporting events and sells TV rights and merchandising. IPG also owns leading advertising companies Lowe Group and McCann-Erickson. As well as the Grand Prix race track of the same name, Brands Hatch Leisure owns motor racing circuits at Snetterton, Norfolk, and Oulton Park, Cheshire.. "There is no doubt the bank has to change, and change quickly," he said. Mr Wanless, while widely liked personally, is seen as having presided over too many banana skins and strategic U-turns over the past five years to be credibly part of a defence team that is seeking to prove it is better equipped to take the business forward than Peter Burt, the chief executive of BoS NatWest shares rose 2p to 1,442p on the news Bank of Scotland slipped 4.5p to 725p.. Sir David insisted that NatWest could do more with its existing businesses but was not bent on independence at all costs "We are not in the business of repelling boarders. If offers are made to us which offer real advantages we would accept them." Although Mr Sandler said he was reluctant to pre-empt the formal defence document, due in the next few weeks, he made it clear that refocusing on core businesses, and an accelerated programme to cut costs would have to feature prominently in any defence strategy. He has given a great deal to the bank and he has acted with good grace," he said. But he admitted that NatWest's track record and the reputation of its management had been an issue in the failure of NatWest's £10.5bn takeover bid for Legal & General, the life insurance group. Sir David also admitted there were differences of opinion between himself and Mr Wanless, but insisted that these were in terms of speed of delivery rather than on the substance of the changes that both believed the bank had to make.
It follows Thursday's announcement that BoS plans to take out £1.05bn of costs if its bid for NatWest succeeds. Sir David Rowland, the chairman, will take Mr Wanless's place as chief executive for the time being. Ron Sandler, who with Sir David masterminded the rescue of Lloyds of London from its near-collapse in the early 1990s, joins the NatWest board as chief operating officer on a salary of £450,000 a year. Mr Wanless earned £832,000 last year and is entitled to at least a year's money. Mr Sandler's first task will be to put together a credible goit-alone strategy for the group involving more radical cost-cutting, selective disposals of non-core businesses and a programme of returning capital to shareholders. The decision by Mr Wanless to walk the plank will go some way towards propitiating those in the City who blame him for a catalogue of strategic failures and who have been baying for his blood for years. There was surprise, however, that Sir David - who had first sounded out Mr Sandler about the job in September - was unable to persuade the NatWest board to endorse him immediately as group chief executive in Mr Wanless's stead. Bankers said that the fact that Mr Wanless has not been replaced was bound to be seen as leaving the door ajar for a friendly bid approach. Commenting on yesterday's developments, Sir David rejected suggestions that Mr Wanless had been made the fall guy for failures for which othersshould shoulder responsibility "Derek is a very honourable person. THE BATTLE for NatWest, the high street bank, claimed its first human casualty yesterday as Derek Wanless resigned as group chief executive with immediate effect. THE BATTLE for NatWest, the high street bank, claimed its first human casualty yesterday as Derek Wanless resigned as group chief executive with immediate effect. Mr Wanless had been under considerable pressure from NatWest investors to step down, but there was surprise that he had been forced out so early in what many believe could well be a protracted battle for the bank. His departure comes two weeks to the day after Bank of Scotland stunned the City by launching a £22bn hostile bid for NatWest. "The decision is no more core than having the UN in New York," he added. The Tories seized on LordLevene's remarks.
Francis Maude, the Tory Treasury spokesman, said: "This knocks on the head, once and for all, the idea that the City of London would suffer if the UK didn't join the single currency. Hundreds of workers at car giant Ford's biggest UK plant have walked out on official strike over pay as national wage talks resumed between the company and unions. Around 400 toolmakers at the huge Dagenham plant in Essex went on strike in a long-running dispute over bonus payments. The Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union said its members had been balloted and voted to take action after complaining that toolmakers in other plants, including Halewood on Merseyside, receive more money. "If our members are receiving less than their counterparts, the problem clearly has to be resolved," said a union spokesman. Meanwhile, union leaders were meeting company officials in central London at the start of three days of talks over a national pay and conditions claim. Union officials rejected the company's opening offer of a 2% rise and an increase in line with inflation in the following two years, and warned there was "real anger" among workers. The unions are seeking a two-hour cut in the working week from 39 to 37, arguing that Ford employees work more hours than other car workers in Europe. Ford is also being pressed to pay a "substantial" increase in basic wages as well as improving holidays and allowances. The unions argue that productivity at Ford plants in the UK has increased in recent years, including an 18% improvement at Dagenham.Factories at Halewood and Southampton have also seen double-figure productivity increases, they say. Tony Woodley, national officer of the Transport and General Workers Union, said: "We consider working hours to be crucial in enhancing the livelihoods of Ford workers and helping them achieve a balance between home and work. "Ford has seen year-on-year productivity improvements and workers deserve a decent settlement this year." The talks cover 28,000 workers at 16 Ford plants. Dagenham has been hit by several unofficial walkouts in recent months, mainly related to race issues. The company's president, Jac Nasser, flew to London last month for talks with national union leaders and an agreement was reached. But the atmosphere in parts of the Dagenham complex is still believed to be tense. An incident in the factory's paintshop yesterday was understood to be race-related. Thousands of workers staged a walkout from the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast yesterday in protest at the handling of a financial crisis that threatens to close theyard.. Hundreds of workers at car giant Ford's biggest UK plant have walked out on official strike over pay as national wage talks resumed between the company and unions. It's about time that Tony Blair admitted that Britain can prosper in Europe but keep the pound.". Nor was he trying to influence the political decision about joining, he said. But he insisted that the question of British entry appeared "less and less core" to the issue of the City's ability to trade successfully as a financial centre.
The latest figures also show that trade in euro-zone stocks in London was 59 per cent greater in the first half of this year than in the first half of 1998. Lord Levene stressed that his judgement was on the basis of only 10 or 11 months, and that a decision not to enter the euro could have a significantimpact on City trading. Quite the contrary - there are increasing investments in the City." The outgoing Lord Mayor, who stands down on Friday, saw no sign of that changing "unless and until there is an absolute decision that the UK is not going to join. It's not going to happen until then." He added: "At the moment, the potential downside of the UK not joining has not happened at all." Lord Levene said that the first 11 months of the euro showed that London trading in corporate bonds issued in the euro was now projected to be 25 per cent higher than trading last year in equivalent European currencies. The business was projected to be worth $1,500bn compared with $1,200bn last year. Tony Blair's hopes of winning public support for British membership of the single currency suffered a setback yesterday when the Lord Mayor of London said there was "no indication" that the City would be damaged by remaining outside it. Lord Levene of Portsoken revised the views he expressed in Febuary when, after a tour of European capitals, he warned that there could be adverse consequences if Britain remained out of the euro for four or five years. Yesterday he said: "You have to ask when that process will start After 10 or 11 months there is no sign of that. The three have been bailed to appear at Bow Street Magistrates Court on 21 January 2000. No charges have been brought against Ronald Zimet, the former chairman of Freepages, now Scoot, who is believed to have been behind Trellis, and who is understood to have fully cooperated with the inquiry.. Tony Blair's hopes of winning public support for British membership of the single currency suffered a setback yesterday when the Lord Mayor of London said there was "no indication" that the City would be damaged by remaining outside it. It is alleged that £2.4m of that was funnelled through Trellis, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands and administered in Switzerland.
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