'Ritblat to make a move for Merchant Inns?'

"Property tycoon Sir John Ritblat, the former British Land chairman, is expected to table a bid this week for Merchant Inns, the pubs group he half owned before it went into administration in October with debts of more than £33m. The chain of seven pubs in the Home Counties, where Ritblat teamed up with pubs operator Robert Breare in 2007, could fetch up to £20m. More than 300 trade creditors are owned nearly £1.2m and the taxman a further £1m while unsecured creditors, owed £12m, will get nothing. Merchant Inns' bank Coutts, owned by Royal Bank of Scotland, will get back £14m of loans while Ritblat is owed £13m." - Mail on Sunday​

"Two more members of the 'Sandy Lane set' of Barbados billionaires, which includes veteran currency trader Joe Lewis and horse-racing magnates JP McManus and John Magnier, have secretly built stakes in Mitchells & Butlers (M&B). Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith - both with backgrounds in betting shops - have separately used nominees and front companies to buy substantial blocks of shares in the pub company, which used provisions under the Companies Act to discover the identities of the two men. The holdings will add to the pressure on M&B, and its chairman Simon Laffin, who faces being ejected at the group's annual meeting next month." - Observer​

"The bitter battle for control of Mitchells & Butlers took a further twist this weekend. It has emerged that Michael Tabor, Dermot Desmond and Derrick Smith, three big names from the horseracing world, own more than five per cent of the company between them. The three are associates of Lewis, who owns 23 per cent of M&B through his Piedmont vehicle. They are also business associates of John Magnier and JP McManus, two Irish tycoons who jointly control a 17 per cent stake in the company. Friends of McManus, Magnier and Lewis have denied any suggestion the investors are working together in respect of their holdings. If they were, they would be obliged under City rules to admit they were acting as a concert party and launch a formal takeover bid." - Sunday Times​