LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Royal Bank of Scotland will begin marketing the initial public offer of its Williams & Glyn spin-off later this year ahead of a flotation expected in the second half of 2016. The Sunday Telegraph reported that, with Bank of America Merrill Lynch advising the lender on the process, RBS will face costs that will wipe out the £1.5bn it is expected to generate from the sale.
The flotation of Worldpay is expected to be announced this week despite two late takeover bids by European rivals. With an announcement about the initial public offer expected last Friday, directors and private equity owners Advent International and Bain Capital plan to meet on Sunday night to decide whether the company, which was spun out of RBS five years ago and would now be large enough to leap straight into the FTSE 100, should accept bids that value it at more than £6.5bn or to go ahead with the float instead, which was said to be "almost done".

Royal Bank of Scotland will begin marketing the initial public offer of its Williams & Glyn spin-off later this year ahead of a flotation expected in the second half of 2016. The Sunday Telegraph reported that, with Bank of America Merrill Lynch advising the lender on the process, RBS will face costs that will wipe out the £1.5bn it is expected to generate from the sale.

Trinity Mirror is close to completing the acquisition of regional competitor Local World, owner of the Gloucestershire Echo, Western Morning News and Essex Chronicle, which is also 39%-owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust and 21% by the Iliffe family. The deal, which the Sunday Times said could spur further buying in the sector, had met resistance from the Iliffes, who are expected to take back some or all of the 39 titles they swapped for a stake in the group when it was set up three years ago.

Elsewhere in the media sector, FTSE 350 giant UBM hopes to make $0.75bn after putting its PR Newswire division on the block, with buyer interest expected from Warren Buffet's Business Wire or other US-based players. As the London-listed company sharpens its focuses on events, new chief executive Tim Cobbold will use some of the proceeds from the sale to reduce the company's debt pile, the Sunday Times reported, with some of the proceeds used for an acquisition warchest.

Also benefiting from the media sector, a raft of companies will soon hear whether they are among the first wave to win new BBC technology outsourcing contracts worth up to £230m. Sources told the Sunday Telegraph that the Beeb's Project Aurora to overhaul the organisation's IT system will see contracts split into pieces to give licence fee payers better value for money, with companies said to be circling including current provider Atos, BT, Capita, Serco, IBM, HCL and HP.

The newly formed UK North Sea regulator, the Oil and Gas Authority, has set out plans to increase the cost of licence fees that smaller exploration companies say will hurt investment from the small players that have extended the region's life. The Sunday Times said the new body wants to up the annual fees companies must pay to keep their licenses to £4,000-£8,000, compared to a typical licence holder's payment of £1,000-£2,000.

Tesco continues to receive interest from potential buyers of its remaining Asian arms, after the sale of its Korean chain was agreed last week. The grocery giant, which is looking to strengthen its balance sheet, operates businesses in Thailand and Malaysia but these now look 'vulnerable' after the sale of its largest Asian holding, according to sources cited by the Mail on Sunday.

Kiwi investor Equity Partners Infrastructure Company has until the end of September to drum up institutional investor backing to arrange the acquisition of UK motorway service station operator Moto before some big rival will be allowed to swoop in. The New Zealand outfit was said to be attempting to exercise its right to make the first offer to Australian owner Macquarie, the Sunday Times reported, before bids are allowed from other interested parties such as a consortium formed by Morgan Stanley, 3i Infrastructure and Deutsche Bank.

Plans for a London flotation of shoe seller Office could be derailed if talks with a South African rival lead to a sale. Office's private equity owners, Silverfleet Capital, have reportedly been approached by Johannesburg-based Truworths and others about a possible £300m takeover, according to the Sunday Times.

Better Capital's Jaeger fashion chain has been targetted by entrepreneurial sector veteran Harold Tillman, who has instructed corporate advisers as he looks to persuade shareholders to back his turnaround plan. The Mail on Sunday quoted Tillman, who ran the business profitably for eight years before losing control mid-restructure, as saying: "I'm convinced that I can fix the business."

The Spanish owners of Marble Arch tower near London's Hyde Park have kicked off plans to raise funds to rebuild the tower as an 18-storey block of flats with cinema and office complex. Sources told the Sunday Times that a property agency had been retained to find debt financing but that owner Almacantar would consider a 50:50 joint venture if the partner could provide debt at below-market rates.

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