Sunday newspaper round-up: Nationwide, Direct Line, Rolls-Royce
By Alexander Bueso
Date: Sunday 17 Mar 2024
(Sharecast News) - Nationwide's bid to create the UK's second-largest savings and loans group by taking over Virgin Money may be derailed if its members get a say on whether the deal goes through or not. It would take just 500 Nationwide members depositing £50 each one to convene a special meeting and ask for a vote on the deal. Furthermore, preparations for a vote would keep Nationwide from meeting the 4 April deadline for making a binding offer under Takeover Panel rules. However, the society says that its existing legal advice is that no vote is required. - Financial Mail on Sunday
The boss of Belgian insurer Ageas grabbed a plane and headed to China at the weekend to meet officials from Fosun, his largest shareholder. His intent? To bolster support for his attempts to take over Direct Line Group. More specifically, Hans de Cuyper needs Fosun's would rely on Fosun's support should he able to entice the UK insurer into accepting a cash-and-shares bid after it rejected its first two proposals. - The Sunday Times
Calls are mounting on Nationwide to give its 16m members a say in its proposed acquisition of Virgin Money for £2.9bn. Just under a fortnight ago, the outfit unveiled a 220p a share offer for the high street lender. The transaction would see the building society join the big league of retail banking. However, it would also bring with it greater risk. Nationwide would also be taking on the old Northern Rock's mortgage business and deliver a big payday for Sir Richard Branson, who stands to reap £400m from the sale. The latter may make some Nationwide members uncomfortable. - Guardian
Rolls-Royce will invest £55m in order to meet increased demand for its large civil aircraft engines, creating 300 jobs in the process. Half of that investment and two-thirds of the new positions would go to its site in Derby. and the remainder to Dahlewitz, Germany. From 2025 the engineer was now anticipating to deliver 40% more engines per year than over the preceding 10 years. - Financial Mail on Sunday
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