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WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING

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FINANCIAL TIMES

SCRAPPAGE INCENTIVES REVIVE CAR DEMAND 
Car sales rose in several big European and Asian markets last month, lifted largely by government scrapping incentives aimed at reviving consumer demand. The numbers give weight to the notion that stimulus measures are pulling the global motor industry out of its deep downturn, but carmakers and industry analysts warn that sales could fall again when they expire. 

NEARLY 75 PER CENT OF PRIVATE EQUITY EXITS END WITH RECEIVER

Nearly three-quarters of all UK private equity exits ended in administration in the three months to June, underlining the scale of challenges facing the industry as the value of new buy-out deals shrank to a 14-year low. Out of 108 buy-out exits this year, nine were secondary buy-outs, 25 were trade sales and 74 ended in receivership, according to research published yesterday by the Centre for Management Buy-Out Research at Nottingham University.

CORPORATE FRAUD LOSSES SOAR TO £960M

UK corporations lost £960m to publicly reported fraud in the half year to June 30, the highest six-month total since at least 2003, when BDO Stoy Hayward began tracking corporate fraud. There were 182 cases with combined losses of £960m reported to authorities to the end of June, compared with 121 cases and losses of £705m at the same time last year. 

STANFORD CFO INTENDS TO ADMIT FRAUD CHARGES

James Davis, the chief financial officer of Stanford Financial who is facing charges related to an alleged $7bn fraud at the group, intends to plead guilty to the three charges against him, the Financial Times has learnt.

THE TIMES

MADOFF FEEDER FORCED TO SELL $310M ART COLLECTION
New York Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, is forcing a hedge fund manager who advised his clients to invest with Bernard Madoff to sell off his $310m (£189m) art collection.  Merkin, who is one of several businessmen named by prosecutors as “feeders” to Madoff, allegedly made $470m in management fees from $2.4bn in bad investments..

MAYFAIR RENTS ARE NO LONGER MONOPOLY MONEY

An exodus of hedge funds from Mayfair in Central London, the world’s most exclusive office district, has cut the cost of renting premises in the area by half in the past two years. Property managers have reported that office lets in  Mayfair have fallen from a peak of £120 per sq ft in mid-2007 to as little as £55.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

HARRY POTTER PUBLISHER BLOOMSBURY BUYS TOTTEL
Bloomsbury, the publisher of the Harry Potter novels, has acquired Tottel Publishing, the Irish professional and academic specialist, for £9.96m. It comes after the acquisition of Methuen, Berg Publishers, and The Arden Shakespeare. Bloomsbury said it now has a “solid platform” in the professional and academic sector and will continue to expand.

BLOCKBUSTERS HELP BLU-RAY SALES SPIN UP BY 231 PER CENT
Blockbuster films including Batman’s The Dark Knight and James Bond’s Quantum of Solace have helped to boost sales of Blu-ray discs in the UK. With 1,500 Blu-ray releases now available, more than 3.1m of the discs have been sold in 2009 to date, a rise of 231per cent on the same period last year, despite the recession.

WALL STREET JOURNAL

VALENTINO DEBT DEAL LIKELY BY END OF SUMMER
Valentino Fashion Group’s lenders are seeking to renegotiate the Italian luxury group’s debt by the end of the summer amid falling sales across the luxury goods industry, according to people familiar with the matter. UniCredit, Mediobanca and Citigroup are pressing Valentino  and its owner, the UK based private-equity fund Permira, to agree to new lending terms.

NOMURA TO BUY CITI’S JAPANESE TRUST UNIT

Nomura Holdings reached an agreement to buy Citigroup’s Japanese trust banking unit for 19bn yen. Nomura Trust & Banking aims to complete the all-cash acquisition of NikkoCiti Trust & Banking in October ,subject to regulatory approvals and deal terms. 

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