The appointment of administrators from Deloitte to Merchant Inns, Sir John Ritblat’s fledgeling chain of upmarket pubs with rooms, has sparked a flurry of interest from prospective purchasers, with analysts citing Greene King and Marston’s as possible suitors after their recent rights issues.

Industry whispers had also suggested that Marlylebone Warwick Balfour, owner of the Malmaison and Hotel du Vin chains, might be running a sliderule over a couple of its larger properties, although that particular bit of speculation looks somewhat wide of the mark.

Although Colliers Robert Barry, the agent in the estimated £25 million auction, is thought to have fielded dozens of expressions of interest, most people reckon the sale is shaping up as a two-horse race between Ritblat and Robert Breare, his former partner in the venture.

If both men end up bidding by the November 6 deadline, it promises to be a fascinating duel. Breare left the venture a few weeks ago after what one source described as “the mother of all arguments” with the former British Land boss. Sounds like it could be a heavyweight battle

A survey of 2,000 London bankers and lawyers for urbanmole.com found that 31 per cent thought that they could survive on their savings for up to nine months if they lost their job. Another 27 per cent reckoned they could last six months. I’m unsure whether I’m surprised on the upside or the downside. I’d probably last a couple of days, max.

The other day I opined that London Clubs International might consider selling The Casino at The Empire, in Leicester Square, after fielding unsolicited approaches. It seems the group has no intention of selling, although rumours of a sale of Fifty, its joint venture in St James’s Street with Robert Earl, to a Russian high-roller, refuse to die down

Steven Rattner, the former head of the Obama Administration’s car industry task force, has provided a damning account of what he found in Detroit when investigating the case for a bailout for the big carmakers. He tells Fortune magazine that he and his team were “shocked, even beyond our low expectations, by the poor state of both GM and Chrysler”. He says that he was alarmed by the “stunningly poor management” at both car giants, claiming that General Motors had “perhaps the weakest finance operation any of us had ever seen in a major company”. Ouch.

Wardrobe space for shirtmaker
In the blue corner: Nick Wheeler

Nick Wheeler, the latest addition to the board of my-wardrobe.com, the online fashion retailer, should know a thing or two about clothes. A clue to his expertise is found in his two middle names — Charles Tyrwhitt, one of Britain’s best-known shirtmakers. And if he were seeking advice on entrepreneurship, he could do worse than ask his wife, Chrissie Rucker, founder of The White Company, the luxury goods group.

Wheeler, who these days spends two days a week at Charles Tyrwhitt, set it up as a mail-order shirt supplier while at university. He opened his first shop, in Jermyn Street, in 1997 and today the business, with a £50 million turnover, has several other stores in Britain, as well as outlets in Paris, New York, Madrid, Kuwait and Singapore.

At my-wardrobe.com, Wheeler joins a board bolstered recently by the arrival, as chairman, of Jean-Marc Bouhelier, well-known in the City from his time with Merrill Lynch, Paribas and Instinet. Such heavyweight experience on the board of a private company is normally a sign of big ambitions.

However, a spokeswoman for Sarah Curran, my-wardrobe.com’s founder, says there are “no plans as yet” to cash in with a stock market flotation or a sale, adding: “Sarah’s mind is open, but for now she’s focusing on building the brand.” A recent £2 million fundraising has provided the means to launch a menswear range and total revenue in the quarter July-to-September leapt to £1.22 million, up by 84 per cent.

More than one engine with royal pretensions

Cox & Kings, the upmarket travel group, is gearing up for the launch in January of its own luxury train in India, the Maharajas’ Express. The £10 million train, a joint venture with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, will travel between Mumbai and Delhi and Delhi and Kolkata. Given the all-inclusive prices ranging from $800 to $2,500 per person per day, the “fit for royalty” boast looks fair. But Cox & Kings is a little miffed at the decision by Thomas Cook to rebadge its Deccan Odyssey train as the Indian Maharaja. “It’s like relaunching the 08.19 to Slough as the Orient-Express,” sniffs a source.

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