Ian Smith, the former chief executive of Reed Elsevier, did not enjoy the best of weeks after being dumped rather unceremoniously by Tony Habgood, chairman of the science and medical publishing group.

A £1.1 million severance package might soften the blow for Mr Smith, but I understand that his abrupt departure from Reed has cost him another FTSE 100 boardroom role, too. He was being lined up to become a non-executive director of Centrica, the owner of British Gas. The appointment was not a certainty, but he had already gone some way through the recruitment process as Centrica seeks to fill the seat previously occupied by Paul Walsh, chief executive of Diageo, who stepped down from the board this year.

Having learnt of Mr Smith’s departure from Reed, however, the energy company decided to abandon his appointment to its non-executive ranks. The reason? Ironically — given the question marks that have arisen over the ability of full-time company bosses to combine their day jobs with non-executive roles — Centrica wants a serving chief executive to take the post.

Sir David Walker, whose final review of corporate governance in the banking sector will be published this month, has prompted uncertainty in some boardrooms by suggesting that non-executives need to spend the equivalent of a month each year fulfilling their non-executive obligations.

That’s now likely to be diluted in order to avoid a stampede of directors towards the boardroom exit. In itself, that underlines concerns about a dearth of talent willing to fill these increasingly avoidable roles.

It is hardly new news that America’s obsession with litigation has been heading at accelerating speed across the Atlantic — so a company being set up to tap into Britain’s fast-growing litigation funding market could prove to be the pioneer that opens the floodgates.

Alvaro has one big draw: its chief executive is to be Ian Rosenblatt, founder of the eponymous firm of solicitors and one of the best-connected lawyers in the City.

The company, which is planning an initial public offering to raise about £50 million, will invest in and manage a diversified portfolio of contingent litigation cases, spreading risk by size, type and duration of case. It will be chaired by Richard Jewson, former head of the timber merchant of the same name and now the Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk.

Alvaro will avoid any conflict-of-interest issues by not investing in cases where Rosenblatt Solicitors has a role, but there is plenty to aim at.

Alvaro expects to invest the full IPO proceeds in cases within 18 months of its listing. Rosenblatt, an opera obsessive whose recent 50th birthday was celebrated with a surprise recital at St John’s Smith Square attended by hundreds of friends, will be hoping that Alvaro hits the right notes with its investors.

Luke Johnson may be stepping down as the chairman of Channel 4 in the new year, but that will be far from his final involvement in the media industry.

Johnson is co-producing The Flaw, a film about the causes of the global financial crisis. Its title is a reference to the admission made by Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, that his regulation-light, free-market ideology was flawed.

The film will be directed by David Sington, who made the acclaimed Film4 documentary In the Shadow of the Moon, and co-produced by Stephen Lambert, the former creative director of RDF and inventor of television programmes including Faking It and Secret Millionaire. If The Flaw is anything like Johnson, expect a spiky exegesis of the events that nearly pushed the global banking system into outright meltdown.

Prospective bidders for Matalan, the discount retailer, have been given until this week to submit offers.

The paucity of sizeable deals involving private equity for the past 18 months means that this auction is bound to be watched by the industry as a litmus test of the returning appetite for big leveraged buyouts. CVC, which made an unsolicited approach a month or so ago; Advent, which is employing the services of Richard Baker, the former Boots boss; and Cinven have all shown interest in Matalan.

But doubts persist about whether bidders will meet the mooted £1.5 billion price tag of John Hargreaves, the chain’s founder and controlling shareholder. This year’s Christmas trading performance will be crucial if Hargreaves is to hit the jackpot again.

• Mark Kleinman is City editor of Sky News; skynews.com/kleinman

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