Caring’s Mayfair move

RICHARD CARING, the billionaire retail entrepreneur who owns the exclusive Wentworth golf club in Surrey and The Ivy restaurant in the West End, is turning his hand to luxury apartments after striking a £250m deal to buy a site in Grosvenor Square next to the US embassy in London.

Caring is understood to have beaten competition from 38 parties, including Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster’s private property company. It is the first time Caring has attempted a significant residential scheme in the UK.

Rover’s return from China

THE Chinese car group that bought the assets of MG Rover two years ago will unveil plans this week for a return to making cars at Longbridge, the Birmingham motor factory.

At a ribbon-cutting ceremony, Nanjing Automobile Corporation (NAC) will fulfil its promise to restart production of the MG TF sports car at Longbridge.

The factory start-up was scheduled for next month, but preproduction models have not met the standard NAC has set. Now the best estimate is for the TF assembly line to be in full operation in the autumn, with the first cars available to customers at the turn of the year.

Debt firms rapped

THE British Bankers’ Association will this week demand that debt-management companies agree to slash upfront fees on insolvency agreements. The hardline approach over individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs) comes as banks become increasingly alarmed at the structure and size of fees and the marketing of products.

Under an IVA, a lender agrees to write off part of an individual’s debts in return for repayments over a set period. Sales of IVAs have risen sharply – doubling last year to 45,000.

But many banks are unhappy about high upfront fees, which can be as large as £5,000, because about 20% of IVAs fail within two years, leaving the banks with unpaid debts.

New crisis at Kwik Save

THE troubled grocery chain Kwik Save is facing a new cash crisis, according to insiders. The company received a £50m rescue package in February. But late last week Arla Foods stopped delivering milk to the grocery chain, citing “payment problems”. Unconfirmed reports suggest that Kwik Save’s bread supplies have also been stopped at a number of stores within the past few days. Kwik Save declared thousands of redundancies in early April. Arla would not comment. Nobody from Kwik Save was available for comment.

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