Tata nears $2bn car deal

TATA is expected to seal its $2 billion takeover of Jaguar and Land Rover, two of Britain’s most famous car marques, in 10 days. Sources close to the talks between the Indian group and Ford, which is selling the companies, said substantive negotiations were complete and an announcement was planned the week after Easter. Tata is expected to reaffirm its commitment to the carmakers’ business plans and staff levels.

Buyouts eye e-mail marketer

PRIVATE-EQUITY firms, including 3i and August Equity, have approached e-mail marketer TMN with buyout proposals. The company is being pursued by Tangent, former Carlton TV boss Michael Green’s direct marketing firm, which is run by his nephew, Nick. It made a £40m proposal last week.

Sea change at Lloyd’s List

INFORMA, owner of Lloyd’s List, the daily paper of the maritime industry, will this week switch chairman Peter Rigby to the role of chief executive to fill the gap left by David Gilbertson. He has been poached to run Emap’s business-to-business arm, whose assets include Construction News and the Cannes Lions advertising festival, now in the hands of Apax and Guardian Media Group.

The departure is a huge blow for Informa, which was pieced together over a decade by the double act of Gilbertson and Rigby. They teamed up in 1998 when Rigby’s conference group IBC combined with Gilbertson’s LLP.

EMI jobs ‘under scrutiny’

EMI boss Guy Hands has sent a letter to every employee in the group’s UK recorded-music division telling them that their jobs are officially under scrutiny. Hands, whose private-equity firm Terra Firma paid £2.6 billion for EMI last year, announced 2,000 job cuts in January - one-third of the workforce. Those in marketing, sales and distribution will be worst hit while the A&R (artists and repertoire) division, which is responsible for finding new artists for the label, should be relatively unscathed.

Taking a bet on IT

THE founder of the internet betting company Sportingbet, Mark Blandford, has invested more than £1.5m in Mfuse, a technology firm that designs software to enable gambling via mobile phones. Blandford has backed the business as part of a £2.6m fundraising. Existing shareholder Bestport Ventures has contributed £850,000. Mfuse already counts bookmakers including Ladbrokes, Paddy Power and Stan James as clients.

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