Friday Papers: Berkshire Hathaway to buy out Wesco - bid news and gossip

Financial Times

* Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has offered to buy the remaining shares it does not already own in Wesco Financial, a subsidiary managed by the billionaire investor’s longtime business partner, Charles Munger.

* Hewlett-Packard on Thursday took another swipe at Dell’s deal to take over 3Par, raising its bid for the data storage company to $27 a share just hours after Dell had narrowly outbid its rival.

* F&C Asset Management shares fell on Thursday after the asset manager targeted by activist investor Edward Bramson halved its interim dividend to pay down debt.

* Segro, the industrial and distribution property specialist, returned to profit reporting 1.1% growth in net asset value per share to 366p.

* BP’s chairman is nursing a paper loss of almost £2m after the spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April.

* Toyota has recalled another 1.1m vehicles in the US and Canada, bringing the total to 10.9m over the past year.

* Glencore plans to list its main gold business next year in a move that people close to the largest commodities trader expect will value the operation at least $5bn.

* Mosaic and Agrium, the partners of PotashCorp in Canada’s fertiliser cartel, have launched a campaign defending the industry’s pricing and marketing arrangements in a move that could impede BHP Billiton’s $39bn takeover bid for PotashCorp.

The Guardian

* Diageo saw operating profits edge up 2% to £2.75bn in the year to the end of June; revenues climbed 5% to £9.78bn.

* First-half sales at L'Oréal rise 6.6% to €1.36bn.