Saturday Papers: Santander wins Polish bank stake auction - bid news and gossip

Financial Times

* Santander won the auction to purchase 70% stake in Bank Zachodni WBK, one of Poland’s largest banks, from Allied Irish Banks for £2.46bn; the acquisitive bank defeated the price offered by rival bidders BNP Paribas and PKO.

* Private equity group Doughty Hanson acquires Equity Trust for €350m from its buy-out owner Candover.

* A flat in Monaco owned by British property entrepreneur Christian Candy has been sold for €240m in one of the most expensive residential property sales.

* Stephen Elop, Nokia’s incoming chief executive has promised to hit back at Apple and Google in the US market, which now leads the world in smartphone technology; the company will reveal a new smartphone, the N8, at its annual product trade fair in London next week.

* The top 10 hedge fund managers have earned more than $153bn for their investors since they were founded, a study by LCH Investments showed.

* Foxtons, the estate agency, is to launch an expansion campaign that will almost double the number of branches.

* Jim O’Neill has been named chairman of Goldman Sachs’ asset management division.

* Azure Properties is to agree a partnership with US private equity groups to build up a portfolio of hotels expected to grow to close to £1bn.

* Libyan Africa Investment Portfolio – a $6bn sovereign wealth fund set up by the Libyan government – has hired Frederic Marino, former Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns trader, for investment advice.

The Daily Telegraph

* Mears, the social housing maintenance group, has agreed a deal to acquire eight contracts from its collapsed rival Connaught, potentially saving 1,000 jobs.