Sunday Papers: Debts force Newcastle Airport sale - bids, comment and tips

The Sunday Times

* Newcastle Airport has been put up for sale as the councils that control it fight to reduce its ballooning debts.

* Paragon Group, one of Britain’s last buy-to-let mortgage lenders, is eyeing a bid for a £6 billion block of home loans being sold by the troubled Irish bank CHL.

* The backers of Europe’s biggest second-hand car dealer, Clayton Dubilier & Rice, are leading a pack of potential bidders for the RAC, the roadside rescue business.

* Arkadiy Abramovich, the 20-year-old son of Roman Abramovich, the billionaire owner of Chelsea football club, has bought 26% of Crosby Asset Management for about £3 million.

* Three private equity firms - Bridgepoint Development Capital, GCP and NBGI - have joined the fight to buy Thompson & Morgan, the leading supplier of seeds and plants.

* Virgin Active, the gym chain controlled by Sir Richard Branson, is closing in on a deal to buy Esporta, its smaller rival.

* ENRC billionaire plots audacious boardroom shake-up to force out chairman and City grandees following row over Congo deal.

Comment

* Hammered over big losses, assailed by victims of the gulf spill and tied in knots in Russia. Can BP’s boss steer the oil giant into calmer waters?

* Without a float Glencore would have had to stop buying assets. So the traders soon agreed to go public and the man at the helm is buzzing.

* What would happen if lenders like HSBC were to move overseas? Not much at all, says the Independent Commision on Banking.