Tuesday Papers: BC Partners offers 'early bird' discount in new fund - bid news and gossip

Financial Times

* Private equity group BC Partners is offering investors in a planned €6bn fund an “early bird” discount of 5% off its fees.

* Mark Hurd is to become co-president of software maker Oracle only a month after being forced out as head of Hewlett-Packard.

* The average hedge fund returned 0.17% in August, according to preliminary month-end numbers from Hedge Fund Research; the Man Group’s $19bn AHL fund returned 6.2%; Odey Asset Management’s European fund was down 4.12%; Brevan Howard was flat; the $700m Conquest macro fund returned 10.96%.

* The board of Gartmore Growth Opportunities served Gartmore notice of termination for the management of the fund on Monday after Gervais Williams announced his resignation last week.

* Upmarket retailers have accounted for more than three-quarters of property acquisitions in Bond Street in the past year as demand for luxury goods grows, CB Richard Ellis, the property consultancy, said.

* Macquarie Group has warned first-half profits could fall by a quarter due to weakening market conditions.

* Craneware wants to make purchases after its profits rose 24%.

The Daily Telegraph

* The back-to-school season and summer discounting helped to drive a 2.8pc rise in total retail sales in August compared with a year earlier.

* Michel Barnier, European commissioner for the internal market and services, is set to criticise Britain's proposed banking levy as he calls for urgent action on designing a common tax on the industry.

* Central bankers from across the world will meet today to agree a series of changes to the amount of capital banks are required to hold, alongside other measures designed to make the world's financial system safer.