PRESS DIGEST - British business - July 16

The Times

CO-OP WRAPS UP SOMERFIELD DEAL

It is expected that the Co-Operative Group will on Wednesday unveil its long-awaited 1.6 billion pound takeover of Somerfield. The acquisition would make the Co-op the fifth-biggest supermarket chain in Britain, with over 3,000 stores and annual sales of 10 billion pounds. The Co-op is unlikely to reveal the number of Somerfield stores that it expects to sell to larger rivals until the Office of Fair Trading studies the acquisition, however, it is thought that 120 of Somerfield's stores may be sold on.

C&W THINKS AGAIN OVER TRANSFER OF PENSIONS RISKS

Cable & WirelessCW.L is poised to make a decision on whether to offload around one billion pounds of risks associated with its pensions schemes. It is understood that pension trustees at C&W plan to meet next week to consider the proposals and that specialist insurer Paternoster is in the running. C&W's pension scheme is worth about two billion pounds and the portion under review covers over 10,000 workers who have retired.

WARY INVESTORS RECOIL FROM WHAT THEY SEE IN THE MIRROR