Round-up of Wednesday's business pages

LONDON (Reuters) - Here is a round-up of the main stories from the business pages on Wednesday.

The Times

RIGHTS ISSUE BY BRADFORD & BINGLEY WILL COST 55 MILLION POUNDS TO RAISE JUST 400 MILLION POUNDS

According to information released to shareholders of Bradford & Bingley (BB.L: Quote, Profile, Research), the buy-to-let lender is embarking on one of the UK's most expensive rights issues as it attempts to raise 400 million pounds at a cost of 55 million pounds. The bank's stock fell 16 percent on Monday to a low of 42 pence, which is 13 pence below the rights issue subscription price. That left sub-underwriting investors, including Standard Life (SL.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Legal & General (LGEN.L: Quote, Profile, Research), who agreed to bail B&B out days ago with a notional 42 million pound loss.

DUDLEY HANGS ON TO TNK-BP JOB, BUT REPRIEVE MAY BE ONLY TEMPORARY

Robert Dudley, chief executive of BP's (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) Russian joint venture TNK-BP, has held on to his job after an extraordinary meeting of TNK-BP management voted 3-2 against his dismissal in response to a demand from a quartet of billionaire Russian investors. The four own 50 percent of the company through their AAR consortium, with BP holding the other half. The Russian side is expected to press once more for Dudley's resignation when TNK-BP International, the parent company, holds its board meeting on Friday.

MYNERS BACKS ROSE LEADERSHIP OF M&S AS INVESTORS PREPARE TO PASS JUDGMENT

The former chairman of Marks & Spencer (MKS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) has leapt to the defence of current head Sir Stuart Rose before a possible revolt of institutional investors at the retailer's annual meeting on Wednesday. Paul Myners, a close friend of Rose, said there was no one better equipped to revive the retailer, adding: "Stuart is more likely to get it right than anyone else." He said he anticipated a full show of support for Rose from the 2,000 private shareholders due to attend the meeting.

The Daily Telegraph