It’s also the first fully funded offer that anybody has made for

It’s also the first fully funded offer that anybody has made for the company.”Pubmaster said its offer was “generous” and “represented full value”, and criticised W&D’s management over their rival buyout offer made in April at 460p a share.Ralph Findlay, the chief executive of W&D, attacked Pubmaster’s attempt to compare yesterday’s offer with the breweries’ share price of 355p before the offer period started, in August.”It is clear that both the market and the sector have significantly improved since a year ago. Pubmaster is trying to buy [W&D] on the cheap,” Mr Findlay said.Two of W&D’s main investors ­ Britannic Asset Management and Tweedy, Browne ­ have criticised Pubmaster’s offer as too low. Shareholders have 60 days to decide whether to accept.Shares in W&D fell 2p yesterday to 476.5p.. Barbara Cassani, the chief executive of Go, was £5m richer last night after British Airways finally sold the low-cost airline for £110m to a management buyout team backed by the venture capital group 3i. Barbara Cassani, the chief executive of Go, was £5m richer last night after British Airways finally sold the low-cost airline for £110m to a management buyout team backed by the venture capital group 3i.
Ms Cassani, who has been at the helm since the launch of Go three years ago, will retain a 4 per cent stake in the airline while a further 18.5 per cent will be spread among the airline’s 750 staff.

The bulk of that 18.5 per cent will be shared among a group of 19 senior managers who have paid for their shares in a combination of cash and “sweated equity”. All other employees and new members of staff will receive options free.Ms Cassani said she was “ecstatic” that the deal has finally been completed and said the aim of 3i and the management was to float the airline in the next two years. “People look at a company like easyJet which has floated and now has a market value of £1bn and think why shouldn’t that be us,” she said.BA, which invested an initial £25m in Go, will receive £80m in cash on completion of the deal and £20m in loan notes. It will receive a further £10m provided Go is sold by 3i within five years.Rod Eddington, BA’s chief executive, said the deal represented an “excellent” return on its initial investment three years ago. BA decided last year to exit the “no-frills” airline market, which is dominated by Go, Ryanair and easyJet, as part of its strategy to focus on business class passengers and reduce lower-priced seats. It entered exclusive talks over the sale of Go with 3i in March.The Stansted-based airline carried 2.8 million passengers last year and made a profit of £4m compared with a loss of £20m in 1999-2000.

This year it expects to carry 4 million passengers on its network of 30 routes, including 600,000-700,000 from its newly opened hub at Bristol. Go is also increasing domestic flights from Glasgow and Edinburgh to cities such as Belfast and Bristol.For 3i, the deal marks a further move into the financing of larger management buyouts. In the last 18 months it has backed buyouts at Fairview Homes, Allied Textiles and Peter Black. It beat off competition from KLM, backed by the Carlyle group, Electra and Barclays Private Capital to finance the Go deal..

Canary Wharf, the giant office development in London’s Docklands, has pledged to return over £2bn to its shareholders ahead of schedule. Canary Wharf, the giant office development in London’s Docklands, has pledged to return over £2bn to its shareholders ahead of schedule.
The property company said yesterday it would begin the return of capital immediately with a share buyback scheme for part of the £2bn, which is to be returned over next four years The process had not been expected to begin until next year. Some analysts estimated that the group could eventually afford to return up to £4bn to shareholders.Canary Wharf, whose shares closed up 5.5 per cent yesterday at 558p, said it would put forward a plan on the best way to return the bulk of the funds at its annual meeting in November.Current redistributable reserves were estimated at £450m. The rest of the money will become available as the group securitises more buildings in the 13.5 million-sq-ft Canary Wharf estate, which will be completed by 2004.The building programme is two or three years ahead of schedule, as offices in the development have been taken up by businesses much more quickly than expected, with many of London’s leading investment banks now based there.Paul Reichmann, the company’s chairman, said: “This share buyback and other measures now being undertaken by the company are important first steps in fulfilling our intention to return capital to shareholders.”When Canary Wharf listed in 1999, its prospectus said it would return excess capital to shareholders “in due course” It has not paid dividends as a consequence. A company representative pointed out that it will be returning four times the £520m raised on flotation.The company is also expected to announce its plans for developments beyond the 13.5m sq ft that is under way.