Mark Kleinman

Exclusive: Martin Property Group - the only fully financed bidder for Poundland which wants to buy the discount retailer as a going concern - has urged owner Gordon Brothers to immediately release money held within the business to salvage a rescue deal.

EXCLUSIVE: Gordon Brothers, the majority owner of Poundland, has made more than £18m from its brief ownership of the discount retailer - and could reap millions more if it collapses - according to a presentation made to the government this week.

Revealed: Will Wright, a top executive at the Bridgepoint-backed restructuring firm Interpath Advisory, is in talks to join the professional services firm Grant Thornton, along with two other partners, amid tensions with its leadership team.

Exclusive: Poundland's owner, Gordon Brothers, is seeking to have an evidence session with MPs on the business select committee held behind closed doors next week to avoid a discussion on the discount retailer's future turning into "a show trial".

Exclusive: Allwyn, the National Lottery operator, is parting company with three more of its top executives as it seeks to arrest an alarming slide in sales and returns to good causes; staff are being briefed on the company’s latest restructuring now. Full story online soon.

Revealed: A major supplier to Poundland has urged the government to “thoroughly” investigate Gordon Brothers, the discount retailer’s majority owner, as it continues to hold talks with prospective buyers amid a threat to thousands of high street jobs.

EXCLUSIVE: The USOPC's decision to evaluate the sale of a stake in Team USA's commercial rights - which could value them at several billion dollars - is another landmark moment for the business of sport during a period of unprecedented investor interest.

Exclusive: The US Olympic & Paralympic Committee is working with financial advisors to explore options including the sale of a stake in the organisation's commercial rights ahead of the LA Olympics in 2028 and Salt Lake City Winter Games in 2034. Full story on @SkyNews shortly.

Revealed: The boss of the airlines trade association has warned that a little-noticed measure in the Budget to extend a carbon adjustment mechanism to aviation fuels risks driving up fares for passengers.

Exclusive: Gordon Brothers, the under-fire owner of Poundland, has defended its stewardship of the discount retailer in a letter to government sent days after the chain's bosses were forced to file a notice of intention to appoint administrators.

Exclusive: Barclays will this week begin making compensation offers to customers who were mis-sold motor finance products, making it the first major lender to do so ahead of the outcome of a string of legal challenges to the FCA’s £9bn redress scheme.

Revealed: The business minister Kate Dearden is to hold talks with Poundland's bosses in the next few days amid frantic efforts to avert the discount chain's collapse and with growing political scrutiny of its owner, the US-based investor Gordon Brothers.

Exclusive: National Grid has struck a deal to develop Britain’s biggest electricity substation on Teesside, paving the way for the construction of what could become Europe’s biggest data centre complex.

Exclusive: The private equity firm TDR Capital has struck a roughly €400m deal to buy Lovehoney Group - whose brands include Fifty Shades of Grey and Amorana - as it seeks to build a leading global platform in the fragmented sexual wellness industry.

Revealed: Virgin Media O2 is to cut as many as 4,000 jobs - equating to about a quarter of its workforce - as part of a far-reaching restructuring, some of the details of which will be set out alongside the telecoms group's third-quarter results next week.

Exclusive: Martin Property Group has reconfirmed its interest in a solvent takeover of Poundland which could save more than 10,000 jobs, having contacted the standby administrators, AlixPartners, yesterday with details of its proposed bid.

Exclusive: Sir Mike Wigston, a former Chief of the Air Staff who retired from the RAF in 2023, is joining the London-listed private equity firm Bridgepoint as a partner amid burgeoning interest in defence and security-related investments.

Revealed: Finsbury Food Group, the specialist cake producer which was taken private from the London Stock Exchange in 2023, is to change hands again after its private equity owner, DBAY Advisors, hired bankers to run an auction.

Revealed: Poundland suppliers are preparing to curtail deliveries to the chain amid concerns that they won’t be paid on time after its owner restricted access to its finances, with a notice of intention to appoint administrators likely as early as today.

In my column for today’s @CityAM, with Poundland on the brink of collapse, its owners shouldn’t discount a probe into events; why JPMorgan’s response to the Budget bank tax rise may be the sector’s most telling; and can someone buy John Healey a map?