Electric Business

Controversial payday lender Wonga is to write off all outstanding debts for around 330,000 customers following pressure from regulators and MPs. The £220m write-off applies to debts owed by customers who are in arrears by 30 days or more. A further 45,000 customers who are up to 29 days in arrears will be asked to repay their debt without interest and charges, and will be given an option of paying off their debts over an extended period of four months. Wonga says it will work with the Financial Conduct Authority to identify if any further remedial action is required. Wonga’s recently appointed

Alco Valves Group, a manufacturer of high pressure valves used in the oil and gas industry, has been acquired by the American company Graco for £72m. Alco’s manufacturing and engineering operations will continue in Manchester and Leeds.

Virgin Money has announced that it is to float on the London Stock Exchange in the next few weeks. The bank hopes to raise £150m from the stock market listing of at least 25% of the business. The flotation sees the return to the stock market of the former Northern Rock, which Virgin Money bought from the Government for £1bn in 2011.

eBay is to spin off its payment business PayPal to create two standalone publicly traded companies by the end of 2015. eBay says that ‘the pace of industry change and innovation in commerce and payments requires maximum flexibility to stay competitive and drive global leadership’. eBay bought PayPal for $1.5bn in 2002 and for much of that decade provided the bulk of PayPal’s payment volume. However PayPal has grown rapidly in recent years and now has more than 152 million active registered accounts and its revenue for this year is expected to be around $7.2bn.

The private equity firm LDC has backed the £42m management buyout of the manufacturer Eley Group. Established in 1828, Eley is a manufacturer of rounds used by Olympic shooting competitors. It was previously owned by IMI plc.

The banknote printer De La Rue has issued a profit warning and reduced the dividend it pays to shareholders. The company says that trading conditions have deteriorated across the group with lower prices and reduced margins in both banknote print and paper, while rate of growth in new business for its solutions business has been significantly slower than expected and at lower margins. De La Rue now predicts underlying profit before tax for 2014/15 will be around £20m lower than the £89.3m in 2013/14. The interim dividend will be 8.3p per share compared with 14.1p last year.

The private equity firm Sovereign Capital has created the UK’s largest group providing accounting services to the Contractor and SME markets with the acquisition of SJD Accountancy and Nixon Williams for £100m. The businesses will operate independently under their respective brands within the new group structure.

The Co-operative Group has sold Sunwin Services Group to Cardtronics for £41.5m. Sunwin is a provider of a range of ATM management services. The private equity firm Endless has backed the management buyout of the flooring accessories manufacturer Gradus. Vodafone has acquired a 72.7% stake in the Greek broadband provider Hellas Online. The £58m deal creates a unified provider of fixed line and mobile communications. office2office, a provider of business services, has agreed to be acquired by the private equity firm Endless. The PR and communications agency Van Communications has been acquired

click here for Mergers and acquisitions 2008-2013 Tesco has reduced its profit forecast following the discovery of an error in its accounts that overstated the group’s profits for the first six months of the year by £250m. Tesco has asked Deloitte to undertake an independent and comprehensive review of its accounts. Four of Tesco’s most senior employees have been suspended pending the result of the review. GlaxoSmithKline has been fined £297m by the Chinese authorities for bribing doctors in the country. GlaxoSmithKline has published a statement of apology to the Chinese government and its