“Is deal king Luke Johnson about to buy back Giraffe?” asks The Daily Mail. Luke Johnson’s firm Risk Capital Partners, alongside private equity group 3i, originally sold Giraffe to Tesco in 2013 in a £49m deal. However now that Tesco is in turnaround mode it is looking to sell chunks of its business, and is putting Giraffe up for sale as well as its Dobbies Garden Centres and its Harris + Hoole coffee chain. Risk Capital is in talks about buying Giraffe, but will be up against other private equity buyers, including the firm behind Casual Dining Group, which runs Cafe Rouge. (The Daily Mail)

Sports Direct tycoon Mike Ashley is understood to have been outbid by rivals including the owners of Matalan and Edinburgh Woollen Mill as administrators try to secure the future of BHS. Sources said Ashley had put in a “low-ball offer” for the business, which collapsed into administration at the end of last month, putting 11,000 high street jobs at risk. (The Guardian)

John Hargreaves, who started discount clothing chain Matalan as a teenager in 1985, teamed up with Cafer Mahiroglu, the owner of Select Retail, for a last-minute bid that the men are understood to be funding from their personal fortunes. “The Hargreaves bid is a good bid,” a person with knowledge of the process said. (The Financial Times £)

The cash and carry tycoon who owns the Poundstretcher chain of discount stores is the latest bidder to enter the contest to rescue BHS, according to The Telegraph. Crown Crest, the Leicester-based business which is the parent company of Poundstretcher and is run by Aziz Tayub, is understood to be keen to buy the high street stalwart out of administration. (The Telegraph)

Some of the City’s top accountants and lawyers will be held to account by parliament for their actions in the light of the collapse of BHS last month. In a series of sessions that will keep the spotlight on the saga 29 witnesses will be questioned from Monday, including senior representatives from PwC, Deloitte and KPMG, three of the four big accounting groups, as well as from Goldman Sachs, Olswang and Linklaters. (The Times £)

SABMiller felt the full force of weakening emerging markets currencies as it reported a 16 per cent fall in full year pre-tax profits and warned of more foreign exchange volatility in the year ahead. (The Financial Times £). The ongoing £70bn takeover of FTSE 100 brewer SABMiller by rival Anheuser-Busch InBev has so far cost the London-listed beer giant £111m in banking and legal fees, as well as pay-outs to retain important members of staff. (The Telegraph)

In The Times (£) Alistair Osborne looks at why SABMiller ran up an eye-popping $160 million of costs getting itself bought by Bud-owner, Anheuser Busch InBev.

A former chief executive of Bacardi has been named the next chairman of Diageo, bringing to an end speculation over who will lead the board of the FTSE 100 drinks giant (The Telegraph). Javier Ferrán, a private equity specialist with a background in the consumer sector, has deep roots in the drinks sector which could prove useful as the distiller tries to inject growth into North America, its biggest profits motor, while grappling with a slowdown in emerging markets. (The Financial Times £)

It has been undercutting beer rivals for years and now JD Wetherspoon is taking the fight to the likes of Costa and Starbucks with a new takeaway coffee service (The Times £). The pub chain is capitalising on the country’s addiction to caffeine by offering hot drinks to go at its 950 branches for 99p a cup (The Guardian). The group said: “Our coffee is extremely popular with customers. We sell around a million cups a week in our pubs across the UK, and believe customers will welcome the opportunity to enjoy a takeaway cup too, at 99p.” (The Daily Mail)

Marks & Spencer has ditched plans to open a major store in Amsterdam less than two months after the exit of Marc Bolland, its Dutch former chief executive of six years. The retailer said it had sold a site on the Rokin shopping street in the city, which had been intended as M&S’s second flagship store in the Netherlands, to Canadian department store group Hudson’s Bay Company. (The Guardian)

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