A slight curiosity last night, which doubtless ruined the bank holiday weekends of more than a few flaks.
In the Sunday Times, Iain Dey opined that an obvious partner for Virgin Money was CYBG. It was plainly well informed, but he was closer to the money than even he knew.
On Monday night, the banks confirmed that CYBG had made an informal approach, presumably under pressure from the Takeover Panel.
Doubtless, other hacks had been making calls both before and after Iain’s piece. It still feels to me like CYBG got bounced into doing something it shouldn’t have had to do. Yet.
A news story saying “we are pretty sure this is happening” plainly requires a response to avoid a false market in the shares.
I don’t think columns should (discuss).
I wonder if this development doesn’t rather encourage City Editors to take a punt on things they are far from sure about, just to see if they can get the Panel’s itchy fingers on the move….
