Weekend headlines from the FT and other UK media:*

From The FT,
- Hammerson’s £500m office portfolio up for sale
- Ed Miliband and Ed Balls are at odds over the party’s attack on excessive bonuses
- UBS enlists Sam Molinaro, the former Chief Financial Officer of Bear Stearns, as a top executive Read more

A study of UK industry commissioned by David Cameron says Britain should appoint a “manufacturing tsar” to champion the sector and help deliver a prolonged economic revival, says the FT. A report compiled by Sir Anthony Bamford, chairman of JCB, the construction machine company, says Britain should implement a nine-point plan to strengthen the role of manufacturing in the economy while cutting the country’s spiralling trade deficit on factory-made goods. A central proposal by Sir Anthony is that the government should enlist a person with business experience who would act as the UK’s “champion” for manufacturing within Whitehall and ensure the necessary proposals are adopted to aid the sector’s growth. Read more

Payment-in-kind notes — a speculative, often toxic type of debt that became popular at the peak of the economic boom and recently contributed to the failure of UK retailer Peacocks — could be staging a return, says the FT. PIK notes are typically not repaid until they mature and rank low down on the list of creditors to be repaid in the event of a company going under. Although they do not result in any cash drains from a company over their lifetime, ballooning PIK notes can become ticking time bombs for companies that cannot repay the full amount when they come due. The popularity of PIKs peaked in 2007, when they were used to partly finance private equity acquisitions or to raise capital for a “special dividend” for owners. However, since the crisis there has been little issuance, as investors have recoiled from speculative structures. However Polkomtel, a Polish telecoms group, in early February sold a $200m PIK note that yielded almost 15 per cent. Bankers and financiers say several smaller, private deals have also been signed recently. Read more

Some highlights from Monday’s FTfm.

Funds focus on single EU market
The cross-border fund sector has doubled its share of Europe’s €5.2tn investment industry in the past decade in an apparent victory for the EU’s push for single markets but doubts remain as to whether investors have benefited from the economies of scale unleashed by the internationalisation of a once parochial industry. Read more