Minerva is the latest firm to come under the spotlight of the national newspapers following Labour's loan crisis.
The Sunday Times and Telegraph both led on property group Minerva's involvement with the Labour loans-for-peerages scandal. According to the papers, deputy prime minister John Prescott gave planning approval for two major Minerva schemes - its proposed Minerva Building tower in the City of London and Park Place shopping centre in Croydon - in the months following loans from chairmen of the company.
Carillion has allegedly been approached by Australian firm Lend Lease for its new acquisition Mowlem's Australian arm, Barclay Mowlem according to The Sunday Times.
Meanwhile, the same paper reported that Thales, Carlyle and Serco were understood to be considering bidding for engineer and support services firm Babcock, potentially thwarting a £700m joint bid by BAE Systems and VT Group. The paper also reported that the UK needed 1.5m extra homes over the next 20 years to cope with rising population and immigration, according to think tank Migration Watch UK.
The Sunday Telegraph reported that the government is likely to announce a £1bn sell-off of British Nuclear Group, and that the cost of the upcoming nuclear clean-up operation has already risen from around £56bn to around £70bn. Good news for the cleaners, then.
The Saturday Telegraph went big on news over John Prescott's plans to demolish thousands of homes in the Midlands and the North. One Liverpudlian grandmother, Elizabeth Pascoe, has claimed that the plans, under the Pathfinder scheme, will compromise her human rights. A local Labour MP, Jane Kennedy, has described the scheme as "social cleansing".
Tory leader David Cameron told the Independent on Sunday this week that he wants to overhaul the current planning system. The newspaper reports that Cameron wants laws changed to ensure that "beauty is built into new houses" and that "house-building plays its part in the broader fights against climate change."
The Independent on Sunday also reported that Melbourne-based group Grocon are interested in bidding for construction work for the 2012 Olympics.
