It wants to use this information as a database that will in future allow it to identify the characteristics of problem funds.Well. This is progress of sorts but it is a poor substitute for legislation. The 1995 Pension Act drew back from making all pension funds register and report to the authority on grounds of cost and complexity. Detailed regulation and reporting requirements were deemed impossible The Act even omitted to make whistleblowing obligatory.

So now we have this self- administered stab at the problem.The trouble is that it is not in the cautious nature of actuaries and auditors to pick up the phone for every minor problem and tip off the authorities. This scheme might just work, but only if pension fund trustees make it their business to prod actuaries and auditors into constant communication with Opra.. Gulf Canada’s pounds 432m bid for Clyde Petroleum is set to fail unless the Canadian oil explorer increases its bid by almost a third to put a value on its British target of more than pounds 550m. It has emerged that key shareholders are unwilling to sell out for less than 135p, considerably above the 105p a share Gulf has tabled and well ahead of the current share price of 120.5p. The unwillingness of major shareholders to consider the current offer is another setback for Gulf which was yesterday forced by the Takeover Panel to clarify a claim it made on Tuesday that it had never before increased an offer in a bid situation. In a statement issued late last night Gulf admitted that eight years ago, under previous management, it had made an offer that was subsequently increased.
The outcome of the bid will swing on the decisions of a handful of institutions, with ownership of Clyde concentrated in the hands of just four shareholders who control more than 50 per cent of the company’s shares.

Schroders, with 19 per cent, and PDFM, which has 14 per cent, are the biggest investors, with American institution Capital and Norwich Union holding another 17 per cent between them.Persuading those four would secure victory, while Wittington, Prudential and CIN control another 11 per cent. Including those holdings, the total stake of the seven largest shareholders is 62 per cent.Commenting on the bitter war of words that has erupted between the two companies, one large shareholder questioned Gulf’s decision to highlight Clyde’s dependence on acquiring oil reserves rather than finding them with the drill bit: “Gulf says the oil business has become a sellers’ market in which the owners of oil assets are not prepared to give away value. In those circumstances why should I do so?”He said it was possible to arrive at a valuation of between 135p and 150p a share using either Gulf’s favoured net asset value approach or the cash flow model championed by Clyde and he indicated he would be unwilling to sell out for less than that range.Another significant investor, who also preferred not to be named, said he saw little point in accepting an offer at the current market price only to reinvest the proceeds in a similarly rated oil stock when he continued to value the track record of Clyde’s management. There is general agreement among investors that the chief executive, Roy Franklin, has successfully shifted Clyde away from an unsuccessful exploration strategy towards profitable acquisition-led growth.Both fund managers believe Clyde will soon publish an estimate of its net asset value from industry consultant Energy Resource Consultants that puts a basic price tag of 105p on its assets.

That compares with previous brokers’ estimates of an average 76p and, with an appropriate premium for control, also implies an acceptable bid price of about 140p.Clyde has until next Tuesday to complete its defence with Gulf given one more week after that to make a final offer.. British Telecom was last night heading for a legal clash with Bell Cablemedia over the cable operator’s controversial new advertising campaign which attempts to lure potential customers with the theme: “Don’t waste money – switch to cable.”

The promotion, launched this week, includes posters in the East End of the capital reinforcing the price message with the slogan “British Telecon”.
The phrase has incurred the wrath of BT’s in-house lawyers, who are understood to have written to Bell Cablemedia warning that such claims are untrue, may be defamatory and could infringe laws on trademarks. A BT spokesman declined to say whether Bell would be served with a writ if the advertisements continued.”BT reserves its position on this issue until we’ve examined these adverts further,” he said.Bell Cablemedia refused to discuss details of the campaign or confirm the advertising slogans had been used on poster sites. The dispute is the latest fallout from increasingly tough price competition in the industry.Cable operators are seeking to maintain their price advantage despite BT’s aggressive cuts in charges to comply with the annual price formula set by the regulator, Oftel. At the same time BT, under the chief executive, Sir Peter Bonfield, has made price comparisons more confusing by introducing discount packages such as the Friends and Family scheme.It also emerged yesterday that BT had abandoned a planned court case against AT&T, the US telephones giant, after claiming the American group’s British operation had also used allegedly “misleading” advertising. The decision to drop the action comes a month after a High Court judge refused to grant BT an injunction to prevent AT&T continuing with the promotional claims.

AT&T had said on direct mail literature that it was 40 per cent cheaper than BT on selected international calls.A BT spokesman said: “Failure to get the injunction showed how difficult it is to take action against someone even where there is an overwhelming case. Anyway AT&T has dropped the advertising claims and we are not ones to bang our heads against brick walls.”However, a spokesman for AT&T insisted the promotional literature had not been changed: “The reason BT has dropped the case is that after losing the injunction it was clear there was no case for us to answer. We are still using all the claims in our advertising that BT had objected to.”. Nicola Horlick, the “superwoman” fund manager who has resigned from Morgan Grenfell Asset Management, admitted for the first time yesterday that she had held preliminary talks this month with ABN Amro, a rival firm.