Vodafone is set to raise £1bn this week by quitting Poland's second-largest mobile phone network as part of a retreat from countries where it does not have outright control. Vodafone owns nearly 25% of Polkomtel, and its co-owners ? which include a state-owned copper miner, oil refiner and coal exporter ? are pushing for a sale to be completed by the end of the month, reports the Times.The Bank of England has been urged to raise rates sooner and faster than expected by the world's central bank to retain its inflation-fighting credibility and "ward off" another financial crisis. "Controlling inflation in the long term will require policy tightening. And with short-term inflation up, that means a quicker normalisation of policy rates," the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the central bankers' central bank, said in its annual report, reports the Daily Telegraph.Rupert Murdoch's News Corp may have to hand over nearly £12bn to gain full control of BSkyB. Independent shareholders have told the media baron they won't sell out for less than £11 a share as Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt prepares to rubber-stamp the takeover this week. A deal at that price would value the 21-year-old satellite giant at £19.1bn, leaving News Corp with a bill of £11.7bn for the 61% of Sky it does not already own, the Daily Mail reports.The era of cheap clothing on the high street is probably over, as soaring demand from emerging markets keeps the price of natural fibres stubbornly high, a body representing the US cotton industry has warned. The comments from Cotton Council International came as the price of cotton jumped 13 per cent to $1.65 (£1.03) a pound in New York trading last week, largely driven by fears over a disastrous recent harvest in the southern states of the US. Lord Wolfson, the chief executive of the fashion retailer Next, brought the subject to the attention of the UK public last September, reports the Independent.Britain and China are expected to announce more than £1bn-worth of deals during Chinese premier Wen Jiabao's historic three-day visit to the UK. Mr Wen started his tour on Sunday with a trip to the MG Motor car factory in Longbridge, near Birmingham, which is owned by China's biggest car manufacturer SAIC, according to the Daily Telegraph.Britain's co-operative sector outperformed the wider UK economy last year in a boost for businesses owned by their employees or customers. Co-operatives UK said the combined turnover of mutual organisations rose 4.4% last year. The biggest growth was at employee-owned firms such as John Lewis and Suma Wholefoods, while the customer-owned Co-operative Group's £14bn revenue made it the biggest business, says the Independent. Lloyds Banking Group's exposure to the riskiest kind of mortgages is more than double that of any of its top five rivals in what is potentially a ticking time bomb for Britain's largest high-street lender. Data published last week by the Bank of England showed that loans representing more than a quarter of Lloyds' mortgage book are worth at least 90 per cent of the property value they are secured against, according to the Financial Times.The pink 'un also reports that British Land is planning to raise close to $500m by issuing bonds in the US private placement market in the latest sign of a big UK group diversifying funding sources. The UK's second-largest property company, which owns property such as Broadgate in the City of London, had aimed to place $200m of bonds with US investors, but the fundraising was increased to about $480m amid robust demand, the Financial Times says.Zolfo Cooper, the US accounting firm, has been lined up to implement a pre-pack administration of Jane Norman, the stricken women's fashion chain, which has become one of the latest symbols of distress on the UK high street. The plan, which could be rubber-stamped by a court as soon as Monday and potentially puts 1,600 jobs at risk, leaves the retailer among a string of high-street names, including the homewares chain Habitat and music specialist HMV - implementing widespread store closures, reports the Guardian.
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