Goldman Sachs and its bidding partners must say by next Friday whether they are going to make a formal offer for BAA, the world's largest airport operator, the UK Takeover Panel reported last week. BAA rejected an approach of 870p a share, or £9.4bn, on 16 April from a group led by Goldman.

BAA, which owns London's Heathrow airport, has dismissed all the bids as too low, and on 25 May said the company is worth at least 940p a share. Rising passenger traffic and steady earnings are prompting takeover bids for BAA. Grupo Ferrovial's bid of 900p a share was rejected by BAA on 30 May. Ferrovial has until June 5 to increase its offer.

Ferrovial, which has expanded into managing toll roads and other public infrastructure in Ireland, the US, Chile, and Italy said its prime interest is in BAA's UK airports.

HBOS

HBOS's expansion into Ireland's consumer banking market is "comfortably ahead" of its expectations, said Mark Duffy, who heads the Irish business. Bank of Scotland (Ireland) has opened 16 of its planned 46 branches and will finish the remainder in the first half of 2007, Duffy said last week.

HBOS, Britain's fourth-biggest bank, is seeking to challenge AIB and Bank of Ireland, which control about 70% of the country's current accounts.

HBOS is benefitting from the growth in Irish lending which increased at the fastest pace in six years in April as rising payrolls and demand for property fuelled borrowing. Lending rose an annual 29.6%, the highest since March 2000. HBOS's wise expansion in Ireland should pay off considerably in the coming years.