We are trying to raise money from institutions and we haven’t got a bid on the table However, this is not a leveraged deal This is not a WH Smith or Philip Green type deal. Novar has got good businesses in it that we feel can be managed more aggressively.”The Melrose team also consists of Simon Peckham, another former Wassall director, and Miles Templeman, the former chief executive of Whitbread beer company who joined Melrose as a non-executive director.Mr Roper said Melrose had banking agreements in place to refinance Novar’s existing debt of more than £400m, admitting that Melrose would be willing to go hostile to gain control of the company. He will start by carrying out a strategic review of Novar’s operations.A key player in the bid battle will be Active Value, the fund management group that owns 16.7 per cent of Novar. Active Value has been looking to sell its various holdings since declaring in March that its funds were in realisation mode.Mr Miller, who worked as one of the late Lord Hanson’s closest lieutenants during Hanson Trust’s heyday in the 1980s, went on to form Wassall, another acquisition-hungry conglomerate which itself eventually succumbed to a bid from KKR, the US private equity group, for £627m in February 2000.His new vehicle, Melrose, said the potential offer for Novar would consist of a combination of new ordinary Melrose shares plus cash.

Melrose, the acquisition vehicle created by the former Hanson executive Chris Miller, revealed yesterday it was considering a possible offer of up to £647m for Novar, the industrial group formerly known as Caradon. A bid in this range would represent a premium of between 13-21 per cent compared with Wednesday’s closing price. Novar shares were up 15.5 per cent at 143.25p yesterday.Novar responded late yesterday afternoon by announcing that its chief executive designate, Stephen Howard, who was to take up the reins in January, would now be taking up the post with immediate effect. However, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, which compiles the figures, said it expected an increase in November sales.. The biggest single factor behind the increased production will be the opening of a factory in the Czech Republic owned jointly with Peugeot.

The plant will produce a new Toyota-badged super-mini called the Igo at the rate of 100,000 a year.Toyota’s European sales are also growing strongly, from 835,000 last year to more than 900,000 this year. Sales in the UK are expected to reach about 138,000 – up from 130,000 last year – despite a slowdown in the market.Figures released yesterday show that UK registrations of new cars fell by 6 per cent in October to 170,866 as the impact of interest rate rises began to bite. Burnaston is the only source of the Avensis and some versions of the car are shipped over to Japan.The increase in output from Burnaston will contribute to an increase in Toyota’s overall European production from 570,00 this year to 775,000 next year. Economists forecast an increase of 169,000 jobs in October, compared with a rise of 96,000 in September. However, a weak number could push the dollar through $1.30 to the euro, which would lead to a chorus of complaints from eurozone finance ministers.. Toyota’s UK car manufacturing operations returned to the black last year for the first time since 1998 with the help of efficiency improvements and a weaker sterling. I would have to think that would definitely give some support.”The markets are now awaiting key non-farm payrolls data later today that will give the best picture of the ability of the US economy to create jobs last month.

The dollar came within a whisker of its all-time low against the euro last night as mounting concern over the health of the economy and rumours of the death of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat triggered a sell-off in the US currency.
Widespread selling pushed the dollar to $1.2897, a new eight-month high and close to the record $1.2927 reached in February. The weak dollar and the mounting fears of fresh tension in the Middle East combined to send the price of gold – a traditional safe haven investment in troubled times – to a 16-year high.But in a confusing day on the markets, the Dow Jones stock index posted its largest one-day rise for 13 months as oil prices fell below $49 a barrel in New York. Interflora is limited by guarantee and so cannot raise the funds it needs to compete with rivals such as Tesco and Marks & Spencer.. He said the four directors did not stand to make any money from the sale, since they do not have existing equity stakes.