It is in their hands but we would very much like everyone to be part of the mediation process a

It is in their hands, but we would very much like everyone to be part of the mediation process,” a spokesman for the FSA said.PricewaterhouseCoopers is working on behalf of the FSA to calculate how much compensation is due.. It will begin a formal mediation process with the companies that have shown they are willing to co-operate.Those that are still holding out are likely to see disciplinary action taken against them. “We are determined to see this through and where it goes next depends on the firms involved. They outline the alleged case against the individual company concerned and include transcripts of conversations between firms.Some companies, however, are stalling over the confidentiality agreement, which bans them from disclosing evidence but at the same time is not binding on the regulator.Up to 50,000 people have lost money after they invested in split cap trusts, some of which were marketed as low-risk investments. The Financial Services Authority’s investigation into the split capital investment trust scandal has stepped up a gear after the regulator launched a major assault to bring the companies involved with the trusts to the mediating table. A number were in fact highly geared to the stock market and up to 40 have been suspended from trading or appointed receivers.Estimates suggest consumers have lost more than £620m in ailing split-cap trusts.

The FSA has been investigating a number of fund managers and brokers over claims that the trusts were mis-sold and that managers cross-invested in each other’s trusts to artificially inflate their share prices.After accumulating masses of documentation, the FSA has asked 21 companies to participate in a collective compensation scheme, but the negotiations have been fraught with difficulties.A spokesman for the FSA yesterday said the regulator was not prepared to “let the issue drift”. They each control about 9 per cent of Canary Wharf’s shares.Shares in the company have stabilised at about 294p, indicating the market believes the Morgan Stanley deal will go through.. Franklin and Hermes, however, are both known to have supported the rival bid from Brascan, the Canadian developer. Its offer included a 275p cash component but gave shareholders a higher equity content, making a total of 348p a share, in an attempt to lure shareholders who wanted to continue their stake in the business.There are thought to be shareholders unwilling to take the cash offered by either bid and want to remain as long-term equity holders. Some shareholders have been reluctant to give up the possibility of further upside on the stock as the financial services industry emerges from recession and demand for office property increases.Brascan and Paul Reichmann, Canary Wharf’s founder and former chairman, are also set to vote against the Morgan Stanley offer. It has recommended the Morgan Stanley bid and still believes it to be in the best interests of shareholders,” the spokeswoman said.Morgan Stanley, through its Songbird bid vehicle, finally secured the board’s recommendation last month after raising its offer by 20p a share to 295p in cash. These three fund managers together own 13 per cent of Canary Wharf and are thought to want the Morgan Stanley bid to lapse.

The deadline for shareholders to accept the bid is 21 May.The dissidents are believed to have discussed the issue in recent days and are arguing that Canary Wharf is being sold on the cheap at the bottom of the property cycle.A spokeswoman for the independent committee of the board, led by Sir Martin Jacomb, yesterday said it was still comfortable with recommending the Morgan Stanley offer and it was hopeful that it would secure the support of the needed 50 per cent of shareholders.”The committee has had a constant dialogue with shareholders throughout this bid process. The board of Canary Wharf was yesterday insisting that Morgan Stanley’s £1.7bn agreed bid for the company will succeed, despite eleventh hour rumblings of dissent from major shareholders.
The year-long bid battle for the London Docklands property group had been expected to draw to a close later this month, but some institutional investors, thought to include Scottish Widows, Franklin and Hermes, are trying to scupper the deal. The Icelanders will emerge with about 55 per cent of the group.Goldsmiths has a history extending back to 1778, when the first store opened in Newcastle.Baugur has been building up a portfolio of businesses and what it calls “strategic investments” in the UK retail market for several years, and made an abortive attempt to take over Arcadia in conjunction with Philip Green, the retail entrepreneur, in 2002.Most recently, it has taken a 22 per cent stake in Big Food Group, the owner of the Iceland retail chain, and was yesterday insisting that the investment in Goldsmiths did not mean the Big Food Group stake was more likely to be sold.. Baugur, the acquisitive Icelandic retail group, is about to add the Goldsmiths jewellery chain to a portfolio of UK interests which already includes the Oasis women’s clothing business and Hamleys toy stores. It is the UK’s second largest jeweller, after Signet, the owner of H Samuel.Bank of Scotland is taking a small equity stake in Goldsmiths, as well as putting up the debt finance for the new sale, marking the first time that Baugur has allowed outside investors in on one of its acquisitions. He will retain a stake of about 15 per cent.Mr Piasecki took the group private in 1999, since when it has grown annual turnover by 76 per cent to £160m, with earnings before interest, tax and write-downs up by a similar magnitude to £17m.