Brett Martin News

Cammell Laird Holdings Plc is trying to hammer out a new agreement this week to save a nearly $76 million (51 million pound) cruise liner contract and protect hundreds of jobs, the Daily Telegraph reported. Cammell was also looking for a breakthrough later this week on talks about bank financing for a 350 million pound order for two cruise liners from Luxus (U.K.), a new start-up company, the paper said. It said senior executives headed by Chief Executive John Stafford were studying fresh proposals on the cruise liner contract. They were put forward by Costa Crociere, the Italian cruise line owned by U.S. Carnival Corp., after two and a half days of talks in Genoa last week, the paper said.

Accountancy firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said on Wednesday it had received a second management buyout bid for the U.K. shipyard assets of struggling shipbuilder Cammell Laird Plc, which has so far had to cut 600 jobs this year. Cammell Laird entered into receivership after a series of cancelled orders hit its finances, causing it to suspend trading in its shares. The second bid is spearheaded by former executives John Syvret and Brett Martin, a spokesman for the team said, and is for both the Birkenhead and the Tyneside yards. "The bid was put in this morning," he said. PwC has already received a separate management buyout bid from a different team for the Birkenhead yard.