Media Bites

■ Sunday Independent

IFG’s current structure “fails to adequately recognise” the value of the financial services company’s assets, according to one of its largest shareholders.

GVQ Investment Management, the investment manager for London-listed investment trust Strategic Equity Capital, said that it believes IFG is a “high-quality, undervalued business”.

The comments were made after IFG informed the market of a major overhaul at boardroom and executive level.

■ Sunday Telegraph

Private equity firm the Carlyle Group may take over pizza chain Prezzo via a debt for equity swap.

Carlyle has bought more than a third of Prezzo’s senior loans, which would allow it to block company requests to creditors, as these usually require more than two-thirds approval, the newspaper reports.

Prezzo is expected to present a plan to creditors to restructure £154m (€175m) of loans in “due course”, which would give Carlyle an opportunity to bid for control.

■ Sunday Times

Whitbread chief executive Alison Brittain is not “philosophically opposed” to spinning off the Costa Coffee chain.

Such a move would leave the hospitality firm with the Premier Inn hotels business.

Ms Brittain is due to lay out her position at Whitbread’s fullyear results on Wednesday and is said to believe a split between Costa and Premier is a case of “when, not if”.

Shares in Whitbread soared earlier this month after activist investor Elliott Advisors disclosed a 6pc stake in the business.