MORNING NEWS: Ex-MWB bosses get the cold shoulder

Good morning. Here’s your daily round-up of the latest news and views from EG and a collection of real estate-relevant headlines from the national papers. Former MWB Group chief executive Richard Balfour-Lynn, joint finance director Jagtar Singh and executive director Richard Aspland-Robinson have all been branded dishonest and deceitful by the Takeover Panel. The panel claims that in 2009 and 2010 Balfour-Lynn, Singh, Aspland-Robinson and an uncle of Balfour-Lynn, Jeffery Eker, acted in concert to buy shares in listed company MWB to push their shareholding above the mandatory takeover trigger point of 29.9% and that the plan was kept secret, with no offer made. MWB owned the Liberty Store on Regent Street, W1, as well as the Hotel du Vin and Malmaison hotel chains. The scandal has been kept under wraps for more than a decade. The Takeover Panel has ordered that no regulated firm in the UK should agree to act for 10 listed directors. The bans, known as “cold shoulders”, range from one to five years. The real estate sector has heralded Angela Rayner’s proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework to increase housing delivery in the UK. The deputy prime minister and secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities yesterday set  a housing target of 370,000 homes a year. She confirmed there will be “golden rules” for development on the green belt, with 50% of homes built on it being affordable.  She said: “Delivering economic growth is our number one mission. It’s how we will raise living standards for everyone, everywhere. The only way we can fix our public services. So today I am setting out a radical plan to not only get the homes we desperately need, but also drive growth, create jobs and breathe life back into towns and cities.” British Property Federation chief executive Melanie Leech said: “This is an ambitious package of proposed changes to make the current planning system work better while Labour develops plans for longer-term and more radical reform. These measures send a clear signal of intent to deliver more homes. We need a multi-tenure approach to tackle the chronic housing supply shortage which sees social and affordable housing, homes for sale, and build-to-rent firing on all cylinders.” In this morning’s listed real estate news there are results from Shaftesbury Capital and Taylor Wimpey, and portfolio updates from Schroder REIT and Picton Property Income. There’s also news on an upcoming student accommodation block set for Liverpool city centre, a £90m office sale in Mayfair and Knight Frank’s new home in Bristol. All of the news from EG, plus a selection of headlines from the nationals:Former MWB Group directors “cold shouldered” by Takeover PanelIndustry welcomes Rayner making ‘planning policy a priority’Schroder REIT: UK market is ‘positioned for recovery’Taylor Wimpey revenue and profit declinesShaftesbury Capital sees West End market improvingPicton moves to cut office exposureLondon Square’s BTR arm acquires 350-home Stratford siteL&G appoints head of European transactionsGlasgow’s Waterside neighbourhood gets thumbs upAerium and Urban&Civic offload Mayfair office for £90mSainsbury’s sells Oxfordshire site for mixed-use schemeLiverpool student block and housing association scheme get go-aheadGraham + Sibbald tees up Scottish country hotel saleSEGRO takes Coventry office for Midlands expansionSunderland plans further revamp at SheepfoldsSemiconductor firm doubles up at Cambridge innovation parkAstir Living submits plans for 844-bed PBSA in Brent CrossAXA IM Alts lets Bristol office to Knight FrankKing’s Cross BTR gets £85m funding from NatWestMidstream operator relocates to Aberdeen city centreSNG and Vistry form jv for 595-home Thornbury schemeLabour raises budget for renewable projects to £1.5bn (£)Bank of England urged to leave interest rates unchanged (£) White Stuff brightens up the high street with rise in sales (£) Games Workshop reports record year for sales and revenue (£)London housebuilding target cut in boost for Khan (£)