Russian poised for Waterstone's bid

A FRIEND of Roman Abramovich, the billionaire owner of Chelsea Football Club, is close to making a cut-price bid for HMV Group's book chain Waterstone's.

Alexander Mamut, an adviser to Boris Yeltsin's government, is expected to table an offer of 35 million for Waterstone's - only half of what HMV hoped for - sometime this week.

HMV Group, which has 731 HMV, Waterstone's and Fopp stores, is understood to be considering offloading the book chain under plans to secure the future of the business. It was previously reported that HMV needs to raise 75m.