9am Briefing: Leith firm Pelamis Wave Power up for sale

The company has received £45 million funding from venture capital groups since it started in 1998.

An outlay of £20 million is understood to be needed over the next few years to bring Pelamis’s technology to fruition.

It hopes to attract interest from UK-based companies like BAE Systems, Rolls Royce and Weir, but others may also be canvassed, including Siemens of Germany, Caterpillar of the US, Swiss firm ABB and Alstom of France.

Pelamis chief executive Per Hornung Pedersen said: “We have reached the stage where it makes most sense to look for financial support from a large engineering company rather than to seek further investment from venture capital groups.”

He said he favoured a British buyer.

* HEARTS star David Obua has sparked controversy after building a huge mansion in his African homeland.

The midfielder is thought to have splashed out £500,000 on the sprawling home in Munyonyo, Uganda.

When completed, the five-bed villa will boast a cinema, football pitch, two garages, a full-size bar and banquet room.

It will also feature a gym, 50m swimming pool, steam bath, sauna and even a stable for horses.

A source was today quoted saying: “To many, Obua is one of Uganda’s biggest football exports.

“But he is also seen as a spoilt boy who is only concerned about his playboy lifestyle. Most Ugandans earn less than 50p a day, so it’s easy to see why this would upset people.”

Obua’s two-storey house sits on top of a hill and looks on to a lake in the suburb of Munyonyo.

Sources claim the footballer is having expensive fittings and furnishings shipped from Italy.

It is thought that Obua’s mum is supervising construction after her son bought the one-acre plot for £65,000 three years ago. It is due to be completed by April.

Friends claim Obua plans to buy a yacht and dock at the nearby Munyonyo Cape pier. They said he has also bought two homes in Edinburgh.

* CANNABIS worth £7.9 million was seized from drugs farms by Lothian and Borders police in the past five years.

Across Scotland, police recovered almost 153,000 plants worth a total of £46m from nearly 350 separate cannabis farms. Altogether, 43 arrests were made in connection with the raids.

Last year, officers staged 21 raids in the Edinburgh area, seizing cannabis worth £1.7m.

Detective Chief Superintendent Stephen Whitelock, head of intelligence at the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, said: “Our intelligence suggests Scotland is increasingly used by criminal gangs as a ‘drying out’ area for cannabis plants grown elsewhere in the UK.”

* FORMER Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney today won the Republican’s Iowa caucus by just eight votes over rival Rick Santorum in the race to become the party’s challenger to Barack Obama in this year’s US presidential battle.

Mr Romney, the establishment choice, had been locked in a dead heat with Mr Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, until the very last stages of the opening contest of the primary season.

But in the end, Mr Romney received 30,015 votes to Mr Santorum’s 30,007.

Texas congressman, libertarian Ron Paul was a close third in the caucuses - evening meetings held at 809 locations across the mid-western state.

But the two rivals many Republicans saw as having the best backgrounds to challenge Mr Romney - former House of Representatives speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas governor Rick Perry - were far behind the pack in fourth and fifth places, respectively.

Minnesota congresswoman and Tea Party favourite Michele Bachmann, once tipped to win the nomination, finished a distant sixth.

The result was a respectable showing for Mr Romney. Iowa, with its core of evangelical voters, was not considered a natural stronghold for him.

The contest now moves on to New Hampshire where the primary takes place next Tuesday.