WH Ireland, the wealth management group, is in talks about an all-share merger with Team, another London-listed operator in the sector.

Sky News has learnt that the two companies are in advanced discussions about a deal that could value WH Ireland at more than 4p-per-share – roughly eight times the value of a rival transaction which was voted down by its shareholders last month.

Sources said the deal, if completed, would create a larger player in the UK wealth management market, although the companies are relative minnows with a combined market capitalisation of just £20m.

Both WH Ireland and Team declined to comment.

The value that the prospective deal places on WH Ireland’s stock may prompt questions from its shareholders about why a transaction worth a fraction of its value received a recommendation from its board and advisers.

Last month, Sky News revealed that the £1m sale of WH Ireland’s wealth management division to Oberon Investments was on the brink of collapse after a group of investors moved to block it.

WH Ireland’s wealth arm has about £830m of assets under management, while Team has total assets under management or administration of more than £1bn.

The former’s biggest shareholders, according to its website, include TFG Asset Management, which owns 29.9%, the prominent City figure Hugh Osmond, who holds just under 10%, and Melvin Lawson, owner of a 9.7% stake.

The board of WH Ireland is chaired by Simon Moore, who also chairs LV Financial Services, the life insurance mutual.

A Japanese manufacturing firm is facing a union battle over plans to shut factories in County Durham with the loss of hundreds of jobs.

NSK said it was proposing to close its two sites in Peterlee as part of a strategy to exit unprofitable businesses.

The factories, which produce bearings for the automotive industry, employ up to 400 people.

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NSK said it had begun consultations with union representatives on its plans.

Unite the Union said it would fight the planned closures. It described the announcement as a “betrayal” of the workforce.

The company first began operations at Peterlee in 1976. It has another UK manufacturing facility at Newark in Nottinghamshire and another three in Germany and Poland.

The Peterlee factories produce bearings for steering columns and wheel hubs.

Its customers are understood to include VW, Renault and fellow Japanese firm Nissan, which has sprawling car production facilities just up the coast at nearby Sunderland.

Its statement said NSK Europe had faced “persistent challenges in the profitability of locally manufactured products”.

“NSK will continue discussions with stakeholders and provide support measures for affected staff if the closure proceeds, which is expected to be completed no later than March 2027.

“The company has not yet determined the full impact of this decision on its business performance,” the statement concluded.

Challenges for UK manufacturers in recent times include Brexit red tape and high energy costs, though the Peterlee operation is understood to have been run on power generated purely from wind.

Unite blamed pressures on automotive parts suppliers from weak demand hitting car manufacturers during the transition away from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles.

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Its general secretary Sharon Graham said: “This is a complete betrayal by NSK of its County Durham workforce, who have broken their backs hitting performance targets that they were told would keep their factories safe.

“There is a viable business case for keeping these sites open and Unite will fight tooth and nail for that to happen.”

Unite said it was urging the government to intervene with financial support to protect automotive jobs.

Thousands of job cuts at the NHS will go ahead after the £1bn needed to fund the redundancies was approved by the Treasury.

The government had already announced its intention to slash the headcount across both NHS England and the Department of Health by around 18,000 administrative staff and managers, including on local health boards.

The move is designed to remove “unnecessary bureaucracy” and raise £1bn a year by the end of the parliament to improve services for patients by freeing up more cash for operations.

NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care, and the Treasury had been in talks over how to pay for the £1bn one-off bill for redundancies.

It is understood the Treasury has not granted additional funding for the departures over and above the NHS’s current cash settlement, but the NHS will be permitted to overspend its budget this year to pay for redundancies, recouping the costs further down the line.

‘Every penny will be spent wisely’

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to make further announcements regarding the health service in the budget on 26 November.

And addressing the NHS providers’ annual conference in Manchester today, Mr Streeting is expected to say the government will be “protecting investment in the NHS”.

He will add: “I want to reassure taxpayers that every penny they are being asked to pay will be spent wisely.

“Our investment to offer more services at evenings and weekends, arm staff with modern technology, and improving staff retention is working.

“At the same time, cuts to wasteful spending on things like recruitment agencies saw productivity grow by 2.4% in the most recent figures – we are getting better bang for our buck.”

Mr Streeting’s speech is due to be given just hours after he became entrenched in rumours of a possible coup attempt against Sir Keir Starmer, whose poll ratings have plummeted ahead of what’s set to be a tough budget.

Mr Streeting’s spokesperson was forced to deny he was doing anything other than concentrating on the health service.

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He is also expected on Wednesday to give NHS leaders the go-ahead for a 50% cut to headcounts in Integrated Care Boards, which plan health services for specific regions.

They have been tasked with transforming the NHS into a neighbourhood health service – as set down in the government’s long-term plans for the NHS.

Those include abolishing NHS England, which will be brought back into the health department within two years.

Watch Wes Streeting on Mornings With Ridge And Frost from 7am on Sky News.