Business Diary: Now we all own a record store

Next time you're in HMV, feel free to be as demanding as you like – after all, you're one of the owners of the business now and thattruculent sales assistant works for you. The deal agreed yesterday with HMV sees its lenders effectively taking a 5 per cent stake in the business. The biggest of those lenders are Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group, which, of course, are majority owned by the taxpayer. So as long as you're up-to-date with the taxman, HMV is yours.

RBS makes a profit for once

Whether Royal Bank of Scotland will get its cash back on HMV is anyone's guess, but at least it has made some money elsewhere. Over in the US, James Glover, formerly adirector at RBS Securities, has just pleaded guilty to fraud charges. Glover was last year discovered to have found a way to siphon off more than $600,000 from RBS accounts. The good news is that as part of a settlement with prosecutors – he is due to be sentenced later this year – Glover has repaid the money, plus another $295.55. Every little helps the bottom line at a struggling bank.

Terra Firma hires an old friend

All friends again? Terra Firma, the private equity business run by Guy Hands, is searching no longer for a new head of investor relations, having signed up one Kamal Tabet. The appointment has raised a few eyebrows – Tabet was until early 2009 the global head of private equity at Citigroup, the American bank with which Terra Firma fell out so dramatically last year (it lost an acrimonious courtroom battle with the bank over its disastrous purchase of EMI).

M&S's fiercest critic on his way

Don't be surprised too if you bump into Sir Stuart Rose, the former boss of Marks & Spencer, enjoying a spot of bubbly in one of his favourite nightclubs over the next few days. Sir Stuart has something to celebrate: Credit Suisse has just made Tony Shiret redundant – the bank's chief retail analyst is hugely respected in the City, but was a high-profile critic of Marks & Spencer under Sir Stuart's leadership, only dropping his sell rating on the company last year when Sir Stuart stepped down as chief executive.

businessdiary@independent.co.uk