'Independent' shares request

Newspaper Publishing, publisher of the Independent and the Independent on Sunday, has given Soginvest Banca seven days to provide it with information about the ultimate beneficial ownership of a block of shares in the company now owned by the Swiss-based bank. Yesterday Soginvest, a subsidiary of Credit Industriel d'Alsace et de Lorraine, a large French bank, said that it had paid pounds 3.50 a share for a 2.375 per cent stake of Newspaper Publishing. The shares could play a key role in the battle for the company - a consortium including Mirror Group Newspapers which is bidding for Newspaper Publishing currently speaks for 47 per cent of the shares.

However, Tony O'Reilly's Independent Newspapers has recently taken a 24.99 per cent stake in the company, making it difficult for the bid as originally conceived to succeed.