ANTIQUES SHOPS

The hedge fund, in a June email alert to investors, listed Chesapeake as its fourth largest position, according to the source and copy of the email reviewed by Reuters.

Loeb, a well-known activist investor, did not disclose if he was net long or short Chesapeake. A person familiar with Third Point who did not want to identified said the hedge fund could have acquired its position through a combination of buying shares, debt and derivatives.

A short position is a bet a stock or bond will decline in price.

Third Point's big move into Chesapeake comes at a time when Aubrey McClendon, the company's chief executive officer, has come under fire for taking out more than $1.3 billion in personal loans from a firm that also does business with Chesapeake. The loans were first disclosed by Reuters.

Chesapeake recently restructured its board, giving more power to activist investors Carl Icahn and O. Mason Hawkins of Southeastern Asset Management, who are two of the energy company's largest shareholders.

Loeb did not respond to an email seeking comment about his hedge fund's move into Chesapeake, which appears to have occurred in the past month.

In the alert to investors, Third Point also reported other top positions as Yahoo Inc (YHOO.O), Delphi Automotive (DLPH.N), gold, and Apple Inc (AAPL.O). An investor source said Loeb is believed to be "long" in all of the companies.

Loeb's Ultra Fund was up about 4.5 percent for the year to date as of the end of June.

Loeb, known for his sharp tongue and acerbic letters to executives who are not performing up to his standards, recently has battled with Yahoo. He won a victory by picking up three board seats, including one for himself. Loeb was also successful in getting former Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson ousted after discovering that Thompson, who had been on the job only for a few months, had falsified his resume.

Although Loeb has not disclosed his intentions for Chesapeake, Noster Capital's Pedro Noronha, who was among the first to publicly call for the board to terminate its chief executive officer, said he welcomed Third Point's involvement.

Icahn and Hawkins, in recent speaking engagements, have said they still believe Chesapeake is undervalued.

In a CNBC interview on Monday, Icahn said that shareholders have taken control of the company and that it can fill its income gap by cutting costs.

"I think natural gas in the next few years is going to go quite a bit higher, and Chesapeake will be there to take advantage of it... I would not sell it at all now," Icahn said.

At the Morningstar Investment Conference in Chicago on June 21, Hawkins, the chairman and chief executive officer of Southeastern Asset Management, highlighted the company's potential.

"Chesapeake is at the full position to have the best assets, so shame on us if we don't produce a lot of earnings and a lot of cash flow," Hawkins said.

Hawkins also said he was "thrilled" that former ConocoPhillips (COP.N) chairman Archie Dunham agreed to become Chesapeake's new chairman, after McClendon was stripped of the title. (Reporting by Sam Forgione and Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Matthew Goldstein and Tim Dobbyn)

With Chairman Marcus Agius also set to leave following Barclays' record-breaking fine for attempting to manipulate interbank lending rates, the bank has to fill its top two roles.

Potential replacements with Diamond's tough business acumen - and the ability to repair Barclays' image - are few and far between, analysts, bankers and investors said, signalling uncertainty ahead for all concerned.

Agius himself conceded the point, telling reporters there were "not that many" people with the right qualities.

Some saw a possible candidate in Bill Winters, former co-CEO of JPMorgan in Europe, if he wants the job. Winters has been linked with top jobs at UBS AG and elsewhere since his sudden exit from JPMorgan in 2010, but has not been tempted.

"It's going to be difficult (finding a new CEO), it's not going to be a very long list. The obvious name is Bill Winters - he's very well regarded," said Chris Wheeler, analyst at Mediobanca, adding Barclays would probably go for someone from outside its own ranks.

"Barclays has strong capital and liquidity and it's quite an exciting job. But will they be allowed to do it, and get paid to do it?" Wheeler asked, referring to possible political and regulatory pressures and the backlash on bankers' pay.

Winters enhanced his standing by being one of the five members on an independent commission that recommended far-reaching changes to UK banking, which are being implemented.

Dual U.S.-UK citizen Winters may be well accepted by regulators, politicians and shareholders, who have set their sights on a rare breed of banker who can deliver Barclays' commercial objectives without giving an impression of wanting to win business at all costs.

TIPPED FOR THE TOP

The strongest internal candidate to replace Diamond could be Antony Jenkins, who runs the bank's retail and commercial banking operations. The former Citigroup executive, 50, was seen as a future CEO, but has little investment banking experience and would not mark a clean break.

Another candidate is Naguib Kheraj, the former Barclays finance director who briefly headed JPMorgan Cazenove before the investment bank was fully swallowed by JPMorgan.

Kheraj has been tipped for CEO roles in the past, such as at Lloyds Banking Group Plc, and may be up for the challenge. But he is still an adviser at Barclays and only left as finance director in 2007, so was at the bank when some traders were trying to manipulate Libor rates, which could count against him.

Two long shots could be Jes Staley, head of JPMorgan's investment bank - but only if he sees little chance of getting the top job there - or Hugo Banziger, former head of risk at Deutsche Bank AG who was ousted earlier this year.

Bookmaker Ladbrokes said Jenkins is favourite for the job at odds of 2/1. Winters is 5/2 and Kheraj is 4/1. Current finance director Lucas is 6/1.

Some of the bank's shareholders would prefer an external candidate as the best guarantee of a culture change after 60-year old American Diamond sowed a competitive and aggressive atmosphere, former colleagues have said.

SUCCESSION PLAN

"While making an internal candidate CEO has attractions, in that they would hit the ground running, there might be problems with the perception of such an appointment," one top 25 Barclays shareholder, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters.

"Promoting an existing manager might not look like it is doing enough to tackle problems with aspects of the bank's culture which the Libor scandal has exposed."

But without swift progress to fill the vacant roles, any praise for the board's dramatic shake-up of the bank's executive ranks could quickly evaporate.

Investors will be looking for evidence of a succession plan being implemented, said Simon Wong, a partner at corporate governance watchdog Governance for Owners.

"There were concerns expressed that perhaps the shareholders did not want the CEO to step down because there was no obvious successor, and if that is the case, then that is probably the biggest failing of the board," Wong said.

"It is so important for the CEO to exhibit strong values and to be able to communicate those values ... It's really about the tone at the top. To be mindful of the public mission of a bank."

Asked how long Barclays would take to fill Diamond's role, and the role he is slated to leave, Agius was less than specific.

"How long is a piece of string?", he told reporters on a conference call, arguing he was the obvious person to lead the search despite reiterating his intention to leave.

Graham Dietz, a lecturer at Durham Business School who recently hosted workshops on how to rebuild trust for UBS executives in the wake of its rogue trading scandal, said the lack of an obvious succession plan was a major shortfall by the Barclays board.

"The three things you think about when you consider whether a person or organisation is trustworthy are motives, ability and integrity. They have failed on ... the triple whammy, demonstrating complete incompetence on how to handle this."

(Editing by David Holmes)

Finding fault with the Sangh's response to the Bihar Chief Minister's remarks, Singh said it places on the RSS the burden of clearly defining Hindutva to all those Hindus, who believe and practise Sanatan Dharma.

In an article on "Hindutva" mailed to the media here, Singh said the RSS has come out very strongly against Nitish Kumar.

In the five questions posed to Bhagwat, Singh asked whether "destroying Babri Masjid or any other religious place is Hindutva? Is Planting bombs to kill innocent people Hindutva?

Singh also asked Bhagwat to explain the rationale behind opposing the word secularism when it is said that Hindutva is synonymous with the term.

"RSS chief must tell what was the difference between the ideals of Hindutva and the ideals of Sanatan Dharm," he said.

The Congress general secretary said there are nine temples at his ancestral house at Raghogarh in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh, where Pooja is performed each day as per the traditions of his religion.

While posing the questions, Singh also said that although he did not expect them to be answered, he would be grateful if they were replied to.

PTI