Whilst reading the story about "Panda experts check enclosure" I came across a quote from Adelaide Zoo's director of conservation Kevin Evans.

"We have the director of zoology at London Zoo who (sic) are in the process of sourcing giant pandas at the moment"

Now to me this reads that London Zoo is in talks with China to bring over pandas, so to be sure I emailed the media office at London Zoo, they have replied.
"ZSL has recently visited Beijing Zoo and started building the foundations for a long-term relationship with the organization. ZSL hopes that this may lead to co-operative activities that aid wildlife conservation in China, including the possibility of animal exchanges that promote Chinese wildlife globally.

ZSL has identified the Chinese giant salamander as being of particular interest for an animal exchange. The Chinese giant salamander is one of the species identified through ZSL's revolutionary EDGE of Existence conservation programme. EDGE species are those identified as Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered, meaning that once they become extinct an entire branch of the evolutionary tree is gone for
good. ZSL is keen to share this new understanding of wildlife and look to ways to work with other zoos to protect it."

So while they do not say that they are talking about bringing pandas over, it hasn't been denied. They have also said "Should there be any further developments, I would, of course, get back in touch with you." So I'm very hopeful that there might be a statement in the future when I hear anything I will of course let you all know.