Friday newspaper round-up: Government RBS share sale, automotive slowdown

31st Jul 2015 08:01

(ShareCast News) - The government is set to launch its first sale of Royal Bank of Scotland shares since the lender's £46bn taxpayer-funded rescue nearly seven years ago, marking the beginning of the bank's return to private ownership. Bankers have been sounding out investors for the past week about a sale of RBS stock that could begin in the next few days. - The TimesSome of the world's largest companies have sounded the alarm over the slowdown in the Chinese economy, warning that weaker growth would hit profits in the second half of the year. Car companies such as PSA Peugeot Citroën, Audi and Ford have slashed growth forecasts while industrial goods groups such as Caterpillar and Siemens have all spoken out on the negative impact of China. - The Financial TimesThe prospect of a new €86bn (£60.2bn) bail-out package for Greece was thrown into fresh turmoil yesterday, after the International Monetary Fund cast severe doubts on the Greek government's ability to carry out radical reforms. In a leaked four-page staff assessment, the IMF's executive board was told the world's "lender of last resort" could no longer continue pumping more money into the debtor country. - The Daily TelegraphAlexis Tsipras won his battle with a mutinous far-left faction in the governing Syriza party after a day of tense discussions that laid bare deepening divisions within the party over a new €86bn bailout being negotiated with Greece's creditors. The prime minister's proposal to hold an extraordinary party congress in September to examine the bailout once it has been completed was approved by Syriza's 200-strong central committee in Athens early on Friday, without resorting to a roll-call vote. - The Financial TimesGoogle will disobey a formal notice from France's privacy watchdog which has demanded the company extends Europe's "right to be forgotten" online around the world, in a move that risks further legal action on the continent. Last month, the Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés (CNIL) issued Google with a formal notice, arguing that links must also be stripped internationally to comply with the law. - The Financial Times