Friday newspaper round-up: UK hedge funds, Prudential,

14th May 2010 06:39

European Union countries led by France and Germany plan to push through controversial new hedge fund regulations next week after turning down British pleas to defer a vote in Brussels.The refusal by Paris and Berlin to delay a decision on the rules, which are opposed by the UK, has set up a bruising early confrontation with David Cameron's new government. British diplomats tried on Wednesday to persuade Paris and Berlin that Mr Cameron's coalition needed more time to prepare for Tuesday's meeting of EU finance ministers, the FT reports.Sterling plunged yesterday after worse than expected trade figures dented hopes that the economic recovery was gaining traction. British exports failed to keep pace with a sharp rise in imports in March, driving the trade in goods gap to £7.5bn, up from £6.3 bn in February, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed. Imports rose by more than £1bn to £28.9bn in March, while exports edged up to £21.4bn, the ONS said, reports the Times. The Prudential will tell investors next week that it plans to auction off a number of Asian assets in the wake of its $35.5bn (£24bn) acquisition of AIA, in an attempt to calm shareholder nerves over the deal. The UK insurer, which is hoping to publish a prospectus for the takeover early next week, is likely to press ahead with the sale of AIA's joint venture in India, people familiar with the company said, the Times reports.Portugal is to impose fresh austerity measures to cut the budget deficit and regain the confidence of bond markets, becoming the fourth country on the eurozone periphery to tighten fiscal policy before a durable recovery is underway. Socialist premier Jose Socrates aims to cut the deficit by an extra 1pc of GDP to 7.3pc this year and 4.6pc next year, but has refused to follow yesterday's move by Spain for broad-based cuts in public wages owing to constitutional constraints, the Telegraph reports.More than five million home owners will be unable to afford a rise in interest rates and will be in danger of being evicted from their homes, charities have warned. Despite repossessions falling slightly at the start of the year, charities and housing experts warned home owners remained "vulnerable" to a rise in interest rates which would put additional pressure on their finances, the Telegraph reports.A solicitor with a double first from Cambridge and a spell at Rothschild's on his CV was fined £200,000 and banned from the City yesterday for his role in helping boiler room scammers to terrorise and rip off at least 130 people. Andrew Greystoke, 67, and his London firm Atlantic Law acted recklessly, without integrity and with complete disregard of risks to consumers, the Financial Services Authority ruled, the Times reports.Sports Direct has won a multimillion- pound High Court claim over shares in rivals. The retailer, controlled by Mike Ashley, took a £53 million hit last year when it wrote off stakes in Blacks Leisure and JD Sports Fashion that had been lost in the maelstrom of the Icelandic banking collapse. Yesterday, however, the High Court ruled that it had successfully bought the shares from Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander (KSF), the British subsidiary of Kaupthing, the stricken Icelandic bank, shortly before the bank's collapse in 2008, the Times reports.The chief executive of the supermarket giant J Sainsbury yesterday joined other retailers and conceded that the Government could be set to increase the VAT rate to 20%, as David Cameron's coalition sets about cutting the gaping public finances deficit. Justin King, who was speaking as Sainsbury's announced a 17.5% increase in annual profits, said: "A VAT rise to 20% is clearly on the Government's mind. What we would say is we need to know in good time and would say that there needs to be sensible timing and not in our key trading periods such as the run-up to and in the aftermath of Christmas," the Independent reports.