Thursday newspaper round-up: Xstrata, Anglo American, Stagecoach

25th Jun 2009 06:10

Xstrata stepped up its campaign to merge with Anglo American last night, taking its £41 billion merger proposal over the heads of Anglo's board to its shareholders. The Anglo-Swiss miner will intensify its charm offensive in the coming days, with Mick Davis, its chief executive, expected to meet the South African Government and trade unions, as well as key investors, says the Times.Stagecoach's contractual dispute with the Government has broken out into open warfare, with the rail and bus operator claiming a "dysfunctional" and "deceitful" Department for Transport could owe the company more than £200m, reports the Telegraph.Offering an extraordinary insight into the state of relations between the Bank of England and the Treasury, the Governor of the Bank, Mervyn King, yesterday told MPs that he had not been consulted on, nor even seen a copy of, the Government's White Paper on banking regulation, to be published next week, writes the Independent.The board of Independent News & Media, the publisher of the Independent in the UK, and its creditors have agreed an extension to a "standstill" agreement that allows more time for debt restructuring negotiations, according to people familiar with the situation. They said that agreement was reached on the extension after bondholders rejected the latest offer from the company, which is controlled by the Irish billionaires Sir Anthony O'Reilly and Denis O'Brien, says the FT.The BBC is poised to provoke a fresh row over expenses by refusing to disclose how much its executives spend on entertainment for their stars, says the Times.Royal Bank of Scotland's new chief executive Stephen Hester will have to earn every penny of his controversial £9.6m pay packet in turning the bank around, after a respected industry magazine revealed it was the worst performing bank in the world last year. RBS, which is 70 per cent owned by the British Government, suffered losses of $59.3bn in 2008, the largest of any global bank according to the annual survey of 1,000 financial institutions to be published next month by The Banker, according to the Independent.Sir Stuart Rose was facing rising shareholder anger on Wednesday night after Pirc, the influential corporate governance body, called on investors to force him to split his role as chief executive and chairman of Marks & Spencer, writes the Times.There are now more millionaires in China than in Britain, according to the latest authoritative survey of the super-rich. The Capgemini/Merrill Lynch World Wealth Report reveals that by the end of last year there were 362,000 "high net worth" people in the UK, down from 491,000 in 2007 and 2,000 fewer than the researchers say live in China, reports the Independent.Russia's National Reserve Bank has taken a 50 per cent stake in the struggling oil and gas explorer Timan, converting its loan into equity after Timan defaulted on debt repayments, says the Independent.The US Central Intelligence Agency is on the hunt for disaffected Wall Streeters looking for a career change. Out-of-work investment bankers, analysts and traders are being asked by the American equivalent of Britain's MI6 to consider a career in espionage over one in finance, writes the Telegraph.The committee of MPs scrutinising the Government's response to the Northern Rock crisis have accused the Treasury of being caught "flat-footed" by the bank's near collapse. Edward Leigh, the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, said: "The Treasury's lack of preparedness for dealing with the failure of a major bank was evident as early as 2004 but nothing much was done to remedy this weakness," according to the Independent.From pick n' mix to click n' mix; Woolworths will today be given the chance of a second life online. The 100-year old high street chain, which lost its battle for survival at the end of last year, has been revived by its new owner, Shop Direct Group, as a standalone web business, says the FT.The Federal Reserve signalled it was less concerned about the prospect of deflation than it has been at any time since the financial crisis erupted with full force last autumn, and reiterated that it saw signs of the US economy improving, writes the Independent.