Thursday's newspaper round-up: Vauxhall/GM, banks, Astra

28th May 2009 06:38

Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, has secured pledges from each of the three main potential bidders for Vauxhall to safeguard the vast majority of the carmaker's 5,000 British workers, it emerged last night, reports the Times.The Telegraph says talks over the fate of General Motors' European operations, including the two Vauxhall plants in Britain, failed to deliver an agreement after the car maker asked the German Government for an emergency loan of 300 million euros (£260m). The Bank of England's deputy Governor Paul Tucker has raised the prospect of imposing an effective tax on Britain's banks to help shoulder the cost of the financial bail-outs, says the Telegraph.Meanwhile, Bank of England official David Blanchflower, who accurately predicted the recession, warns today against complacency that the worst of the slump is over and predicts a further surge of more than a million in unemployment this year.Bradford & Bingley, the bank bailed-out by the taxpayer last year, has revealed it will not pay the interest due on £325m of subordinated bonds, raising questions over whether other Government-owned banks may do the same, says the Telegraph.Odeon, Cineworld and Vue, the three leading UK cinema chains, have all submitted first round bids for some of the 21 UK cinemas put up for sale by Sumner Redstone, according to the FT.Verus Pharmaceuticals, a US-based company, has filed a lawsuit against AstraZeneca seeking $1.3bn (£813m) over claims involving the development of an asthma treatment, says the Telegraph.Hot on the heels of the surprise resignation of top executive Linda Cook, Shell's in-coming chief executive Peter Voser announced major restructuring plans yesterday that could cut thousands of rank-and-file jobs, according to the Independent.The sale of Royal Bank of Scotland's Asian assets is to drag on through the summer after failing to attract enough firm bids because of uncertainties relating to the divestment, according to people familiar with the matter, says the FT.Flybe has accused British Airways - which holds a 15pc stake in the low-cost carrier - of failing to analyse the facts when the larger carrier wrote down the value of its holding by a quarter, says the Telegraph.Descendants of John D Rockefeller, the oil magnate whose Standard Oil made him the richest man in history at the turn of the 19th-century, pressed the modern-day ExxonMobil to focus on the impact of climate change and change its focus to renewable energies, according to the Independent.UBS, the Swiss bank that recently announced heavy first-quarter losses, has defended its decision to increase base salaries for some investment bankers, reports the Times.