Tuesday newspaper round-up: BP, Shell, Rio Tinto

26th May 2009 06:23

BP nominated a former Soviet diplomat to lead the troubled TNK-BP oil company yesterday in an attempt to end a damaging conflict with four Russian billionaire shareholders.The oil giant put forward Pavel Skitovich as chief executive of the Anglo-Russian joint venture, ten months after Robert Dudley, the previous head, fled Moscow during a wrangle over control of the company, reports the Times.A plan to award Romania a £400m contract to upgrade Royal Air Force helicopters has been delayed amid fears of a voter backlash.Senior military officers have told The Times that the Government is holding up the contract to overhaul the RAF Pumas for political reasons, reports the Times.Royal Dutch Shell is due in court on Wednesday this week to face charges of being complicit in the execution of Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa 14 years ago.The Anglo-Dutch petrochemicals giant will be accused of asking Nigeria's military dictatorship to silence Mr Saro-Wiwa and other activists campaigning against ecological damage allegedly brought about by oil extraction, reports the Telegraph.Global miner Rio Tinto has agreed a 33% cut in contract fine iron ore prices with Japan's Nippon Steel Corp for the current shipping year, Rio said in a statement on Tuesday, reports the FT.Danone, the world's biggest yoghurt maker, plans to launch a rights issue to raise €3bn ($4.2bn) to reduce its net debt and give it the flexibility to make bolt-on acquisitions. The Paris-based group, which made net profits of €1.3bn in 2008, has been hit by the downturn in consumer spending, saying in February it expected no rebound in consumption this year, reports the FT.German car maker Porsche is struggling to raise €1.75bn (£1.54bn) to cover debts and unwind derivative positions stemming from its botched attempt to take over vastly-bigger Volkswagen. Porsche's shares fell 3.1% in Frankfurt on Monday after it emerged that the company had obtained a €700bn loan from Volkswagen as long ago as March. A Porsche spokesman said the group is negotiating bridging finance with a variety of banks, including the state lender KfW, reports the Telegraph.The future of General Motors' European subsidiaries, including its Vahuxhall plants at Ellesmere Port and Luton and Opel factories in Germany, was thrown into confusion when a German minister floated the possibility that none of the bids on the table for the business might succeed, reports the Independent.Whitehead Mann, the City headhunter, has held talks with US recruiter Korn/Ferry aimed at selling a majority stake in the business, less than two years after it was taken private by Och-Ziff, the hedge fund group, reports the FT.Fraud is soaring during the recession and must be made a police priority, the senior officer heading the national drive against economic crime said.The number of reported frauds rose by 64% during the past financial year, with people from all walks of life falling victim. Mike Bowron, Commissioner of City of London Police, said that law enforcement agencies could no longer ignore so-called "white-collar crime," reports the Times.Britain's recession-hit companies risk being dragged down by their retirement obligations unless they are given more time to tackle ballooning deficits in their final salary pension schemes, according to the CBI. The employers' lobby group is calling on the Pensions Regulator to intervene urgently and give companies at least 15 years to repair the shortfalls in their pension schemes, rather than the present ten, reports the Times.