Tuesday newspaper round-up: Rolls Royce, Syria, Valeant

29th Sep 2015 05:59

(ShareCast News) - The deepening scandal at Petrobras has further increased pressure on Rolls-Royce, the pre-eminent British engineer that is a key supplier of power turbines to the Brazilian oil major. Already under investigation in Brazil over claims that it paid cash to individuals to secure contracts, it has emerged that a Brazilian congressional inquiry into Petrobras is being widened to include Rolls' relationship with the state oil and gas company, according to reports. - The TimesThe US and Russia laid out starkly different views about how to end the Syrian conflict on Monday as Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin exchanged the sort of rhetorical barbs not seen at the UN since the Cold War. The two men later held a 90-minute meeting at the UN, which both sides described as "frank" and "productive" and where they agreed to try to find ways to end the conflict in Syria, but where their major differences were not resolved. - Financial TimesShares in Valeant fell as much as 19% on Monday after an influential group of Democratic policymakers called for the company to be issued with a subpoena to hand over documents relating to "massive price hikes". All 18 Democrats on the house committee on oversight and government reform sent a letter to Valeant's chairman, alleging that the pharmaceutical company was withholding documents that relate to two sharp price rises it implemented earlier this year. - Financial TimesThe Serious Fraud Office's investigation into the Bank of England's money-market auctions is focusing on whether officials told lenders to make similar bids for central bank funding, according to reports. Banks were allegedly advised to offer the same amount of collateral during the auctions - which were held during the financial crisis when money markets froze - so no single financial institution would stand out as being at risk and needing more emergency cash. - The Daily TelegraphDeutsche Bank's new chief executive has to focus on rapid cost cuts if he wants to turn the struggling German giant around and win over investors, according to a top banking analyst's assessment of the lender. JP Morgan's Kian Abouhossein expects Deutsche's John Cryan to announce plans to cut expenses at the bank by at least €2.5bn (£1.8bn) by 2018, chop 10,000 staff and cut back on 10,000 of the external consultants paid for by the group. - The Daily Telegraph