Tuesday paper round-up: Prudential, Goldman Sachs, Shell

27th Apr 2010 06:29

The Prudential's biggest shareholder has been moving behind the scenes to orchestrate a potential break-up of the insurer as a radical alternative to its $35.5bn Asian acquisition.Capital Group, which owns 12% of the Pru, is understood to have approached three British-based insurers to sound out their interest in a possible consortium bid. Capital is understood to have held informal conversations in recent days with Resolution, Clive Cowdery's acquisitions vehicle, and Aviva, Britain's second-largest insurer by market value and a fierce Pru rival, the Times reports. Tony Blair lobbied Colonel Muammar Gaddafi on behalf of Shell in a letter written for him in draft form by the oil company, documents obtained by The Times reveal. The correspondence, written while Mr Blair was Prime Minister, bears a striking resemblance to a briefing note by Royal Dutch Shell weeks earlier promoting a $500m (£325 million) deal it was trying to clinch in Libya.The day Goldman Sachs was charged with fraud was "one of the worst days in my professional life", Lloyd Blankfein said yesterday in unusually frank and contrite testimony to a Senate committee. Goldman's chief executive, who will appear in front of the Sub-Committee on Investigations today, released written testimony a day early in which he said that he "strongly disagreed" with the US Securities and Exchange Commission's decision to charge the bank and one of its mortgage traders, Fabrice Tourre, with securities fraud, the Times reports. US regulators are likely to conduct a "belt and braces" review of deepwater drilling safety in the wake of BP's Gulf of Mexico disaster, according to the head of US operations at one of the world's biggest oil majors. BP is trying to stem a leak at its Deepwater Horizon well, after a rig operated by its contractor Transocean caught fire and sank last week. The disaster is believed to have killed 11 people and 42,000 gallons of oil are currently gushing into the sea each day, the Telegraph reports.US Senate Democrats failed last night in their attempt to press ahead with President Obama's Wall Street crackdown. Republicans voted down a proposal to bring a financial reform Bill written by the Democrat Senator Chris Dodd to the floor of the Senate for debate. Democrats hope to hold another vote later this week. Republicans plan to use the extra time and bargaining power they have won to force Democrats to scrap elements of the bill, such as the creation of a $50bn (£32bn) bailout fund, the Times reports.Germany is ready to supply more than €8bn (£7bn) for a joint eurozone-IMF rescue package for Greece "in a few days", though talks on a deal may drag into May. As the risk premia demanded by investors to hold Greek government debt soared to levels usually associated with a banana republic rather than a eurozone member, the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, said that she would not release funds until Athens demonstrates that it has got a "sustainable" plan to cut its budget deficit, with "tough" measures over a period of years, the Times reports.The world's 80 largest insurance groups have written to the G20 group of nations to protest at their industry's inclusion in proposals for a global financial services tax, saying it is unfair and would have a detrimental impact on consumers. The Geneva Association, a global lobby group for the biggest insurers, describes the application of the tax proposal from the International Monetary Fund to insurers as "inappropriate and arbitrary" and says it could increase insurance costs and reduce the amount of insurance available, the FT reports.