Wednesday newspaper round-up: BP, Bank Tax, Prudential

9th Jun 2010 06:34

A further £4bn was wiped off BP's market value yesterday after President Obama mounted his strongest attack yet on the company's management, fuelling speculation that Carl-Henric Svanberg, BP's chairman, could be sacrificed in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.Shares in BP sank a further 5% to 409p as investors reacted nervously to comments from Mr Obama that he wanted to know "whose ass to kick" over the spill, raising the spectre of huge US fines and future liabilities, the Times reports.Norway has banned new deepwater oil drilling in the North Sea amid in a sign that panic over BP's Gulf of Mexico spill is spreading. Britain yesterday ruled out a moratorium "for the moment" on deep water exploration, but Norway, its North Sea neighbour, said it had sufficient concerns to halt all new drilling until a full inquiry is conducted into the cause of BP's leak, the Telegraph reports.Benefits, tax credits and public sector pensions have been formally earmarked for potential cuts for the first time under Government plans to avert a Greek-style debt crisis, the Chancellor has disclosed.George Osborne said these areas would be "comprehensively" scrutinised as he singled them out for special attention in the forthcoming spending review, the Telegaph reports.European Union finance ministers have pledged to pursue plans for a levy on banks, in spite of disagreement over what to do with the proceeds and the decision by the world's richest nations to drop plans for a global tax. "The EU has to be proactive in following this up," said Elena Salgado, Spanish finance minister, after chairing a meeting of EU ministers in Luxembourg on Tuesday. Michel Barnier, EU internal market commissioner, said he was not abandoning the idea of using money raised by a levy on the banking industry to establish an EU-wide network of domestic funds that could be used to resolve financial problems at individual banks in the future. "We will persist in this matter," said Mr Barnier, the FT reports.Tidjane Thiam should sacrifice up to £4.3m in possible annual bonuses in the wake of Prudential's failed bid to buy AIA, leading shareholders believe. Some of the Pru's biggest investors said yesterday that waiving his entitlement would mark a "decent gesture" by the chief executive, after the insurer was hit with a £450m bill to cover the costs of ending the AIA deal, the Times reports.Emirates airlines has ordered 32 Airbus A380 superjumbo jets, in what the manufacturer said was the world's most expensive order of commercial aircraft. Emirates's order, announced a the opening of the Berlin Air Show, would be worth just over $11bn at a list price of $346.5m per plane - although airlines typically receive discounts for large orders. It brings the Dubai airline's total A380 order to 90 planes, all for delivery by 2017, the Telegraph reports.Royal Bank of Scotland has stepped up its asset sell-off programme, and drawn up shortlists for two key businesses that are expected to fetch about £4bn ($6bn) for the government-backed bank. Morgan Stanley and Jefferies are among the final bidders for RBS Sempra Commodities' North America business, which focuses on natural gas and power trading and could potentially reach a total value of $2bn (£1.4bn), people familiar with the process said. RBS has also narrowed the field of bidders for its £2.5bn payment processing arm to two US private equity consortiums, the FT reports. The international deal that saved the Swiss bank UBS from investigation for aiding massive tax evasion in the US has been thrown into confusion after Switzerland's lower house of parliament rejected a plan to hand over thousands of customer details to American tax authorities. The vote in the National Council threatens to delay the deal beyond the August deadline set by Washington, re-opening the possibility that UBS could find itself fighting a civil lawsuit in a US court and demands to disclose the names of 52,000 account-holders, the Independent reports.J Sainsbury paid its chief executive almost £8m last year, at a time when the supermarket reported its lowest sales growth in five years. Justin King enjoyed a 60% increase on his previous year's pay packet. Basic pay for the period from March 2009 to March 2010, including salary, pension supplements and bonuses, totalled £3.35m. This was topped up by a £4.52m gain on share options earned through long-term incentive schemes. Mr King owns shares in the company worth £5.92m at March 19, the Times reports.