Wednesday press round-up: Election, Virgin Atlantic, Prudential

28th Apr 2010 06:29

Voters are being kept in the dark by all three main political parties, which have failed to disclose the scale of tax rises and public sector cuts required to tackle the financial crisis, Britain's leading economic forecaster has warned.The Institute for Fiscal Studies criticised Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats for not being frank with the public about the drastic measures needed to repair the government's finances. The institute claimed that the parties have black holes of up to £52 billion in the economic plans they have published as part of the election campaign, the Telegraph reports.Sir Richard Branson, the founder and president of Virgin Atlantic, ordered secret talks with arch rival British Airways about co-ordinating fare increases on long distance flights, a court heard yesterday. Sir Richard, 59, instructed a senior Virgin employee to "sound out" a contact at BA about whether the carrier would follow suit if Virgin introduced a particular kind of fare increase in 2005, it was alleged, the Times reports.The Prudential held an emergency meeting with its largest shareholder yesterday to confront Capital World Investors about its potential break-up plan for the insurer. Several of Capital's fund managers, who collectively hold 12% of the Pru, were at the meeting. They included Patrice Collette, who is understood to be the Capital investment manager with significant reservations about the Pru's $35.5bn bid for AIA in Asia, the Times reports.The European Central Bank may soon have to invoke emergency powers to prevent the disintegration of southern European bond markets, with ominous signs of investor flight from Spain and Italy. Greece's fortunes were dealt yet another blow as Standard & Poor's slashed its credit rating to junk status - BB+ - the first time that has happened to a euro member since the single currency was created, pushing yields on 10-year Greek bonds up to a record 9.73%, the Telegraph reports.The International Monetary Fund is looking at raising its share of Greece's financial rescue package by €10bn ($13.2bn) amid fears that the planned €45bn bail-outwill fail to prevent the country's debt crisis from spiralling out of control.Stock markets on both sides of the Atlantic tumbled on Tuesday and the euro fell below $1.32, the FT adds.A sharp rise in hacking attacks is costing UK businesses "at least £10bn" a year - more than double the sum two years ago - reversing a trend of falling losses from cybercrime. A survey to be published on Wednesday by PwC, the professional services firm, shows that most of the large British businesses questioned - 92% - experienced some kind of information security incident in the past year, the FT reports.Candover's fall from grace may soon be sealed after the private equity group said it was in talks about a takeover by Alberta Investment Management Corporation to become the in-house buy-out arm of the $70bn (£45.8bn) Canadian pension fund, the FT reports.G4S became the latest British company to become embroiled in an overseas bribery case yesterday, when two employees were jailed in Afghanistan for paying local officials to release impounded vehicles. Bill Shaw, a British employee of the security firm and a former officer in the Military Police, was sentenced to two years in Afghanistan's notorious Pul-e-Charkhi prison near Kabul. Maiwand Limar, an Afghan employee, was also convicted, the Independent reports.Fabrice Tourre, the trader at the heart of the Goldman Sachs fraud case, told senators out for blood over the American mortgage crisis yesterday that he was "sad and humbled" by events, but that he had behaved properly. Mr Tourre was one of seven executives to take the witness seat at a day-long hearing of the Senate Permanent Sub-committee on Investigations, ducking and weaving under a barrage of questions from senators determined to extract an admission of guilt over the way Goldman sold complex mortgage-related investments, the Times reports.The American raider targeting Chloride was accused last night of "gung-ho cowboy tactics" as a battle for the British industrial group looked set to get increasingly hostile. Emerson's indicative offer came after it gave Chloride's board little more than 48 hours to respond to an approach made on Friday afternoon, the Times reports.