Tuesday Papers: Cyprus scrambles to renegotiate bailout

Top stories

• Financial Times: Cypriot authorities on Monday scrambled to renegotiate the terms of a €10 billion bailout by moving to scrap its controversial levy on small account holders and instead seizing more from larger depositors and businesses.
• Daily Mail: Shares in British banks were hammered on Monday amid fears the EU raid on accounts in Cyprus could trigger a run on lenders across Europe.
• Financial Times: An analysis by the Financial Times reveals the extent to which both American and foreign companies have profited from Iraq war – with the top 10 contractors securing business worth at least $72 billion between them; in total, the US has spent at least $138 billion.
• Financial Times: AstraZeneca will cut 1,600 jobs – most of them in the UK and US – as the struggling Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical group seeks to boost returns from its lagging pipeline of experimental medicines.
• The Daily Telegraph: AstraZeneca, the drugmaker, is to invest $500 million to build new headquarters in Cambridge to tap into the city's academic talent and expertise in bioscience research as part of a major R&D overhaul.
• Financial Times: STMicroelectronics and Ericsson will close their lossmaking chip manufacturing joint venture ST Ericsson at a cost of 1,600 jobs after failing to find a buyer for the Switzerland-based business.
• Financial Times: Citigroup will pay $730 million to settle claims that it misled investors in its bonds and preferred stock over its exposure to subprime mortgages, in the second-biggest class-action payout related to the financial crisis.
• The Daily Telegraph: State-backed Royal Bank of Scotland is to invest £700 million between 2013 and 2016 in improving its branches, as part of a continuing shift in focus towards its domestic lending business.
• Financial Times: The swelling cash reserves of Apple and a handful of other technology companies have raised the overall liquidity of corporate America to a record $1.45 trillion at the end of last year, up 10% from the year before.
• Financial Times: Airbus achieved a coup on Monday by winning a $24 billion order for more than 200 passenger jets from Lion Air, the fast-growing Asian low-cost carrier.
• The Independent: The struggling hedge fund giant Man Group has capped all executive bonuses at 250% of salary in a sweeping overhaul of its pay policy.
• Financial Times: General Electric will next month hold votes to elect four directors for the first time in its 121-year history, as the US industrial group seeks to strengthen its board.
• Daily Mail: Tidjane Thiam, chief executive of the Prudential, is facing an unwelcome blast from the past as an investigation into its failed bid for Asian insurer AIA is believed to be close to completion.
• Financial Times: Vale has almost doubled the estimated cost of its suspended potash project in Argentina to $11 billion as the Brazilian miner becomes the latest company to halt investments in the country.
• Daily Mail: Music giant Universal has launched a new record label which brings together existing labels Virgin and Mercury under one roof.

Business and economics

• Financial Times: China has ousted the UK as the world’s fifth-largest arms exporter, mainly because of sales to Pakistan, said the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
• Financial Times: A report by senior Republicans commissioned after the party’s two bruising presidential election losses recommends attacking “corporate malfeasance” and taking on executives who enrich themselves at the expense of their workers.
• The Guardian: Fewer than one in four of the government's hundreds of national infrastructure projects – including road, rail and energy schemes – will be completed during this parliament, research by the Guardian has found.
• The Independent: The world's most powerful central bankers are preparing to impose themselves on the financial sector interest rate reporting framework in response to the Libor scandal.
• The Daily Telegraph: Britain is to open a new research centre to keep its aerospace industry world-class, backed by £2 billion investment from business and Government over the next seven years.
• The Independent: The Financial Services Authority fined the oil services group Lamprell £2.4 million for failing to keep investors informed ahead of a profits warning which wiped 57% off its share price.
• Financial Times: BlackRock intends to cut around 300 jobs, or almost 3% of its workforce, as the New York-based asset manager takes a more aggressive approach to culling poor performers.
• Financial Times: SAC Capital, the $15 billion hedge fund run by Steven Cohen, told its investors on Monday that a record $614 million payment to settle civil insider trading charges does not preclude further action by regulators.
• Daily Mail: Growing doubts about Talvivaara Mining’s future even after a £227 million ‘rescue’ fundraising dragged the company 7.25 pence or 21% lower to 27 pence on Monday.
• Financial Times: Sharp is to receive the second tranche of a $104 million investment from Qualcomm three months later than expected after failing to meet certain conditions of the capital tie-up with the US semiconductor group.
• Financial Times: The owners of Ziggo are selling down their holdings in the Dutch cable provider for as much as €1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
• The Independent: Katherine Garrett-Cox, the chief executive of Alliance Trust, the fund-management business, pocketed almost £1.1 million in pay and benefits last year.
• The Independent: The outgoing boss of the housebuilder Persimmon racked up a maximum bonus of more than £1 million last year, the company's annual report showed.
• The Guardian: Oil services company Lamprell has been fined £2.4 million by the Financial Services Authority for "significant" failings in its internal controls which led to delays in the issuing of profit warnings.
• The Independent: Volkswagen will recall an unspecified number of vehicles in China to fix a possible gearbox problem after coming under criticism from state-run China Central Television.
• Financial Times: Electronic Arts, the second-largest video game publisher by market capitalisation, is replacing its chief executive John Riccitiello, as it warned fourth-quarter revenues and earnings could fall below expectations.
• The Guardian: British ministers have welcomed the introduction of low-cost flights between London and Moscow as a boost to trade and investment, as the first easyJet service for the Russian capital departed on Monday.
• Financial Times: Oliver Samwer, the German internet entrepreneur, is one of several investors who have founded a €150 million investment fund with the aim of putting money into early-stage technology companies worldwide.
• The Guardian: Profits at discount chain B&M Retail jumped 43% to £90.6 million last year as cash-strapped shoppers sought out its low-price groceries and homewares.
• The Independent: M&C Saatchi’s profits before exceptional items jumped by a tenth to £17.2 million, but fell to £9.9 million on a pre-tax basis because of an accounting change related to the value of future share awards.
• The Daily Telegraph: Housebuilder Berkeley said that it was "on course" to pay more than £500 million to shareholders by 2015.
• The Independent: Evros Stakis, the son of the late hotels magnate Sir Reo Stakis, is planning to open a chain of 80 day care nurseries across the UK.

Share tips, comment and bids

• Financial Times: The planned merger of US Airways and AMR Corporation, American Airlines’ bankrupt parent, has suffered a big blow after the bankruptcy trustee objected to a proposed $19.8 million severance payment to one of the carriers’ chief executives.
• The Independent: Cala, the upmarket housebuilder, has been sold to private equity buyers, Legal & General and Patron Capital Partners, by Lloyds Banking Group for £210 million.
• The Guardian (Editorial): The euro's authorities seem to be using Cyprus to demonstrate a newly pig-headed toughness. This could soon mean tougher times everywhere.
• The Guardian (Comment): M&S: an intriguing footnote to the non-tale of Qatar Holding's non-bid is the absence of anyone arguing the store should be immune from takeover games.
• The Daily Telegraph (Comment): Daylight robbery in Cyprus will come to haunt European Monetary Union.
• Daily Mail (Comment – Alex Brummer): It is disturbing for M&S, its staff and private shareholders, that despite denials of interest in the company from Qatar and assurances from private equity firm CVC that it is not involved, the speculation goes on.
• Financial Times (Lex): Cyprus and banks: depositor bail-in is a lesson in what happens when distortions return to normal but for EU banks there are two near-term problems.
• Financial Times (Lex): ST-Ericsson: the hard part of the joint venture’s break-up is assessing what benefits and risks attach to the ongoing businesses of Ericsson and STMicro.
• Financial Times (Lex): Transocean: oil driller’s shareholders can thank the activist for an unjustified cash return, though Wall Street estimates free cash flow at nil.
• Financial Times (Lex): HDFC and BCA: in some corners of the world, such as India and Indonesia, there are still investors with confidence in the banking system.