LONDON Sunday newspaper round-up: BA, Prudential, HSBC

Date: Sunday 23 May 2010

Talks aimed at averting a series of strikes by British Airways cabin crew were abandoned on Saturday after scores of demonstrators stormed the building where the meeting was being held.

Police were called to the headquarters of the conciliation service Acas after members of the Socialist Workers Party, a left wing political group, managed to get to the 23rd floor where leaders of the Unite union were meeting with Willie Walsh, says the FT.

The Independent adds that British Airways will receive approval to link with its rival American Airlines as early as next month – after a 14-year wait that will provide a rare piece of good news for its embattled chief executive.

The insurer AIG has dusted off plans to list its Asian business should Prudential's attempted $35.5bn bid to buy the unit fail, writes the Independent.

Meanwhile, the FT reports that Prudential investors need faith in longer term returns or hope for the insurer to reduce its planned $35.5bn (£24.5bn) takeover of AIA, the Asian businesses of AIG, according to an independent analyst.

The Telegraph adds that Tidjane Thiam has pledged to take up his full £1.5m allocation in Prudential's record-breaking rights issue following criticism that the company's senior executives could use a "get-out clause" to avoid over exposure to its $35.5bn (£24.5bn) deal for AIG's Asian business.

Chairman Stephen Green is to leave HSBC later this year as the bank paves the way for the most radical overhaul of its board in generations. Investors are being briefed that he will be succeeded by John Thornton, a non-executive director who was once Hank Paulson's heir-apparent at Goldman Sachs, reports the Telegraph.

Facebook will unveil sweeping changes to its privacy settings as early as next week in response to a wave of complaints from advocacy groups and regulators, according to people briefed on the plans, says the FT.

David Laws, the chief secretary to the Treasury, is ordering government departments to renegotiate contracts with all their biggest suppliers, demanding cuts of up to 30%, according to the Times.

Sir Richard Hooper, the brain behind Lord Mandelson's plans for a part-privatisation of the Royal Mail, has been approached by the new coalition Government to refresh his 2008 report, reports the Independent.

One of Africa’s richest men is plotting to buy a stake in Arsenal in a move that could trigger a full-blown takeover battle for the Premier League football club. Aliko Dangote, a billionaire Nigerian industrialist, is in talks to buy the 16% stake being sold by Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith, the club’s fourth-largest shareholder, writes the Times.

Apollo, the social housing group that is part of the HBOS bank, has hired big four accountant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to review the business in a move that could lead to a sale, according to the Independent.

Fears of further turbulence in the financial markets mounted yesterday as Spain was forced to bail out one of its biggest regional banks, adding to worries about the eurozone. Spain’s central bank took operational control of Cajasur, one of 44 large regional lenders that account for about half the Spanish banking market. It will need an immediate cash injection of €500m (£430m), says the Times.