Friday newspaper round-up: Volkswagen, Sanofi, Toyota, Eurostar

Institutional investors with €12tn in assets under management are urging European policymakers to toughen up vehicle tests for carbon dioxide emissions following the latest twist in the Volkswagen scandal. The German carmaker on Tuesday disclosed a new issue of understated CO2 emissions by 800,000 cars in Europe — including almost 100,000 petrol vehicles. Last month, VW admitted up to 11m diesel vehicles worldwide had been fitted with defeat devices that understated nitrogen oxide emissions in official tests. – Financial Times

Sanofi is to consider selling or spinning-off its animal health business and European generic drug assets as part of a strategic overhaul of France’s biggest company by market capitalisation. Olivier Brandicourt, who took over as Sanofi chief executive in April, said he wanted to refocus the drugmaker “on areas where we can win” including a renewed commitment to finding treatments for cancer. – Financial Times

Sir Richard Branson could launch a rival to taxi-hailing app Uber, the Virgin founder has admitted. The billionaire, who has built a conglomerate spanning transport, financial services and telecommunications, said his company should be involved in the sharing economy, competing with the likes of Uber and home-renting service Airbnb. – Telegraph

Two of the biggest names in global finance have attacked virtual currencies, claiming that services such as Bitcoin will never be widely used. The heads of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and America's largest bank have both said unregulated digital money is fundamentally flawed and will struggle to be accepted by the mainstream. – Telegraph

Toyota is investing $1bn in a research company it is setting up in Silicon Valley to develop artificial intelligence and robotics, underlining the Japanese automaker’s determination to lead in futuristic cars that drive themselves and apply the technology to other areas of daily life. Toyota Motor Corp. president Akio Toyoda said on Friday the company will start running in January 2016, with 200 employees at a Silicon Valley facility near Stanford University, with a second facility near Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge. – Guardian

Britain’s stake in Eurostar was sold for £757m even though the government believed its value would rise, because ministers wanted to offload the state’s share in the cross-Channel train service before the general election, a report has concluded. The report by the National Audit Office into the sale, published on Friday, found that taxpayers had invested four times more in Eurostar, approximately £3bn, than the sum recouped from the sale in March. - Guardian