Sunday newspaper round-up: Anglo American, Big Tobacco, GIB privatisation

Mining giant Anglo American will shelve or slash its dividend this week as it battles plummeting metals and minerals prices. Shareholders will be told at the FTSE 100 company’s investor day on Tuesday, the Sunday Times reported, with the company having also decided to pay future dividends as a ratio of income.

The Bank of England has approved the internal capital calculation models of 19 insurance firms, including Aviva, Amlin, Legal & General, Just Retirement, RSA, Prudential and Lloyd's of London. The endorsement, which was not given to 21 firms, including Direct Line, means that the approved firms can use an internal model to determine the amount of capital they need to set aside to protect themselves from a severe financial crisis, the Sunday Telegraph said. The green light for Just Retirement also means it can proceed with the merger with peer Partnership Assurance.

The government is poised to launch a fast-track privatisation of the Green Investment Bank (GIB) early next year, which should bring in more than 2013's flotation of the Royal Mail. The GIB, whose high running costs has put some buyers off, is said to have appointed UBS and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and is poised to launch the auction next month, the Sunday Times said.

Tata Steel is nearing a deal that would see a major turnaround investor snap up a number of plants and other sites, and potentially saving thousands of UK jobs. The Sunday Telegraph said formal bids had been received by three different funds, with investors Greybull and Endless both said to be among the bidders, while the third is a US private equity firm.

Home Retail's DIY retail chain Homebase continues to be ever more closely circled by potential bidders, according to reports, with French company Leroy Merlin now said to be leading the pack. Interest in the chain has stepped up, with one arm of France's Adeo Group understood to have examined Homebase on a number of occasions in the last few years, the Sunday Times reported.

McDonald's has avoided million of pounds of UK tax by sending royalties from its British restaurants to its Luxembourg subsidiary. With European Commission investigators already formally probing the US group's potentially illegal tax agreement with the grand duchy, the Sunday Times said the legal royalty loophole had allowed the world’s biggest fast food chain to reduce its reported profits in the UK and so decrease its corporate tax bill.

Challenger banks are mulling disposals to avoid the Chancellor's new bank surcharge, with Secure Trust Bank on Friday announcing the sale of its Everyday Loans group for £235m. The Mail on Sunday said Tesco Bank was among those looking at how it is structured and larger banks likely to restructure having moved non-banking activities out of subsidiaries recently to improve their capital positions.

British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco, Philip Morris International and Japan Tobacco International will begin a UK court battle on Thursday to attempt to stop the introduction of plain packaging for cigarettes. The four maintain that the UK government's plans infringe on their rights to use their brands without restrictions, the Sunday Times reported, with the potential to return to the courts in the future to claim compensation if these attempts fail.

Asda boss Andy Clarke has predicted rival big supermarkets will suffer at the hands of the Wal-Mart owned grocer in coming weeks after he kept his powder dry during Black Friday and the ensuing week of discounts. He told the Mail on Sunday he was ready to open fire on rivals in the crucial Christmas season. "What we saved we're now putting into deals right through to Christmas," Clarke said, pointing to a swathe of cheap offers Asda will be making, including petrol under £1 a litre.

Royal Bank of Scotland will launch a joint venture with asset managers Hermes, M&G and AIG focused on lending to mid-market firms. Three loans have been given out under a pilot of the scheme, coming in total to £250m, with could fund 75 to 80 deals next year, the Sunday Telegraph reported, totalling between £600m and £700m in loans.

Insurer Aviva is also launching a new funding vehicle, with its £100m fund targeting young digital companies. Following similar plans from Santander and Generali, Aviva will plough £20m a year into technology start-ups, the Sunday Times reported.

Plans to float independent financial adviser Towry have reportedly been ditched in favour of a fast-tracked sale by owner Palamon Capital Partners. The private equity firm is believed, the Sunday Times said, to have appointed Evercore to seek out potential bidders, with a sale expected early in 2016 and bids due to be submitted before Christmas.

UK companies could be hit with a multimillion-pound bill for backdated holiday pay if a landmark legal battle goes against British Gas week. The Sunday Times said the long-running case at the employment appeal tribunal in London will determine whether British workers should have commission included in their holiday pay, in line with a ruling last year from the European Court of Justice. Accountants believe British Gas will lose the case.

HSBC has confirmed it will change its pension policies to bring them "in line" with other major lenders, following complaints from its biggest investors. The company currently pays its chief executive, chairman and two executive directors 50% of their base salaries in cash, in lieu of a pension, compared to Lloyds' and Barclays's pension contribution of around 25-30% of the basic salary of equivalent level management.