Sunday newspaper round-up: Global recession, Glencore, Prudential

Emerging economies risk “leading the world economy into a slump”, with lower growth and a rout in financial markets, according to the latest Brookings Institution-Financial Times tracking index. Released ahead of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Lima, Peru, the index paints a much more pessimistic outlook than the fund is likely to predict later this week. - Financial Times

Glencore would listen to offers for a takeover of the entire company but its management does not believe there are any buyers willing to pay a fair value for the business in the current market. The revelation comes after a week in which billions of dollars were wiped off the company’s shares following a series of damning analyst notes warning that its equity value could collapse should commodities prices fall further. - Sunday Telegraph

Prudential, Britain’s biggest insurer, is examining plans to move its headquarters from Britain to escape onerous new European Union regulations. The radical plan could see the £36bn insurer sell its British operations, or spin them out into a separate listed company, City sources said. - The Sunday Times

MPs are moving towards a consensus in favour of military action against Islamic State in Syria, Philip Hammond has said. Speaking at the Conservative party conference in Manchester, the foreign secretary declared there was a growing feeling in parliament that something must be done to tackle Isis in its Syrian stronghold as well as Iraq. - The Guardian

The UK’s accounting watchdog has written to J Sainsbury to question the supermarket retailer’s accounting of supplier income disclosures in the wake of last year’s Tesco scandal. Sainsbury’s received an exploratory letter from the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) after it failed to disclose its income from its suppliers in its annual report. - Sunday Telegraph

Coalminer Hargreaves Services is this weekend weighing up an eleventh-hour rescue of Redcar steelworks. A deal would still see the blast furnace on Teesside closed — but Hargreaves would keep it maintained with a view to restarting it when steel prices recover. Industry sources cautioned yesterday that the odds were stacked against a rescue, with a final decision likely this afternoon. - The Sunday Times

American private equity giant Apollo has launched a £400m raid on insurance outsourcing company Xchanging. It is one of several buyout companies understood to have made an approach to London-listed Xchanging, best known for its former long-term sponsorship of the Boat Race. Trade bidders may also enter the fray, said Sky News, which reported Apollo’s interest yesterday. Wipro Technologies, the giant Indian outsourcer, could be a contender. - The Sunday Times

The economic gap between London and other major cities will widen significantly in the next 10 years, undermining the chancellor’s push to create a “northern powerhouse”, according to a report. London’s economy is forecast to grow 27% by 2025 – almost twice the combined rate of growth in northern English cities, the report by law firm Irwin Mitchell and the Centre for Economics & Business Research (CEBR) found. - The Guardian