Thursday newspaper round-up: BHS, Brexit, OPEC

The father and son property tycoons who helped Dominic Chappell to fund his doomed acquisition of BHS have been called to appear before the two House of Commons select committees investigating its collapse. Guy and Alex Dellal, the son and grandson of legendary property magnate 'Black Jack' Dellal, who run Allied Commercial Exports, loaned Mr Chappell's Retail Acquisitions vehicle £35m in order to help buy BHS. - Telegraph

The Leave campaign must choose. It cannot safeguard access to the EU single market and offer a plausible arrangement for the British economy, unless it capitulates on the free movement of EU citizens. One or other must give. If Brexiteers wish to win over the cautious middle of British politics, they must make a better case that our trade is safe. This means accepting the Norwegian option of the European Economic Area (EEA) - a 'soft exit' - as a half-way house until the new order is established. – Telegraph

Iran’s oil minister has rejected suggestions Opec will agree a production cap at a meeting due to take place in Vienna, saying his country backs a return to a national quota system. Tehran, which only recently returned to world oil markets after western sanctions were lifted, has opposed any attempt to limit output to support weak crude prices. – Guardian

George Osborne, the chancellor, and ministers from the UK’s extensive network of tax havens are among key witnesses that MEPs intend to call as part of a major inquiry set to be launched into the Panama Papers. Leaders of the European parliament meet in Brussels on Thursday to approve the creation of an influential 65-member “inquiry committee”, which is expected to target the tax avoidance industry nurtured by Britain and other European member states. – Guardian

A flag bearing the legend “British Steel” was flying above a UK steelworks again last night as the Scunthorpe works was sold for £1 to the investment funds of two secretive European families. The deal to rescue Scunthorpe — sealed without government loans or other financial support — will see workers take a 3 per cent pay cut and no longer be active members of the £14 billion British Steel Pension Scheme. That scheme and its liabilities remain for now with Tata Steel, the Indian company that sold Scunthorpe and is attempting to quit the rest of its UK interests. – The Times

The differences between Opec members were already on show as delegates arrived before Thursday’s meeting. The price of Brent crude slipped 93 cents to $48.96 a barrel. Despite the divergence in public comments from Opec delegates, Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies were seeking a co-ordinated response to stabilise the market. - The Times

Spies, hackers and other unknown attackers broke into the computer system of the American central bank on multiple occasions between 2011 and 2015, resulting in more than 50 cyberbreaches, Federal Reserve records disclose. The Fed’s cybersecurity experts identified 310 incident reports during the four-year period, and classified 140 as hacking attempts and four as espionage, the records obtained by Reuters show. These resulted in 51 incidents of “information disclosure”. - The Times

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is investing $3.5bn in Uber, marking the largest single investment ever made in a private company. The deal solidifies Uber’s place as the most-funded start-up in the world and brings its war chest to more than $11bn, at a time when the company is aggressively expanding in nearly 70 countries worldwide. – Financial Times