Thursday newspaper round-up: Free trade, Ladbrokes, HBOS

Business will benefit from a giant free-trade deal between Europe and the United States only if there is substantial reform to the European Union, Sajid Javid believes. The eurosceptic business secretary is expected to deliver a staunch defence today of the contentious Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, which is intended to create the world’s biggest free-trade zone by removing tariffs and regulatory barriers. - The Times

Dermot Desmond’s fight to block Ladbrokes’ £2bn merger with rival Coral gathered momentum tonight after a top ten shareholder in the bookmaker said he would meet the Irish billionaire to hear his objections. The Irish financier, who owns between 1% and 2% of the bookmaker, on Wednesday published an open letter to Ladbrokes shareholders urging them to vote against the tie-up at Tuesday’s general meeting. The billionaire described the merger with privately-held Coral as “the wrong deal” and warned investors that the transaction was “a zero premium acquisition of Ladbrokes”. - The Daily Telegraph

Former HBOS executives will learn whether they face fresh investigations into their conduct in the run up to the bank’s near collapse in 2008 Thursday’s publication of the much-delayed and long-anticipated report into what went wrong at the bank will be published alongside an opinion commissioned by the regulators into the decision in 2012 to only punish one former executive. - The Guardian

Police foiled terrorist attacks on Paris’s business district and airport yesterday after a dawn raid in the French capital during which Europe’s first female bomber blew herself up. Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 27, the alleged mastermind of last Friday’s Paris attacks in which 129 people died, was also killed, according to unconfirmed reports last night. - The Times

The Belgian government issued a private diplomatic protest to France this week over what it perceives as the French leadership’s unfair blaming of Belgium for Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris, saying that homegrown jihadism is as much a problem for France as it is for Belgium. - Financial Times