Thursday newspaper round-up: HSBC, RBS, Pharmacyclics

HSBC boss Stuart Gulliver apologised to MPs on Wednesday for the “unacceptable events” at the bank’s Swiss subsidiary following revelations about tax-avoidance activities in the mid-2000s, reports The Independent. He said it had caused “damage to trust and confidence” in the company.

RBS’s chief executive Ross McEwan is to hand back £1m of his annual pay package, saying he did not want to receive the “role-based” shares incentive, according to The Guardian.

US cancer drugs manufacturer Pharmacyclics is said to be considering a sale that could value it at $19bn, the Financial Times said. According to the paper’s sources, Johnson & Johnson is exploring a deal with the company.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Google and merged its European operations into a single business “to better align the business with large customers and develop more unified responses to rising regulatory pressure in the region”.

Terra Firma is planning to start a sale of its European cinema chain, Odeon & UCI Group, at the end of the year, reports The Telegraph. The deal could be worth £1bn.

Iberdrola, the Spanish power utility group, has agreed to buy US power and gas distributor UIL Holdings for $52.83 a share, valuing the group at $3bn, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Russia has threatened to disrupt gas supplies to Europe as it demanded immediate advance payments from Ukraine, writes The Times.