Tuesday newspaper round-up: Tax havens, Lagarde, AstraZeneca, Brexit

The UK’s overseas territories face renewed pressure to abandon corporate secrecy after 80 MPs joined forces to demand greater financial transparency from offshore havens. The cross-party group is backing an amendment to the government’s criminal finances bill on Tuesday that would force Britain’s 14 overseas territories to introduce public registers revealing the true owners of locally registered companies. - Guardian

The Radio Times is poised to go into foreign ownership, as German publisher Hubert Burda finalises a deal to buy its parent company. Immediate Media, which struck a £121m deal with BBC Magazines to buy, license or contract publish titles including Top Gear, Top of The Pops and Match of the Day magazines in 2011, could announce the deal before Christmas. - Guardian

Innovia, the manufacturer of the new plastic £5 notes that contain animal fat, has been snapped up by Canadian label and packaging giant CCL Industries for CAN $1.13bn (£680m). The Wigton-based company, which has about 1,200 employees, is currently owned by a consortium of UK private equity investors managed by The Smithfield Group. - Telegraph

Christine Lagarde looked to be safe in her role as the International Monetary Fund’s managing director on Monday night after its board gave her its backing, just hours after she was convicted of “negligence” over a huge payout to a business tycoon while she was French finance minister. The IMF board praised the “wide respect and trust” for Mrs Lagarde’s leadership as it expressed its “full confidence” in her ability to continue in the role at the upper echelons of international finance. – Telegraph

AstraZeneca has parted company with its head of oncology, who is returning to his native France to take up the post of chief executive of the biotechnology company Innate Pharma. The pharmaceuticals group said that it already had a replacement for Mondher Mahjoubi. Oncology is an important part of the pledge made by Pascal Soriot, Astra’s chief executive, to create a new stable of innovative treatments to combat the so-called “patent cliff”, when established drugs lose their exclusive status and can replicated and sold by rivals. – The Times

Law firms have advised British banks that they could sue the European Union if it fails to give them a gradual path to Brexit. Banks are pushing for retention of rights that allow them to offer services to clients across the European Union from their London offices. – The Times