Wednesday newspaper round-up: Bayer/Monsanto, Dyson, Tata, Apple

Bayer and Monsanto are on the verge of agreeing the largest takeover deal of 2016 to date, after the German company sweetened its offer for the US seed maker to just under $130 a share, people informed about the negotiations said. The deal, valuing Monsanto’s equity at about $57bn and worth about $66bn including debt, is likely to be announced as early as Wednesday morning in New York soon after Bayer’s board meets to sign off on the deal, several people close to the aspirin-to-crop chemicals conglomerate said. – Financial Times

Ardian, the French private equity house, raised €4.5bn in four months for investing in midsized European companies mostly outside Britain, in a sign that June’s vote to leave the EU has pushed backers of buyout funds to look beyond the UK. Philippe Poletti, the head of Ardian’s mid-cap buyout investing unit, said that “Brexit was in our favour” during the fundraising, increasing interest from institutional investors, some of which have turned wary of more UK-focused funds. – Financial Times

Sir James Dyson, the billionaire inventor, has said there is no reason for businesses in Britain to be uncertain as a result of the EU referendum and that they would be mad to withhold investment on the back of the vote. Speaking as his company, Dyson, unveiled a £250m expansion of its research and development centre in the Cotswolds, the engineer said Britain could now reach trade agreements with countries outside Europe “much more easily and flexibly” and reconsider its approach to immigration from around the world so it can attract more engineers and scientists from India, China and the far east. – Guardian

One of Britain’s largest bond funds has suggested that people would be better off keeping their money in cash, rather than investing in debt, as it warned of the extraordinary impact that central bank policies are having on fixed-income returns. M&G Investments, which manages more than £260 billion for its customers, of which nearly £160 billion is in fixed-income assets, said yesterday that the “traditional approach” to investing should be reappraised in the light of negative interest rates, where depositors pay to save their money. – The Times

Ministers appear to have backtracked on a proposal that might have helped to save Tata Steel UK but, critics argued, could have ripped a hole in one of the fundamental principles of pension provision. A proposal to introduce legislation to allow Tata to water down promised pension benefits is said to have been shelved because of worries it could set a dangerous precedent and because of reported resistance from the Pension Protection Fund industry lifeboat. – The Times

The European Union is facing an 'existential threat', its most senior official will warn on Wednesday, as major splits emerge between East and West countries in the wake of Brexit. Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, will on Wednesday deliver a ‘State of the Union’ speech, in which he will attempt to ease tensions in an increasingly divided continent. – Telegraph

Apple's "biggest iOS release ever" got off to a rough start on Tuesday night with social media filled with complaints from users attempting to install the upgrade. The company launched its iOS 10 and macOS Sierra to the public at 6pm UK time and it didn't take long for people to run into difficulty. Many iPhone and iPad users reported error messages and complained of "bricking" - a term used to describe devices rendered unusable due to a software or hardware fault. - Telegraph