Wednesday newspaper round-up: Tata Steel, Brexit, Rio Tinto

Tata Steel is planning to close its UK pension scheme before it has to make a £60m payment due next year to help to plug a deficit in the fund, according to people briefed on the matter. The £15bn British Steel Pension Scheme has been a significant obstacle in the way of a resolution for Tata’s struggling British operation, which was put up for sale this year. The Indian conglomerate subsequently revealed it was in talks with rival company ThyssenKrupp over a possible merger of their European steel businesses. – Financial Times

Theresa May is under growing pressure from pro-Brexit campaigners to press ahead swiftly with a House of Commons vote to trigger the Article 50 EU divorce clause, rather than wait for a Supreme Court ruling that may not come until January. Mrs May intends to appeal against a High Court ruling which said that parliament must have a vote on triggering Article 50 — raising concerns in Downing Street that it could turn into a messy and time-consuming parliamentary battle. - Financial Times

US drugs giant Pfizer will shut two of its three manufacturing plants in the UK in the next four years, putting 370 jobs at risk. The Park Royal site in London, which Pfizer inherited when it acquired Hospira in September, is earmarked for closure by May 2017, leaving 100 employees out of a job. The site takes liquid medicines and puts them into dosed vials, which are then sold to hospitals. – Telegraph

The UK’s biggest companies should have at least 33pc of their executive positions filled by women by 2020 and have to declare the number of senior female member of staff, a government-backed review has urged. The independent review, headed by Sir Philip Hampton, chair of GlaxoSmithKline, and Dame Helen Alexander, chair of UBM, focused on senior women below board level to ensure that women are being promoted throughout companies. – Telegraph

One of the world’s biggest mining companies, and a stalwart of the London stock market, was embroiled in an alleged bribery scandal last night over a multimillion-dollar payment to a consultant. As news of the crisis broke, Rio Tinto suspended one of its most senior executives after uncovering a $10.5 million payment related to vast west African iron ore project. – The Times

A new era of competition on the railways, in which niche train operators take on the large regional monopolies, could be drawing closer after plans were revealed to launch a new company to run services between London Waterloo and Southampton on the South Western network. An application for the launch of Grand Southern, a so-called “open access” train company, comes months after authorities gave the green light to a new budget £25 service between London King’s Cross and Edinburgh to compete with Virgin East Coast. – The Times