Wednesday newspaper round-up: Tata Steel, inversion deals, Panama Papers, pensions

The businessman at the centre of efforts to salvage the UK’s biggest steel factory has laid out his demands, calling on the UK government for sweeping subsidies if he is to take over the Port Talbot plant. Sanjeev Gupta, founder of commodities group Liberty House, said for him to buy Tata Steel’s operations — and save more than 3,000 jobs — the government would have to remove pension and environmental liabilities for the Port Talbot plant. He has also called for lower power costs for steel plants. – Financial Times

A White House tax crackdown designed to put a halt to Pfizer’s planned $160bn takeover of Allergan has provoked fury from foreign multinationals with operations in the US. Barack Obama stepped up the offensive on Tuesday championing new proposals to deter “inversion” deals — such as Pfizer-Allergan — that companies use to move to low-tax jurisdictions, accusing them of exploiting “one of the most insidious tax loopholes out there”. – Financial Times

A tweak to new market rules has raised the stakes in the London Stock Exchange’s bid to merge with its German rival Deutsche Boerse. Analysts said the decision by the European Securities and Markets Authority to bring forward rules on open access puts further pressure on Deutsche Boerse to seal a deal. – Telegraph

Five former Barclays bankers accused of conspiring to rig Libor interest rates were “driven by money” and their offence “is no different from stealing,” a court has been told. Jonathan James Mathew, 35; Stylianos Contogoulas, 44; Jay Vijay Merchant, 45; Alex Pabon, 37; and Ryan Michael Reich, 34, are accused of manipulating the US dollar Libor, or London interbank offered rate between 1 June 2005 and 1 September 2007. They all deny one count of conspiracy to defraud. – Guardian

Barack Obama has called for international tax reform in the wake of the revelations contained in the Panama Papers. “There is no doubt that the problem of global tax avoidance generally is a huge problem,” he told reporters at the White House on Tuesday. “The problem is that a lot of this stuff is legal, not illegal.” – Guardian

The Financial Conduct Authority has opened a review into pension freedom reforms amid concerns that retiring savers are vulnerable to mis-selling. Having carried out its own survey of the way savers were responding to George Osborne’s pension overhaul, the FCA said that it would look at “retirement outcomes” as part of a wider study into the chancellor’s new rules, which ended the practice of people having to buy an annuity with their savings. – The Times

One of the world’s largest buyout firms has confirmed that it is on course to sell more than £6 billion of loans once owned by Northern Rock. The disposal signals that appetites for a type of debt financing popular in the run-up to the financial crisis appears to be returning. – The Times