Friday newspaper round-up: Cameron, Brexit, Petrofac

A British vote to leave the EU would “gravely weaken” Europe and could trigger the end of the continent’s influence as a global superpower, former prime minister Sir John Major has warned. In a significant intervention in the increasingly acrimonious battle over the UK’s forthcoming referendum on membership of the EU, Sir John told an audience at an investment conference in Hong Kong on Thursday that a UK departure “would not only be a huge setback for my own country but for many other nations, too”. – Financial Times

A company owned by one of Hong Kong’s riches families, which started life trading tablecloths and bedding from China to the rest of the world in the 1950s, has committed £200m to real estate in the UK. Peterson Group announced today that it has taken a 20pc stake in London-based property investor LJ Partnership, which among other things bought the Holiday Inn hotel in Kensington for £345m in December last year – London’s biggest hotel deal of the year. – Telegraph

Group Petrofac has called in laywers and auditors to investigate claims a former executive paid $2m to clinch a major oil deal in Kuwait. The services firm has found itself at the centre of a global corruption scandal that emerged after leaked documents suggested that Monaco-based Unaoil paid bribes on behalf of oil companies, including Petrofac. – Telegraph

The Indian metals tycoon who has emerged as a potential saviour of Tata’s UK steel business has admitted that his company is yet to decide whether to make a bid and needs to “examine very carefully” any proposal. Doubts are growing as to whether Sanjeev Gupta and Liberty House have the resources to rescue the Port Talbot steelworks and Tata’s other sites without substantial financial support from the government. – Guardian

Housebuilders are offering discounts of 15 per cent to 20 per cent to entice investors into the British residential property market amid fears of a slowdown prompted by the buy-to-let stamp duty premium and forthcoming EU referendum. Chris Lacey, head of residential investment at CBRE, said he had recently been involved in “three or four” deals in central London with a gross development value — value when built — of between £150 million and £250 million, in which institutional investors had bought packages of 100 apartments or more at a discount of up to 15 per cent. – The Times

A failed claims management company that raised hundreds of thousands of pounds through crowdfunding did not disclose the scale of its financial problems when it approached investors, it has emerged. The revelation will raise concerns that ordinary investors are being mistreated because platforms are failing to meet regulatory demands that pitches are fair, clear and not misleading. – The Times