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Sunday newspaper round-up: Arcadia Group, Carillion, British Steel, New Look, Hammerson
Sir Philip Green is planning to sell all or part of his Arcadia Group empire, a move that would bring down the curtain on a controversial 50-year high street career. The 65-year-old billionaire owner of Topshop is believed to be in talks with Shandong Ruyi, a Chinese textiles giant that has been rapidly expanding into European fashion. - The Sunday Times
The chairman of the work and pensions select committee has called for a radical overhaul of the Pensions Regulator ahead of a grilling of its bosses over the growing Carillion and British Steel pension scandals. Frank Field said he was angered by the regulator's failure to police Carillion's spiralling £990m pension deficit and mis-selling of savings products to British Steel pensioners. - Sunday Telegraph
Calvin Ayre, a gambling and bitcoin multi-millionaire who was once on the run from the US authorities, is building a $100m five-star resort on Antigua funded by profits from digital currencies. Canadian-born Ayre, who has been appointed Antigua and Barbuda's special economic envoy, said he had begun work on the upmarket tourist resort on Antigua's Valley Church beach. - Observer
Britain's top four banking bosses raked in £21 million last year in pay and benefits. The big four banks - HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds and RBS - will this week reveal their financial figures for 2017. They will also publish annual reports disclosing pay details for senior staff on the day of their results. - Mail on Sunday
A vulture fund is stalking New Look as the troubled fashion retailer reels from falling sales and the loss of insurance cover to its suppliers. Alchemy Partners, whose previous investments have included the retirement homes builder McCarthy & Stone, is understood to be considering buying into New Look's bonds, some of which were trading at less than 20p in the pound last week. - The Sunday Times
Hammerson is set to crash out of the FTSE 100 after doubling down on its exposure to struggling shopping centres by snapping up its rival Intu Properties. Its 14pc share price slide since announcing the £3.4bn deal leaves it perilously close to the FTSE 100 trapdoor ahead of a quarterly reshuffle in just over a week. - Sunday Telegraph
The travel group Tui has the largest gender pay gap reported to date by a major UK company, with its male employees paid more than double the female staff. Women at the group's Tui Airways UK unit earn on average 56.9% less in hourly pay than men, according to data filed under a new government scheme intended to highlight the gender pay gap and encourage employers to address the disparity. - Observer
The finance director of Persimmon is planning to follow his boss's lead by donating some of his £82 million bonus to charity. Sources said Mike Killoran is considering a similar move to Jeff Fairburn, the housebuilder's chief executive. - Mail on Sunday
An aborted £6bn insurance mega-merger lies at the heart of the row between Lloyds Banking Group and Standard Life Aberdeen that sent jitters through the City when it exploded into the public arena last week. The two FTSE 100 giants were in advanced discussions to combine Lloyds' Scottish Widows subsidiary with Standard Life's pensions and assurance business, until negotiations fell apart in mid-December because of a clash over the structure of the new operation. - The Sunday Times
International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde has backed plans to transform the eurozone's bailout fund into a European Monetary Fund independent of the IMF. In a weekend interview, Ms Lagarde appeared to give the plans her blessing by saying the proposed European Monetary Fund could fill the need for an independent crisis management system for the region. - Sunday Telegraph
Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich is preparing for a London court battle with two other billionaire Russian oligarchs over control of Russia's biggest mining company. Abramovich is being taken to court by Oleg Deripaska to prevent the Chelsea owner from selling his minority stake in mining firm Norilsk Nickel (Nornickel) to Deripaska's rival Vladimir Potanin. - Observer
The scandal engulfing Royal Bank of Scotland's infamous GRG unit is spilling over into the top echelons of Santander, the UK's fifth biggest bank. The Mail on Sunday last week revealed damning details from a suppressed report into abuses of small firms by GRG, which was supposed to help troubled businesses back to health but preyed on them instead. - Mail on Sunday
Charlie Mullins, the celebrity plumber and vocal anti-Brexit campaigner, is set for a bumper pay day by selling a 20% stake in his empire - ahead of a potential bid to become mayor of London. Mullins, 65, is looking to raise £20m from a sale that would value his Pimlico Plumbers business at £100m, a source said. - The Sunday Times
Mining giant Glencore is attempting to shrug off a row over its Congo copper mines as it prepares to unveil bumper profits. The Swiss-based labour union IndustriAll visited Glencore's operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo last week at the invitation of local union Tumec, but said it failed to gain access to some sites. - Sunday Telegraph
Interest rates on savings accounts are finally starting to creep upwards, but savers are still losing more to inflation than they are earning from interest, according to Moneyfacts. The financial data analysts said this week that rates across the savings market have risen for 13 consecutive months, and are continuing to outweigh cuts. - Observer