Greece cannot have more time to repay its debt to the European Central Bank because it would be illegal and "illogical", board member Joerg Asmussen has said, as he shut the door on pleas for leniency from the bank. Mr Asmussen said that the ECB could not lengthen the time period for loans to Greece or lower interest rates as "both concessions would be a form of debt forgiveness and therefore a direct financial support for the Greek state."That would not be allowed under the law governing the ECB," he said. He also said that it would be wrong for Greece to say it needed more time but not more money. Mr Asmussen also said that statements by ECB members, including president Mario Draghi to do "everything to defend the euro" had helped to ease market tensions, but warned that the current calm was "deceptive", and called for all Eurozone countries - including Germany and France - to reform, The Sunday Telegraph writes. China is poised to take a multi-billion pound stake in the building of a nuclear power plant in Somerset with French energy giant EDF. Secret talks are understood to have been taking place for weeks between the two, with the Chinese considering a 20% share in the venture. British Gas owner Centrica already has a 20% stake in EDF's nuclear business, which plans to replace the power station at Hinkley Point, Somerset. Key to attracting overseas investment in the nuclear industry is the reform of the electricity market and the new energy minister John Hayes is playing a key role in ensuring that that there are enough long-term incentives to get the investment without giving nuclear developers a green light to make huge profits. He told Financial Mail that he had ordered his officials to ensure the public interest was protected.Germany has threatened to scupper the £28bn merger of BAE Systems and EADS unless the headquarters of the combined company is located in Munich. The surprise demand was made at the end of a testy 20-minute video-conference call on Friday afternoon. The Germans also asked for, but did not receive, a written undertaking from France that it would not increase its stake above 9%. At the end of the call, the Germans wanted to issue a press release announcing the deal was off, but they were talked out of it by the British and French, sources told The Sunday Times. Friday's stand-off leaves the deal on a knife-edge. BAE has until Wednesday to ask the Takeover Panel for more time to conclude negotiations or pull out. On Friday, 45 Conservative MPs signed a letter to David Cameron demanding he block the deal. They fear that the tie-up will lead to Britain losing control of its defence industry.Britain's banks could need up to £22bn more capital if regulators follow through with threats to change the risk weightings they apply to mortgages in assessing the size of their loan books, analysts have estimated. Morgan Stanley analysts expect banks to be told to increase risk weightings which could require between £10bn and £22bn of extra capital. The Bank of England's financial policy committee (FPC) last week said the potential for banks to assign different risk weights was "a matter of concern" that it would monitor. A week earlier, the Treasury said the FPC should have the power to require banks to hold more capital if it is worried about mortgage exposures. US banks have long accused their European rivals of "optimising" risk weights to push down how much capital they need to hold, and this week the Basel Committee of the world's banking regulators slammed Europe's failure to apply rules properly, The Scotsman on Sunday writes. The chairman of BG Group has made an audacious attempt to poach the boss of Centrica, owner of British Gas, to run the FTSE 100 energy giant. The appointment of Sam Laidlaw, who has run Centrica for six years, would mark a significant shake-up at the companies. Both have their roots in the old British Gas, privatised by Margaret Thatcher in 1986. BG became an international oil and gas explorer and producer, while Centrica was left with the power supply business under the British Gas name, The Sunday Times says. Any bets on how long before Lamprell becomes the next London-listed company to fall to a foreign predator? At GE's quarterly earnings announcement last month Jeff Immelt, the chief executive, said he was on the hunt for small, strategic acquisitions to fatten its pipeline of contracts.Lamprell fits the bill. Despite the cost overruns and the indefensible drip-drip approach to revealing them, the company has so far delivered the kit on time. The chance that customers who have placed new orders worth nearly $1.5bn (£930m) with it will take their business elsewhere looks low.Liberum Capital, the broker, said: "With the [shipbuilding] projects nearing completion and the market anticipating the next warning, this may be the last opportunity to acquire shares at good value," The Sunday Times explains. On Friday, Amplats, the platinum division of Anglo American, made headlines when it sacked 12,000 striking workers. The move by the world's biggest producer of platinum risked further chaos in South Africa, where more than 80,000 people working in everything from coal mines to car plants have taken to the streets as part of industrial action. It is a tragedy. But for beleaguered platinum mining firms, it is an opportunity too. The commodity's price was tanking this year owing to tepid demand and oversupply. Closing mines, however, was virtually impossible politically. Anglo is not letting this crisis go to waste. Once the layoffs go through, it is likely to shut down several shafts indefinitely. That will no doubt boost the platinum price, which has already begun to recover as other companies, namely Lonmin, the world's third-biggest producer, have been forced to down tools, The Sunday Times says. The chairman of troubled ENRC is to bolster the mining giant's senior management with a raft of new appointments aimed at appeasing investors and bringing a halt to the company's share price collapse. Mehmet Dalman, the former Commerzbank banker who took charge of the FTSE 100 company in February, is poised to create five new management positions to support Felix Vulis, the chief executive. The move is in part aimed to bolster investor confidence in the company, which has seen almost £4.3bn wiped from its market value since the start of the year. Based on a closing share price of 334.01p on Friday night, the company is currently worth £4.3bn. The new positions, which are subject to board approval, will include a chief financial officer, a chief operating officer and chief executives of the company's African, Brazilian and Kazakh divisions, The Sunday Telegraph says. The publishing giant behind the Financial Times and Penguin books is planning a service to help parents establish their own "free schools". Pearson is in discussions with groups aiming to establish the new schools through the government's flagship plan to raise education standards. It would provide a "school in a box" ? from teacher training, textbooks, software systems to exam assessment. The scheme would be based on the services provided in Brazil by its Sistema division. The move is likely to reawaken the debate over the creeping privatisation of Britain's state school system. While groups running free schools are barred from making a profit, there is no such prohibition on private sector suppliers, The Sunday Times reports. Spain has been handed a temporary reprieve from the threat of a European bailout after American hedge funds started buying the country's bonds. Foreign investors have started to creep back into Spanish bonds, taking an estimated 25% of the debt issued in September. According to debt traders, the buying was led by Wall Street hedge funds that were encouraged by the commitment of Mario Draghi, governor of the European Central Bank (ECB), to do "whatever it takes" to save the euro. Spain was able to raise almost twice as much debt in September as it has done in every other month of the year. News of the bond buying comes ahead of a meeting of European finance ministers on Tuesday to discuss the creation of a banking union across the 17 countries that are members of the euro, according to The Sunday Times. AB
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