3i Group Share News (III)

Energy companies have been accused of profiteering by failing to pass on steep falls in world gas prices to consumers at a time when bitterly cold weather means soaring bills for tens of millions of customers.Consumer watchdog Consumer Focus is calling for a Competition Commission investigation to address "anomalies" in the energy sector that are likely to see British Gas's residential business report a 40% rise in profits to £540m for 2009, the Observer reports.Bankers earning more than £1m a year are to be hit by a new bonus clampdown launched by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Up to 5,000 City bankers are expected to be caught by the new restrictions, which expand on the regulator's existing code on pay. The move comes as banks prepare to pay billions of pounds in bonuses to their top executives in the next few weeks, in spite of political outrage and the government's 50% tax on the payouts, the Sunday Times reports.The UK's finance industry could see up to 9,000 of its top executives move overseas because of the increase in taxes on bank bonuses, according to estimates collated by the office of the Mayor of London. Senior sources close to the Mayor, Boris Johnson, said that they had been approached by a number of major global banks looking to relocate after Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, announced the windfall 50% levy on all bonuses over £25,000 paid this year, the Sunday Telegraph reports.JP Morgan Chase is set to defy calls for constraint over bankers' bonuses this week when it delivers an expected $29bn (£18bn) compensation pot for its executives. The banking conglomerate, which will on Friday be the first Wall Street bank to report its fourth-quarter results, is on track to offer the record pay-out thanks to a resurgence in investment banking. Analysts estimate that the world's biggest banks will pay more than $65bn to their staff over the next fortnight despite efforts by governments in Europe and the US to restrict excessive remuneration, the Sunday Telegraph reports.Two historic names start to disappear from the High Street tomorrow when Spanish bank Santander stamps its brand on Abbey and Bradford & Bingley branches. Bradford Equitable and Bingley Permanent societies were both founded in 1851and merged in 1964. The Abbey name comes from the Abbey Road & St John's Wood Permanent Building Society founded in 1874 in Abbey Road Baptist Church in north-west London, yards from the studios where The Beatles recorded the Abbey Road album. Over the next three weeks, the makeover will change the face of 719 Abbey branches and 326 B&B branches, the Mail on Sunday reports.The Unite trade union has moved to strengthen its hand in peace talks with British Airways by telling cabin crew it will open a strike ballot on 22 January. The vote over staffing cuts is expected to take around a month to complete and if the estimated 12,700 crew affiliated to Unite agree to strike, a walkout could begin from 1 March, the Observer reports.House of Fraser will reveal tomorrow that it had its best ever Christmas trading performance, while AB Foods-owned Primark, the fast-fashion retailer, is expected to report buoyant like-for-like sales growth of around 5% on Thursday. The retailers are just two of the high street names that will this week release strong trading figures, suggesting that the consumer economy saw a marked recovery over the dying weeks of 2009, the Sunday Telegraph reports.Japan Airlines, Asia's biggest carrier, could fall into bankruptcy within days in the latest sign the bad times are far from over for the aviation industry. The company, burdened with debts of $16bn (£10bn), is expected to file for protection in a state-led rescue. This will allow it to pursue a restructuring through the courts. The EITC, the state group leading the rescue effort, could put the plan into action as early as January 19, according to reports in the Japanese media. It could lead to the loss of up to 13,000 jobs, about a third of the airline's workforce, the Sunday Times reports.The Royal Bank of Scotland has fired the starting pistol on the sale of more than 300 branches, giving potential bidders until the end of the month to express an interest. Advisers at UBS, the investment bank, have been appointed to handle the disposal of the branches, which are being sold with the brand name Williams & Glyn's.The sale has been accelerated because of a flood of interest from potential bidders, and comes as the battle for control of British retail banking heats up. Sandy Chen, banking analyst at Panmure Gordon, the stockbroker, will tomorrow start fundraising for a new retail bank. Also, Virgin Money announced last week that it had bought Church House Trust, a tiny bank in Somerset, the Sunday Times reports.Private equity group 3i is planning to raise a £1bn-plus growth capital fund to step up its rate of investments in 2010. It is talking to third-party investors to drum up interest in the fund, part of chief executive Michael Queen's efforts to take the business back to its roots after it came a cropper in the buyout bust. Queen was promoted to the top job last January, when Philip Yea was ousted after the company's debts spiralled and its shares dived. It was forced to write down the value of its top 50 investments by £682m, the Sunday Times reports.Leading City firms, including some of the biggest dealers in UK government bonds - gilts - say a downgrade of Britain's AAA sovereign debt rating remains unlikely this year. This is despite a warning last week from Pimco, the world's biggest bond-fund manager, which put the chances of a downgrade as high as 80%. Pimco's warning was echoed by Neil Woodford, head of investment at Invesco Perpetual, who said there was a "high probability" of a downgrade, the Sunday Times reports.The oil giant BP will pile the pressure on Britain's stretched gas supplies tomorrow when it shuts down a large gas network in the North Sea. The Southern North Sea pipeline system brings gas ashore from a collection of fields. The closure for maintenance will last a week and take 1% of domestic UK supplies offline at a time of near-record demand. BP declined to comment, the Sunday Times reports.Globespan administrators will take their fight to the high court on Tuesday in an effort to find up to £20m in alleged missing cash from E-Clear, the credit card processing firm. E-Clear, which is already defending itself in two other lawsuits, could be wound up following the petition from PricewaterhouseCoopers. The card administrator has consistently refused to confirm the amount of money it is holding on behalf of Globespan and its customers despite repeated attempts to clarify the company's cash position by PWC, the Sunday Independent reports.Britain could be forced to spend billions of pounds to help rescue Greece, the most crisis-hit member of the eurozone. If a rescue fund for the troubled Greek economy matched the country's towering budget deficit, the UK would be asked for £7bn, assuming contributions matched each country's share of the total European Union economy. That is the equivalent of 2p on the basic rate of income tax, the Mail on Sunday reports.