A group of Chinese investors is in the early stages of considering a takeover offer for Prudential, Britain's biggest insurer.The billionaire entrepreneurs were among the Asian backers who wanted to throw their weight behind Prudential's failed $35bn (£22.8 billion) takeover bid for its Asian rival AIA earlier this year. Later they held discussions about taking a strategic stake of up to 30% in AIA, the Asian arm of American insurer AIG, ahead of its stock-market listing. Those talks collapsed two weeks ago after a disagreement over price, the Sunday Times reports. Britain's top tax official was last night forced to issue a grovelling apology to more than a million people facing surprise bills - after previously saying he felt no need to say sorry. Dave Hartnett, Permanent Secretary for tax at Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), had left Chancellor George Osborne 'incandescent with anger' after saying, 'I'm not sure I see a need to apologise' over blunders that left 1.4m people facing demands for an average of £1,428 extra tax, the Mail on Sunday reports.Betfair, the online gambling group, is poised to press the button on a £1.5bn float that will be one of Britain's biggest stock market debuts this year. The company, set up by a former City trader and a former professional gambler, is expected to make an announcement within a fortnight. Several details have yet to be thrashed out, including the vital question of how the company will price its shares, the Sunday Times reports.Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary has warned of an end to bargain-basement fares as the no-frills carrier plans a shift away from its "pile it high and sell it cheap" approach. O'Leary also said the Dublin-based airline will need a new chief executive as growth slows, admitting that his controversial management style would be out of place in a more mature business, the Observer reports.Terry Smith, one of the City's most outspoken and successful figures, has drawn up ambitious plans to launch a fund management company, seeking cash from private and professional investors. The venture will be called Fundsmith, suggesting Smith will use his personal profile to promote the firm and attract big-name fund managers and analysts. Smith, 57, is chief executive of money broker Tullett Prebon and deputy chairman of stockbroking and advisory firm Collins Stewart. Neither of those quoted companies will be involved with Fundsmith, the Observer reports.The government has given the green light to a controversial privatisation of Britain's commercial airspace. It is to select an investment bank in the next fortnight to handle the auction of its stake in National Air Traffic Services (Nats), the company that runs the air-traffic control system. The government owns 49%, with 42% held by a group of seven British airlines. The rest is owned by Nats's staff and management and by BAA, the airports group, the Sunday Times reports. Vodafone is preparing to offload its stake in SFR, the French mobile-phone group, in a sale that could raise up to £7 billion. Senior sources at the firm said that Vittorio Colao, Vodafone's chief executive, had decided in principle to sell the French holding. He will not, however, be rushed into disposing of Vodafone's interests in America, where it holds a minority stake in Verizon Wireless that could be worth $35bn (£23bn), the Sunday Times reports.Bob Diamond, the new chief executive of Barclays Bank, has turned on critics of "casino banking" saying that the use of the term "has no basis in reality". In his first newspaper interview since being appointed as the chief executive, the former head of Barclays Capital tells The Sunday Telegraph that he is "disappointed" by the reaction to his appointment and that the comments questioning the role of investment banks reveal a complete ignorance about what banks do.John Varley will step down as chief executive of Barclays with a package of share options and benefits worth up to £24m. Varley, 54, is entitled to a pension of £660,000 a year, worth about £17m, according to the bank's annual report. He is also sitting on share-based incentives and options that could pay out close to £7m over the next five years if the bank hits stringent performance targets, the Sunday Times reports.ITV is hoping to sign Simon Cowell, star judge of The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent, to a new three-year deal as the future of the talent shows come under increasing uncertainty. A senior source at ITV said: "The desire is to pin down three years." Last week Cowell told reporters he was considering quitting the UK show after the current series to focus on the US version, which is due to air next autumn and clashes with a future series of The X Factor in the UK, the Sunday Telegraph reports.Meanwhile, ITV's new bosses, Archie Norman and Adam Crozier, are preparing massive job cuts as part of their five-year masterplan to revitalise the X-Factor TV giant. The new team, hired this year to rescue the ailing broadcaster, is understood to be looking at a significant cut to the number of workers at its South Bank offices. Sources close to the company say up to half of the 1,400 staff could go over the next few years while further cutbacks are expected among the 2,600 workers around the UK and Europe, the Sunday Independent reports.Chief executives in the FTSE 100 have enjoyed a pay and bonus increase for the first time since the start of the recession, new figures for the last financial year have revealed. An exclusive analysis of pay and remuneration for The Sunday Telegraph and The Daily Telegraph found FTSE 100 chief executives were paid a basic salary of £751,459 on average in 2009-10, an increase of 5% on the previous 12 months. In 2008-09, pay was frozen, and in 2007-08, salaries were cut by 1% on average to £718,199, the analysis showed.Inflation eased slightly in August but the threat of higher food prices persists, figures are set to show this week. The Office for National Statistics is expected to say that annual inflation slowed to 3% from 3.1%, chiefly because of lower petrol prices. Although it would be the lowest level since February, the consumer prices index (CPI) - the official measure of inflation - has been above 3% since the beginning of the year, sharply above the 2% target, the Sunday Telegraph reports.Britain's banks are too weak to register in the top 10 of the world's safest institutions, according to an annual ranking that highlights concerns over risk-taking and the amount of capital held by banks in the wake of the financial crisis. The highest-ranking UK bank in the Global Finance survey is HSBC, Britain's largest bank with a market cap of $112bn (£73bn), slipping one place from last year to 19th position, the Observer reports.
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