Thursday newspaper round-up: Stephen Hester, Ofgem, Centrica...

The Independent says that the news of Stephen Hester's departure from RBS "perplexed" many in the City last night after his work that nursed the bank back to health, with several describing his treatment as "shabby". The bank said that it was looking for a new leader ahead of its re-privatisation.One banker from a rival UK lender told the paper: "It does appear odd that Hester has been pushed over the side at this stage. His whole background is in investment banking, so who better to have started the privatisation? Also he has been involved in roadshows to the Middle and Far East. How are those sovereign wealth funds going to read this?"The UK's 'Big Six' energy companies will have to trade electricity fairly and transparently with smaller rivals under new pricing plans by Ofgem to "break their stranglehold" on the market, says The Scotsman.The Telegraph says that energy group Centrica is to unveil plans to drill a series of six wells with franking firm Cuadrilla to test Britain's shale gas potential. The paper has learnt that the investment could total tens of millions of pounds.According to The Times, developers of The Co-operative Group's landmark £800m development in Manchester's city centre have walked away from the project. The paper says that this is the latest setback for the Co-op, "whose plans to become a 'challenger organisation' in Britain's banking and consumer legal markets are in disarray".The Treasury reportedly vetoed proposals by the Financial Policy Committee for part-nationalised lenders RBS and Lloyds to raise new equity capital, writes The Independent. Stephane Richard, the head of France Telecom has been charged with fraud for his role as French Finance Minister in 2008, reports The Guardian.Safeway Inc, the US grocery giant, has accepted a $5.7bn offer to sell its 200-plus stores in Canada to local rival Sobeys, writes the Financial Times. The paper says: "The price values Safeway's Canadian business at nearly 11 times its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in the past year, more than double the valuation attached to the company as a whole on the stock market."BC