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Cynth pop: Some tycoons collect vintage motor cars. Anil Agarwal collects vintage mining Bosses. His company, Vedanta, has just hired Cynthia Carroll, who was ousted as Chief Executive of Anglo American in 2012. She is joining in the strategy role vacated by Tom Albanese (who left Rio Tinto in 2013) when he moved up to CEO of Vedanta in 2014. Investors respect Ms Carroll well enough to markup Vedanta shares 3.5% on Wednesday. The low-key Mr Albanese likes Ms Carroll, too. They share an interest in aluminium, apparently. But the only thing that really matters at Vedanta is the opinion of Mr Agarwal, who owns 70%. That, and a $9 billion debt burden, borne at a time when rates are set to rise.

AC/DC guide to M&A charts a rocky road to making a beer monster: Alan Clark, Chief Executive of SABMiller, should study the oeuvre of Aussie rockers AC/DC as he negotiates the £60 billion-plus takeover of the brewer by rival Anheuser-Busch InBev. Mr Brito is seeking a recommended deal to create a $275 billion beer monster. A tie-up has been mooted for years. AB InBev, to paraphrase a band that is to feminism what Jeremy Corbyn is to royalism, will assert that it is time for SABMiller to quit its grinning and drop its linen. But Mr Clark should not accede to a dirty deal done dirt cheap. Wyn Ellis of Numis reckons the big South African, which listed in London in 1999, is worth about £41 per share. That is a steep premium of about 30% to the undisturbed price, if SABMiller can be said to have such a thing. If a recommended offer materialises it would likely be in equity and cash, given SABMiller’s scale and AB InBev’s net debts of $45 billion, according to S&P CIQ. But a supersized slice of shares for SABMiller investors would trigger bedlam in Belgium, where AB InBev’s own stock is listed. The bigger difficulty may be cultural. AB InBev has the aggressive culture epitomised by Mr Brito’s reputed taste in music. SABMiller is a politer place. A night of the long knives following a takeover could damage the combined business. A botched integration would put AB InBev where AC/DC has so repetitively claimed to be: on a highway to hell.

Oil boosted by heavy draw on stockpiles: The price of oil rose by 7% after an unexpectedly large drop in U.S. crude stockpiles pointed to a tightening of demand in the world’s biggest oil consumer.

At 0330GMT today, Brent crude oil one month futures contract is trading 0.08% or $0.04 higher at $49.79 per barrel. Yesterday, the contract advanced 6.69% or $3.12, to settle at $49.75 per barrel, after the EIA reported an unexpected decline of 2.1 million barrels in crude oil stockpiles last week.

Cash-strapped Nigeria to renegotiate contracts with oil majors: Nigeria’s state oil company plans to renegotiate its production-sharing agreements with oil majors as Africa’s top crude producer tries to push ahead with a clean-up of the sector that is the lifeblood of its economy

Shale gas ‘has less impact than imports’: The shale gas industry will receive a boost when an industry report finds that the process causes lower carbon emissions in Britain than imported liquefied natural gas

At 0330GMT today, Brent crude oil one month futures contract is trading 2.51% or $1.17 higher at $47.80 per barrel, ahead of the EIA weekly oil inventory data, scheduled to be released later today. Yesterday, the contract climbed 0.56% or $0.26, to settle at $46.63 per barrel. Meanwhile, the API reported a fall of 3.1 million barrels in the oil stockpiles

Petrofac and Spain's Tecnicas Reunidas have reportedly been chosen for contracts worth as much as $4.7bn to build the Fadhili gas plant in Saudi Arabia for state oil giant Saudi Aramco.

John Wood Group said it will lead five new joint industry projects which will use the company's extensive sub-sea experience to solve "industry-wide challenges". The company said all five of the projects will run between 2015 and 2018 and be conducted through its Wood Group Kenny division.

Tycoon buys U.S. consulate in India’s most expensive property deal: Pharmaceutical billionaire Cyrus Poonawalla has bought a former maharaja’s mansion in Mumbai from the U.S. government for around 7.5 billion rupees (£73 million), making it the most expensive ever residential purchase in the country

Oil Search rejects A$11.6 billion Woodside bid: Oil Search has rejected an A$11.6 billion (U.S.$8.2 billion) takeover bid by its Australian rival Woodside, saying that the proposal was “highly opportunistic and grossly undervalues the company”, but indicated that it would consider other offers.

At 0330GMT today, Brent crude oil one month futures contract is trading 0.19% lower at $46.28 per barrel, ahead of the American Petroleum Institute weekly oil inventory data, scheduled to release later today. Yesterday, the contract declined 3.68%, to settle at $46.37 per barrel. However, the OPEC stated that the crude oil output of its member states rose to 31.54 million barrels per day in August.

Oil and Gas Authority to launch new levy on North Sea groups: North Sea oil firms will soon begin paying an additional levy to support their new industry body, the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA).

Rent prices go up again but rises are slower: Rents are still rising at double-figure rates on an annual basis, and are now 10.5% higher than a year ago, according to the latest HomeLet rental index, out.

Scotland’s retail parks race ahead of rest of U.K.: Out-of-town retail parks in Scotland are performing “significantly” better than those elsewhere in the U.K., according to the latest snapshot of the sector.

Housebuilders retreat from English countryside: The number of homes built on the greenbelt near towns and cities in England has halved since the turn of the century.

At 0330GMT today, Brent crude oil one month futures contract is trading 0.96% or $0.46 lower at $47.68 per barrel. On Friday, the contract declined 1.53% or $1.31, to settle at $48.14 per barrel, after a leading financial firm reduced its projected price for the crude oil and cautioned that the current glut in global supplies could push down prices to $20 per barrel. However, the oil pared some losses, after Baker Hughes reported a decline of 10 oil rigs in the US in the last week.

Shell CEO says BG deal risk is overstated Van Beurden insists dividend is safe despite ‘outrageous’ yield and investor fears

Goldman Sachs says oil could fall to $20 a barrel: The price of oil could more than halve again, to just $20 a barrel, experts at Goldman Sachs are predicting, a shift which would spell big savings for motorists but cast doubt on the viability of North Sea oilfields

London property prices soar in outer boroughs creating 11 new ‘£1 million neighbourhoods’: London has 11 new £1 million neighbourhoods and most of them are in the suburbs, thought to be the last affordable areas of town for people hoping to get on the property ladder.