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SVG offers private equity returns for retail investors: SVG Capital is one of the few companies that allows retail investors to access the returns on offer from private equity. The company has enjoyed a remarkable turnaround from the 2008 financial crisis and is now enjoying rising assets prices and returning cash to shareholders. SVG Capital is a FTSE 250-listed investment fund that buys stakes in different private equity allowing small investors access to the returns on offer. Its value increased by 1% to £1.1 billion, or 592p per share, during the three months to the end of April, a 15% increase from the same stage last year. SVG is not just harvesting cash from previous investments, it deployed £21 million during the first quarter, and another £8 million after the end of April, in amongst other things a holding in Eyemart Express, which is one of the largest discount optical retailers in the U.S. Nearly 28% of the total fund is now in investments made since 2012. The other big unknown is the impact of rising interest rates on the credit cycle and the amount of debt that has been issued since 2009. Looking at the share price history, it feels like there will be a better time to buy at some point over the next five years. Hold. SVG Capital at 508.5p-5.5p. Questor Says “Hold”.

Opec: we were right not to cut oil supply, despite price slump: Opec’s strategy of not cutting production in order to maintain market share is working, Saudi Arabia’s oil Minister said as he arrived for a meeting of the cartel to decide on output levels

France’s Alstom focuses on commuter comfort to win HS2 train contracts: France’s Alstom has revealed it is building a range of more commuter-friendly trains in a bid to win the U.K.’s High Speed Two (HS2) rail contracts

Shell and BP call for international carbon pricing deal: Europe’s biggest oil companies, including Royal Dutch Shell and BP, have written an open letter calling for a binding global system of carbon trading in a bid to head off climate change critics.

British American Tobacco ordered to pay £5.5 billion to smokers: British American Tobacco has been ordered to pay Can$10.5 billion (£5.5 billion) to nearly 1 million smokers who claimed they were never warned about the health risks.

Sink or swim: Israel-rooted gambling technology group Playtech is equally sanguine about risk. It is bidding £460 million for Plus500, a broker of contracts for difference that may have big regulatory liabilities. The bid at 400p per share, a 48% discount to a recent peak in the target’s share price, looks highly opportunistic. Plus500’s stock slumped to 248p a fortnight ago when the group said tougher anti-money laundering checks would delay account openings and cash withdrawals. Playtech has done well creating systems for the likes of Ladbrokes and William Hill that allowed retail gamblers to take risks. Now it wants to take a punt of its own on the Aim-quoted broker, whose customers are often independent traders who put up minimal collateral. Playtech can walk away from the transaction before completion in September. Clauses in the agreement, which is not governed by the U.K.’s Takeover Panel, could permit this if the regulatory situation worsens.

Carbon tax: the dirty war: It was certainly a counterintuitive move. A group of major oil and gas producers including BP and Shell said on Monday that they could live with a global carbon tax. But a globally co-ordinated carbon tax would be tough to implement. The tricky part, other than administering a global collection system, is determining the carbon price. One way to do it has been to set an overall carbon target and encourage a traded market in carbon emissions. The EU’s initial attempt, launched in 2005, has suffered from an overgenerous allocation of emission credits at the outset: the traded emissions price has fallen 50% to €7.25 a tonne of CO2 over the past five years. Carbon emissions have dropped since 2008, but that is partly due to the economic downturn. There is a more prosaic reason for the energy companies’ enthusiasm: half of their proven reserves are in natural gas. With a UN Climate Conference approaching in December, there is every reason for these companies to promote the use of natural gas over coal, which emits roughly twice the carbon for each unit of energy. Petrol’s carbon content lies roughly between the two.

Gazprom Neft sells oil to China in renminbi rather than dollars: Gazprom Neft, Russia’s third-largest oil producer, is now settling all of its crude sales to China in renminbi, in the most clear sign yet that western sanctions have driven an increase in the use of the Chinese currency by Russian companies

City AM editor on brink of leaving paper: The editor of City AM is on the brink of leaving the business newspaper, less than a year after being appointed to the role

Councils own hundreds of pubs, restaurants and golf courses: Local authorities across Britain have been urged to sell off valuable assets after it was revealed that they possess a huge variety of properties, including 580 restaurants, 380 pubs and 190 shopping centres

At 0330GMT today, Brent crude oil one month futures contract is trading 0.05% or $0.03 lower at $64.85 per barrel, ahead of the American Petroleum Institute’s weekly oil inventory data, scheduled to be released later today. Yesterday, the contract declined 1.04% or $0.68, to settle at $64.88 per barrel, after OPEC reported that oil output in May jumped to its highest in more than two years as the supply rose to 31.22 mbpd.

LONDON (Alliance News) - British manufacturing growth improved less-than-expected in May, due to modest expansions of both output and new orders, survey figures from Markit Economics showed Monday. The Markit/Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply Purchasing Managers' Index, rose marginally to 52.0 in May from 51.8 in April, which was revised from 51.9. Economists had expected a reading of 52.8 for the month. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector. Manufacturing production increased at a slower pace in May, but the pace of easing was less severe than April's sharp slowdown, led by solid domestic demand. New orders also rose further in May and the pace of growth was better than previous month's 7-Month low. Manufacturers raised their staffing levels for the twenty-fifth consecutive month in May, though the rate of growth was only marginal. On the price front, input prices dropped again in May, driven by lower costs of raw materials. Meanwhile, selling prices rose for the first time in five months in May.

New findings by Age Partnership have revealed that the number of people turning to equity release to pay off interest-only mortgages has tripled since the MMR. April 2014 saw just 78 customers using equity release for this purpose, but in April 2015 the number had risen to 229 (+193%). On average, customers were 69 years of age and released £73,980 to pay off an average outstanding mortgage of £61,846. The report attributed the increase to the tighter lending criteria imposed by the MMR, which has made remortgaging more difficult for older customers. Short of selling their homes, equity release is one of the few remaining options. "The unintentional side-effect of MMR is that it has created a league of interest-only mortgage prisoners unable to remortgage to repay their debt," said Simon Chalk of Age Partnership. "Thankfully, rising house prices mean that some borrowers can use their housing wealth to pay down interest-only mortgages." The FCA estimates that around 600,000 interest-only mortgages are set to reach the end of their term by 2020 and that around half will have no means to clear the debt.

British American Tobacco said on Monday that it had signed an agreement to acquire TDR d.o.o. and other tobacco and retail assets from Adris Grupa for a total enterprise value of €550m. By combining its existing business in the region with TDR - the leading independent cigarette manufacturer in Central Europe, with a market-leading position in Croatia - British American Tobacco expects to benefit from highly skilled people, well-established brands and enhanced regional leaf-processing capabilities. It will also benefit from a high-quality factory and print facility as well as strong relationships with distributors and retailers. As part of the deal, BAT has committed to keeping TDR's manufacturing facility in Kanfanar, Croatia, operational for at least five years following completion. BAT's chief executive Nicandro Durante said: "This is an exciting acquisition for BAT, which will provide immediate scale in three core markets of Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia and establishes a sustainable platform to grow our business in Central Europe".

Growth, investment and recruitment at Britain's manufacturers have suffered a setback this year as the services sector continues to power ahead, raising fresh doubts about the country's long-awaited economic re-balancing. In a sign that Britain is returning to a two-speed economy, the EEF manufacturing body has cut its growth forecasts for the industry, just as the CBI celebrated "stellar" growth in the powerhouse services sector. - The Times

BP former executive David Rainey goes on trial in New Orleans, accused of lying to investigators about the size of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. This comes weeks after the company agreed settlements with Transocean and Halliburton to resolve legal disputes over the disaster.

Energy companies seize initiative on climate change Shell, BP, Total, Statoil, Eni and BG band together to press for plan to fight global warming

Analysts predict a construction bounce back after election dip: The construction sector declined sharply in the run up to the General Election, according to figures published by industry analysts Glenigan, but a quick rebound is expected.

CBRE celebrates half a century in Scotland: There was a golden anniversary celebration for property consultancy CBRE last week – marking 50 years since the first Richard Ellis office (as the firm was known then) opened in Glasgow

Morrisons faces investor revolt on pay: Supermarket chain Morrisons faces an investor revolt over a £3 million payout to its ousted Chief Executive Dalton Philips.