Tuesday Papers: PPF’s simpler levy plan gains industry backing - money news

Financial Times

* Pension Protection Fund's new and simpler framework for charging annual levies – aired for the first time last week – has been broadly welcomed.

* CDC Group, the state-owned private equity investor in emerging markets, faces an overhaul of its structure, strategy and executive pay under plans to be announced by the government.

* Two former co-heads of the private equity firm Compass Partners are being sued by the creditors of a Danish company seeking more than €30m in damages for a deal they completed five years ago.

* More than £4 billion of new equity has been targeted by a host of real estate fund managers such as MGPA, LaSalle, Colony Capital and Doughty Hanson, which are talking to investors about new vehicles.

* France is braced for an escalation of protests against Nicolas Sarkozy’s flagship pension reforms as metalworkers, dockers and refinery employees threatened to join an open-ended strike.

* After a lacklustre start to the year, regional governments and companies are again rushing to tap international debt markets for finance, bankers say; Last month Dubai sold a $1.25 billion bond, while Emaar issued $500 million of convertible bonds; this month Qatar Islamic Bank sold $750 million of Islamic paper.

* Credit default swaps that are widely tracked as a measure of creditworthiness of companies and countries have in many cases been poor indicators of default in the financial crisis, says Fitch Ratings.

The Times

* Billions of pounds could be cut from public spending after the short,sharp investigation into government finances by Sir Philip Green, the retail entrepreneur.

* Lloyds Banking Group, one of the biggest sellers of contentious Payment Protection Insurance policies, is refusing to handle complaints until a legal spat about new standards is resolved.

The Daily Telegraph