Friday newspaper round-up: Pension funds, OpenAI, Goodwin Procter

(Sharecast News) - More than 250 British company bosses have urged Rachel Reeves to use her budget to make UK pension schemes channel extra funds into domestic businesses, increasing private investment by as much as £95bn. In a letter to the chancellor, business leaders said the government must address a crisis in which pension investment in UK-listed companies has fallen from 53% of total equity holdings in 1997 to 4% this year. - Guardian The boss of AstraZeneca has said that unless the UK ramps up spending on new drugs, it could be on a trajectory to only being able to afford cheap, generic medicines rather than cutting-edge treatments. Pascal Soriot made the remarks amid an acrimonious standoff between the pharmaceutical industry and the government over drug pricing, which has been blamed for drugmakers pausing or ditching nearly £2bn of investments in the UK this year. - Guardian

The US private equity firm seeking control of The Telegraph brought an unidentified investor into AC Milan without meeting its obligation to notify football authorities. RedBird Capital Partners failed to inform the club, which it acquired in 2022, that a newcomer had acquired an interest of at least 10pc. AC Milan therefore did not notify the Italian Football Federation under ownership transparency rules intended to allow background checks on whether football club investors are suitable. They are required to provide documentation on financial strength and criminal records. - Telegraph

OpenAI has said it might need government backing to fund a trillion-dollar spending plan amid concerns that the AI boom is being funded by enormous levels of debt. Sarah Friar, OpenAI's chief financial officer, said the company - which owns ChatGPT - could seek a federal "backstop [or] guarantee" that could allow it to borrow more money at lower rates. The business spends huge sums on high-powered chips and data centres to power AI's immense computing demands. - Telegraph

Partners at a City law firm have ordered staff to be in the office at least four days a week in the latest move away from remote working. Goodwin Procter, one of a growing band of US law firms in the Square Mile, is said to have informed lawyers and other staff this week that they will be obliged to attend the office from Monday to Thursday from the start of next year. - The Times