Sunday newspaper round-up: Business rates, Morrisons, Royal Mail

(Sharecast News) - The Chancellor will most likely not include business rates relief in his autumn statement this week. Insiders in the government have signalled that Jeremy Hunt will not give into calls to delay the uprating of business rates nor to extend relief from the tax. They are set to rise in line with consumer prices which as of September had jumped by 10.1% year-on-year. Business rates are also expected to be revalued in order to reflect changes in the rental market. According to the Confederation of British Industry, that could saddle the retail sector with increases of as much as 25% over the next two years. - The Sunday Times Clayton, Dubilier & Rice moved three-quarter of Morrisons's bonds or bank loans used to finance its takeover of Morrisons to fixed terms or hedged them during the spring and summer, in anticipation of steep interest rate hikes by central banks. The atypical move also came as investment banks were unable to offload all of the loans taken on to finance the transaction, as debt markets dried up ahead of a possible recession. Ratings agency Moody's had previously estimated that under half of Morrisons debt was either fixed or hedged. - Sunday Telegraph

Speculation in the City is that billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, dubbed the Czech Sphinx, is set to swoop in and take over International Distribution Services, better known as Royal Mail. Kretinsky is already the company's largest single shareholder, owning a fifth of it through his Luxembourg investment vehicle Vesa. And earlier in November he got the green light from government to up his stake to 25%, in effect allowing him to launch a full bid. But is he the safest pair of hands for the five-century old outfit given, among other things, his indirect links to the Kremlin's gas operator Gazprom. The government would do well to block a full bid if one is launched. - Financial Mail on Sunday

At least $1bn of investor assets appeared to have gone missing from FTX, multiple reports said. Reuters cited two anonymous sources who had held senior positions at the crypto-currency exchange on Saturday morning according to whom the money were part of the client funds transferred by FTX founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, to his hedge fund, Alameda Research. Another report, this time from the Wall Street Journal, said it appeared that hackers had actually taken $370m. Bankman -Fried however disputed Reuters's characterisation of the transfer. FTX said that all digital assets had been placed in cold storage, or offline, as a precaution. - Guardian

The Bank of England is again coming under criticism that it is moving too slowly to eliminate the red tape built up during the EU-area. During the past week, Bank's Prudential Regulation Authority told insurers that key aspects of the Solvency 2 reform, which requires insurers to hold "vast sums of cash on their balance sheets", would not be implemented until at least 2025. That prompted Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former Business Secretary, to say that: "The PRA is a consistent obstacle to reform and continues to drag its feet. It is holding back investment and reducing the UK's competitiveness." - Sunday Telegraph