Thursday newspaper round-up: City AM, motor industry, Freshfields

(Sharecast News) - Lawyers for the British billionaire Joe Lewis have accused prosecutors of making an "egregious" mistake, as the 86-year-old pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of securities fraud and conspiracy. Lewis, who heads the family that owns Tottenham Hotspur FC, was arraigned on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court with 16 counts of securities fraud and three of conspiracy to commit fraud, which prosecutors called a "brazen" insider trading scheme to enrich his friends, lovers and employees, including two private jet pilots. - Guardian City AM, the free London-based business newspaper, has been sold to THG, the online health and beauty retail platform run by the multimillionaire businessman Matthew Moulding. The 18-year-old freesheet, which had been on the brink of collapsing into administration, announced on Wednesday that it had been bought by THG for an undisclosed sum. - Guardian

The chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group has said he is in no rush to sell The Telegraph after seizing control from the Barclay family in a dispute over debts secured against the business. Charlie Nunn, the lender's chief executive, made Lloyds' first public comments on the situation since he sent in receivers and ousted Barclay family representatives from the board of The Telegraph last month. - Telegraph

The British motor industry is back in business, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders claimed yesterday, after Tata's commitment to invest £4 billion in an electric car battery "gigafactory" and with new figures set to show an 11 per cent rebound in vehicle production. The industry body will release assembly line data today that suggests 860,000 vehicles will be produced in Britain in 2023, an improvement of 85,000 on last year. However, the industry is coming back from a bad place. Last year's production numbers of 775,000 were the worst since 1956. - The Times

Partners at Freshfields have edged out "magic circle" rivals to top the City law firm earnings table with average pay of £2.09 million. Pay for full equity partners at the firm inched up last year by 1 per cent, enough to nudge ahead of Clifford Chance, which recently unveiled average partner pay of £2 million. - The Times