Monday newspaper round-up: Aviva, Iran, AIM

An estimated 2,000 insurance jobs are likely to be axed as Aviva tries to placate scepticism about its bid for Friends Life. While some analysts hailed the £5.6bn deal announced on Friday evening as giving Aviva scope to push up its dividend, others were unimpressed, with one questioning whether it was much more than “a rights issue in disguise”. Substantial and credible cost savings would be key to convincing investors to back Aviva’s “doubling up” of a bet on the British market, and that would mean heavy job losses, they said. - The Times

The US and other world powers said it will be virtually impossible to reach a comprehensive deal to curb Iran’s nuclear activities by the Monday night deadline, and they would favour extending the talks. US officials are arguing that preserving improved relations with Tehran is preferable to a breakdown in more than a year of direct negotiations and a potential escalation of tensions in an already-fractious Middle East. - The Wall Street Journal Europe

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is understood to be actively reviewing whether to remain a nominated adviser (nomad) on AIM, and a decision to withdraw is considered likely. If the American investment bank steps down it will mean that there are only three large “bulge bracket” banks left acting as nomads to companies on AIM. It would also mean that Bank of America would quit as nomad to Bowleven, a natural resources company and its last client on AIM. - The Times

The World Bank will invest heavily in clean energy and only fund coal projects in “circumstances of
extreme need” because climate change will undermine efforts to eliminate extreme poverty, says its president Jim Yong Kim. Talking ahead of a UN climate summit in Peru next month, Kim said he was alarmed by World Bank-commissioned research from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, which said that as a result of past greenhouse gas emissions the world is condemned to unprecedented weather events. - The Guardian

The company behind Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) has become the first organisation of its kind to tap into the bond market in a move aimed at creating some 2,800 affordable homes across central Scotland. Wheatley Group, which also owns West Lothian Housing Partnership, today revealed it has raised £250m through its over-subscribed bond issue, and said the offer period had been closed early due to “high demand”. - The Scotsman

The Department for Transport is set to announce the privatisation of the East Coast Mainline this week, with a joint bid from Eurostar and Keolis understood to be the front-runner. The controversial tender will see the route, which connects London to Scotland, return to private ownership after five years in the hands of the public sector. Eurostar and Keolis are competing against First Group and a joint bid from Virgin/Stagecoach to take control of the line from next year. However, sources close to the process believe First Group and Virgin’s efforts will fall short. - Daily Express