Monday newspaper round-up: Northern franchise, trade groups, Flybe

Ministers will pledge to reopen closed rail lines in the north this week as the government prepares to renationalise the failed Northern franchise. The promise of hundreds of millions in investment to restore some lines axed in the Beeching closures in the early 1960s will come at about the same time as the expected announcement of the termination of the Northern franchise, operated by Arriva. – Guardian

A £30bn British pension fund has threatened to sack investment managers that do not take action on the climate crisis, criticising the sector as “not fit for purpose”. Brunel Pension Partnership, which manages pension money for nine councils in south-west England as well as for the Environment Agency, said it would review the mandates of asset managers that don’t reduce exposure to climate risk by 2022. – Guardian

Trade groups have been invited to hold their first consultations on the future EU-UK trade deal, The Telegraph has learned, amid rising fears among industry that ideology will trump practical considerations in the coming talks. With less than five weeks to go before formal negotiations open in Brussels in early March, interviews with eight major business lobby groups by The Telegraph have revealed widely shared concerns about the Government’s grasp of critical details of the negotiation. Telegraph

Flybe could struggle to secure a government loan on “commercial terms” because its billionaire investors already hold comprehensive security over many of its assets, it has emerged. The airline arranged for a third-party trust to take a charge over assets such as its buildings and aircraft equipment on behalf of its three shareholders. The move initiated during last year’s buyout means that, in the event of the carrier’s collapse, its backers have protected their own investment. – The Times

Directors of failed companies are more likely to be pursued personally when their creditors are left unduly out of pocket after a High Court ruling that experts have claimed “rewrites the rules of insolvency”. A judge held that directors’ duties survive a company’s collapse, meaning that they are on the hook if they acquire assets from failed companies below market value — via contentious prepack deals, for example. Stephen Hunt, a liquidator, successfully sued System Building Services, a fire protection business, and Brian Michie, its director, over the transfer of funds and the sale of a company property at an undervalue after it entered insolvency. Judge Sally Barber ruled that “the duties owed by a director to the company and its creditors survive” a company’s collapse. – The Times