Sunday newspaper round-up: AstraZeneca, Asda, Italy

AstraZeneca is considering tabling a last-minute bid for a $10bn (£7.7bn) American cancer drug developer, which has become a target for some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. Medivation, which last week opened its books to Pfizer and Sanofi, is still courting other potential bidders, according to sources close to the process. Astra, Britain’s second-biggest drugs company, checked out Medivation earlier this year and is understood to retain an interest. No formal bid has been tabled by the British giant. Astra and Medivation declined to comment. - The Sunday Times

Incoming Asda boss Sean Clarke is said to be the man with his hand wavering over the red button, ready to trigger a supermarket price war to end all price wars. Two-thirds of shoppers now frequent the discounters, yet many Britons still turn their noses up at Asda. It has an image problem, not a price problem, it needs to address. For Clarke (Sean) to choose the nuclear price option looks like the road to mutually assured destruction. - The Guardian on Sunday

Italy and the European Commission are locked in emergency talks this weekend over plans to shore up the country’s ailing banks. Sources last night said the two sides remained deeply divided over how to tackle the mounting crisis in the Italian banking system. Matteo Renzi, the prime minister, wants to pump in billions of taxpayers’ cash to shore up confidence. However, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands and other eurozone members have historically opposed state bailouts, unless private creditors also shoulder the losses. - The Sunday Times

Companies are offering to ringfence the money they save from any reduction in business rates and then to reinvest it in their firms. They want the date for the introduction of planned reforms to the rates system - due in 2020 - to be brought forward. The companies also want many firms to be relieved of the obligation to pay business rates altogether and they are calling for the whole system to be simplified. - The Mail on Sunday

The company behind the insurance-to-energy comparison site Comparethemarket is preparing for a £2bn listing despite the huge volatility of markets since the EU referendum. BGL, which owns the consumer website known for its “Compare the meerkat” television adverts, is to hold a beauty parade for investment banks to lead the float, expected as early as the first quarter of next year. - The Sunday Telegraph

If Britain is facing an economic downturn, it is not because business and political leaders are 'talking down the economy,' declares former CBI boss and BT chairman Mike Rake. Amid a tumult of accusations that experts – including Bank of England Governor Mark Carney – are damaging the economy with their gloomy outlook, or that the signs of trouble are part of a global downturn, Rake is blunt. 'I think this is nonsense, blaming the downturn on China, or Project Fear. It wasn't Project Fear, it was Project Fact. This is going to be a shock to the system.' - The Mail on Sunday

A second independence referendum will be held in Scotland if Nicola Sturgeon’s current round of Brexit talks with EU leaders fail, the party’s Westminster leader has said. Angus Robertson insists the First Minister will explore all options to retain Scotland’s place in the EU, but another vote on leaving the UK is “exactly what we will do” if Ms Sturgeon’s hopes of securing a de facto membership of the bloc are dashed. - Scotsman on Sunday

Engineering giant Amey has set aside £55m to cover a row with Birmingham city council over a £2.7bn deal to fix the city’s roads. Amey, owned by Spain’s Ferrovial, won the 25-year deal in 2009. The council is embroiled in a High Court row with Amey over contract issues that reportedly stem from problems with pothole repairs. The agreement covers more than 1,500 miles of road. - The Sunday Times