British Steel’s Chinese bidder has written to the French government in an effort to save its stalling takeover of the collapsed UK manufacturer, the Financial Times reported. With the clock ticking down on a deadline for the deal to be completed, Chinese conglomerate Jingye has sent a letter to the French finance ministry to persuade Paris of the plan’s merits, said people with knowledge of the matter. UK officials agreed a £50m rescue deal with Jingye in November. Under the agreement, Jingye would take control of the group’s plants in Britain, France and the Netherlands.

HSBC has said it plans to slash about 35,000 jobs as part of a radical downsizing of its operations in Europe and the US, as it warned of the threat to its business from social unrest in Hong Kong and the coronavirus outbreak, the Financial Times reported. The London-based bank said it aimed to cut annual costs by $4.5bn and shed $100bn of assets adjusted for risk by the end of 2022 as it attempts its most drastic overhaul since the financial crisis in an attempt to kick-start its stuttering business. The bank did not publish a headcount reduction targ

UK steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta has completed the acquisition of a bankrupt Indian steelmaker after a long court battle, the first foray by his GFG Alliance into the country’s fast-growing market following previous failed attempts, the Financial Times reported.

More than 7m Britons are struggling with debt and are at risk of being exploited by some lenders’ business models, according to a new assessment of potential harm to consumers by the UK financial watchdog, the Financial Times reported. The Financial Conduct Authority on Tuesday listed the treatment of over-indebted borrowers, unsuitable pension transfers, and the marketing of high risk investment products as among the greatest risks posed by the financial services industry in 2020.

Sirius Minerals said on Friday talks with a consortium of financial investors on an alternate debt financing proposal to raise $680 million has fallen through, putting the company at the risk of going under administration or liquidation, Reuters reported. “The board confirms that the company has not been able to secure an institutional anchor investor willing to provide sufficient support for the alternative proposal which was part of the consortium’s requirements,” Sirius said in a statement.

Profits at British utility Centrica slumped 35% last year, hit by a government price cap on some energy bills and the impact of lower natural gas prices on its production business, sending its shares down as much as 17% on Thursday, Reuters reported. The company, whose British Gas unit is Britain’s largest energy supplier, said adjusted operating profit fell to 901 million pounds from 1.39 billion pounds in 2018.

Babcock International nudged down its guidance for annual underlying operating profit and wrote down the value of its oil and gas transportation business in the latest blow to the British engineer, Reuters reported. One week after the company announced the retirement of Chief Executive Archie Bethel, Babcock said it would also embark on an improvement and restructuring programme to ensure it remains on track for medium term targets.

Two top Bank of England officials suggested that the U.K. financial system’s rules may have to diverge from the European Union’s after Brexit -- a topic that’s becoming as a major point of contention between the two sides, Bloomberg News reported. Outgoing Governor Mark Carney told Parliament on Tuesday that Britain’s view of EU regulation may change over time, especially since it will no longer be able to help set the rules.

At the Whitchurch Care Home, emergency buzzers went unanswered, some medicines were not dispensed and many of its frail and elderly residents had not been given a bath, shower or a wash for a month, an official inspector’s report found, the Financial Times reported. A broken elevator meant residents on the second floor could not be taken to hospital appointments. The dismal conditions at the care home in Bristol, south-west England, found in January last year, were a sign of the financial pressures on its manager Four Seasons, Britain’s second-largest care home provider.

German pharma company Aenova is being overhauled by owner BC Partners, which is placing a new capital structure to strengthen the company and increase investor confidence, banking sources said, Reuters reported. Aenova returned to Europe’s leveraged loan market for the first time in 5.5 years, launching a €440m term loan B on February 3 to refinance some of its existing debt. In addition to the new term loan, BC Partners is also injecting €100m of new equity into Aenova and has also raised €100m of subordinated, preplaced PIK.