March 11 - The following are the top stories on the business pages of British newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
The Times
City advisers could pocket more than 22 million pounds ($28.54 million) in fees if Non-Standard Finance Plc NSF.L succeeds with its 1.3 billion pound hostile bid for Provident Financial Plc PFG.L . Plc IRV.L is mounting a last-ditch campaign to encourage support for a rescue plan under which lenders would write off their debts in exchange for equity from its retail investors, who between them own about 30 percent of the business. Guardian
Deutsche Bank AG DBKGn.DE has begun tentative merger talks with rival Commerzbank AG CBKG.DE , which would create Europe's second-biggest bank behind HSBC Holding Plc HSBA.L and fend off unwanted potential bidders such as French giant BNP Paribas SA BNPP.PA . Finance Minister Philip Hammond will boost public spending on genetic research and laser technology by 200 million pounds in this week's spring statement to support some of Britain's fastest-growing industries as they prepare for Brexit. Telegraph
Steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta is targeting a near-3 billion pound float of Arrium, the Australian arm of his sprawling industrial empire, in a move he hopes will quash speculation his business may be in trouble. urged Just Eat Plc's JE.L board to explain why interim CEO Peter Duffy ruled himself out of taking up the post permanently, after they were told just weeks earlier that he was "their man". News
OneSavings Bank Plc OSBO.L and Charter Court Financial Services Group Plc CCFS.L , two of Britain's biggest challenger banks, are in advanced talks about an all-share merger that would create a lender worth more than 1.6 billion pounds ($2.08 billion). Independent
Norway's $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund said it would sell off around $7.5 billion of oil and gas company shares to cut the risk it faces from a permanent global shift from fossil fuels to renewables. https://ind.pn/2EQ0dAd
($1 = 0.7709 pounds)