Monday newspaper round-up: Osborne, Rolls-Royce, Next

LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - UK Chancellor George Osborne is aiming to eclipse the Thatcherite privatisation boom of the 1980s and 1990s as he oversees the biggest-ever sale of publicly-owned corporate and financial assets in one year. The chancellor hopes to dispose of £32bn-worth of assets this financial year, smashing the record set in 1991 when the Tory government raised £11.8bn - £20.5bn in today's money - through the sale of BT, National Power and regional electricity companies. - Financial Times ValueAct , the US hedge fund that has become Rolls-Royce 's largest shareholders, is urging the company to accelerate cost cuts in its core aerospace business, according to people familiar with the fund's thinking. The San-Francisco based activist fund is also likely to encourage an eventual sale of the company's non-aerospace division when the board conducts a strategic review. - Financial Times A world-renowned US economist who was part of a secret "Plan B" team devised by Greece's former finance minister , has denied being involved in a "criminal gang" intent on bringing the drachma back to the country. James K. Galbraith, a professor of government at the University of Texas and long-time friend of Yanis Varoufakis, co-ordinated a five-man effort which advised Athens on the emergency measures it could take if Greece was forced out of the Eurozone. - The Daily Telegraph Britain's mortgage borrowers will be warned this week to brace themselves for higher interest rates on what City of London (LSE: CIN.L - news) traders have dubbed "Super Thursday". At least two, perhaps three, of the nine members of the Bank of England's interest rate-setting committee are expected to cast their votes for a rate rise. Confirmed hawks Martin Weale and Ian McCafferty, who voted for rate rises throughout the second half of 2014 before changing their minds as inflation plunged to zero earlier this year, have signalled they could soon be ready to see borrowing costs rise. - Guardian Next (EUREX: NXTI.EX - news) , one of Britain's biggest high street retailers, banked almost £170m in interest charges last year from shoppers using its online and catalogue credit service. The windfall highlights how the company has used the Next Directory service to become one of the biggest players in the clothing industry. However, it could also prompt accusations of double standards against its chief executive, Lord Wolfson, a Conservative peer who earlier this year called the living wage "irrelevant" and warned of a squeeze on household incomes since the financial crisis. - Guardian