The Telegraph writes that Verizon has resumed discussions about buying Vodafone’s stake in their US joint venture for over 100bn dollars. The paper cites City analysts as saying that the deal could create an ‘unrivalled war chest’ for the UK telecoms group for making acquisitions, wiping off debt and delivering payouts to shareholders.

The Brazilian central bank has raised interest rates for the fourth time since April, reports the Financial Times, in a move to “restore investors’ confidence in Latin America’s biggest economy”. The benchmark Selic rate was hiked by 50 basis points to 9%.

The Guardian writes that Serco is under investigation by City of London police over alleged fraud in relation to a £285m contract to transport prisoners to and from courts across the capital and East Anglia.

The Co-operative Group reported a first-half loss of £559m due to £496m of writedowns at its troubled banking business. The Co-Op Bank itself reported a pre-tax loss of £709m.

The Scotsman cites the latest industry data from Kantar WorldPanel which showed that Sainsbury, Britain’s third-largest grocer, grew sales by 4.9% in the 12 weeks to August 18th, outperforming its rivals as it boosted market share from 16.4% to 16.5%. Others in the ‘Big Four’, Tesco, Asda and Morrisons, all lost market share.

The private-equity owners of Burton’s Biscuit Company have put the Jammie Dodgers and Maryland Cookies owner up for sale in an auction that could fetch £350m, according to The Times.