PRESS DIGEST-British Business - January 8

Jan 8 (Reuters) - 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

• The UK government will receive a patriotic gift of more than 600 million pounds ($807.60 million) to reduce its debt burden from a charitable fund set up to help clear the country’s debt pile.

• GSK's GSK.L experimental drug to treat chronic hepatitis B infection met the main goals in two closely watched studies, the drugmaker said on Wednesday, bringing the company a step closer to making a functional cure available to patients.

The Guardian

• Britain's financial watchdog said on Monday it had fined two former Carillion finance directors after they dropped appeals against findings that they misled investors about the company's financial health before it collapsed in 2018.

The Telegraph

• British forces helped the U.S. seize a sanctioned oil tanker heading to a Russian port in a direct challenge to Vladimir Putin.

Sky News

• The owner of Waterstones, Elliott Management, is close to hiring bankers to work on a multibillion-pound listing of the transatlantic bookseller.

• Downing Street is courting business leaders to accompany Sir Keir Starmer on his first bilateral visit to Beijing, even as a decision looms on whether to approve China's controversial new embassy in London.

($1 = 0.7429 pounds)