July 16 (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

- Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have made a joint offer to acquire PayPal Holdings Inc PYPL.O for $60.50 per share, in a deal that would value the payments company at more than $53 billion.

- Wealth firm Utmost is planning a 2.5 billion pound ($3.38 billion) float of the wealth business as soon as September as the firm is in advanced stages of preparing for an initial public offering.

The Guardian

- Britain's Thames Water increased its bonus payouts to 4.1 million pound for senior managers, despite warning over “material uncertainty” over its future as it scrambles to recapitalise to avoid nationalisation.

- Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey said he did not regret meeting Reform UK leader Nigel Farage to discuss cryptocurrency regulation last year.

The Telegraph

- The Pubs Code Adjudicator, the industry watchdog, has launched an investigation into Stonegate to determine whether it was providing new tenants with accurate information about potential repairs and the financial prospects of pubs.

- BrewDog co-founder James Watt has launched an attempt to buy back the craft beer company months after it was rescued from administration by a U.S. cannabis producer.

Sky News

- Cycling start-up Tyred, which counts the public bike-sharing company Lime among its customers, will say on Thursday that it has raised 2.5 million pound from a syndicate of investors.

The Independent

- Housebuilder Barratt Redrow has unveiled plans to boost shareholder returns by 400 million pound over the year ahead as it comes under pressure from an activist investor.

($1 = 0.7395 pounds)