Burnham’s high street tax plan carries £880m price tag
Andy Burnham’s plans to overhaul business rates in favour of Britain’s high streets could cost around £880m a year, according to new analysis, as questions mount over how the Labour leadership frontrunner would pay for one of his first major tax reforms.
Forecasts by global tax firm Ryan suggest Burnham’s proposal to expand Small Business Rates Relief would remove more than 140,000 additional small business premises from paying business rates altogether.
The analysis comes after Burnham said he would fund the move by increasing business rates on large warehouse developments, particularly those used by online retailers such as Amazon.
Speaking to LBC this week, Burnham insisted there was still “room for movement on tax” within Labour’s 2024 manifesto while keeping to the party’s fiscal rules.
“I believe there is a case for higher business rates on warehouses and the major developments we see on the outskirts of our cities, so that we can cut business rates for pubs… and lift some high street businesses out of business rates altogether,” he said.
He added that government should “prioritise and reward the businesses that bring social benefit” such as pubs, cafés, restaurants and hairdressers.
Under the proposals modelled by Ryan, the threshold for 100 per cent Small Business Rates Relief would rise from a rateable value of £12,000 to £18,000, while the upper threshold for tapered relief would increase from £15,000 to £21,000.
Using government business rates data, the consultancy estimates the reforms would cut annual business rates liabilities by approximately £880m.
But tax specialists warned the policy would inevitably raise questions about whether larger businesses would simply be asked to shoulder an even greater burden.
Alex Probyn, practice leader for property tax at Ryan, said: “Supporting small businesses is a great policy objective. The concern is how that is funded if things have to be revenue neutral.”
“Larger commercial properties are already contributing more through the existing business rates surtax to fund lower liabilities for retail, hospitality and leisure. The obvious question is whether they are now going to be asked to contribute even more.”
High street relief vs warehouse tax
Burnham first floated the idea during the Makerfield by-election, arguing that “online giants” should contribute more towards supporting traditional town centres.
His words also come just months after the government introduced a new 2.8p business rates surtax on properties with rateable values above £500,000 to help fund permanent relief for retail and hospitality businesses.
The Confederation of British Industry has labelled the current system a “growth killer”, warning that 32 per cent of firms have cancelled, reduced or delayed investment because of business rates.
The CBI also says the UK has the highest property tax burden in the OECD relative to GDP – more than four times Germany’s level – while 76 per cent of businesses believe business rates suppress investment and 53 per cent say uncertainty over future bills makes long-term planning more difficult.
CBI chief economist Louise Hellem has argued reform must “deliver real relief, not simply shuffle costs from one sector to another.”
“Business rates are no longer just a cost of doing business – they’re a major tax on ambition and one that effectively penalises investment,” she said.
The debate comes as Britain’s high streets continue a fragile recovery, with retail sales having seen a 1.2 per cent uptick in May, according to the Office for National Statistics, helped by warmer weather and stronger spending on non-food goods.
But analysts cautioned that consumers remain highly price-sensitive, with many retailers still facing rising wage, energy and operating costs.
UK investors turn to bonds as equities valuations continue to stretch
UK investors piled into bonds in June, as soaring valuations in equity markets has left many investors looking to avoid heightened risk and stretched value.
Bond funds attracted over £1bn of net inflows last month, making it third-strongest on record for fixed income funds, according to the latest data from Calastone.
The streak came as investors continue to rebalance portfolios towards assets offering income as well as diversify away from equity markets amid heightened valuations.
Bonds also attracted £2.2bn of new inflows in the first six months of the year.
In response, equity funds suffered net outflows of £437m, with the asset class suffering £2.6bn outflows in the first half of the year.
The Asia-Pacific region suffered the largest equity outflows in June, with investors selling £312m of their holdings, marking the 38th consecutive month of outflows.
UK-focused funds lost £260m, reversing May’s slight inflows, while both global and North American funds dodged losses.
Edward Glyn, head of global markets at Calastone, said: “Bond funds are benefiting from an unusually attractive combination of high income and the prospect of capital gains if interest rates begin to fall.
“At the same time, geopolitical tensions, an uncertain economic outlook and elevated equity valuations are encouraging investors to rebuild the defensive side of their portfolios.”
Concentration trap
Asset managers are increasingly sounding the alarm over valuations as markets experience continued highly concentrated gains off the back of the AI boom.
AI and tech companies are dominating market value, with indexes including the S&P 500 becoming increasingly concentrated.
This means the vast majority of index capital flows into a few mega-cap stocks, leaving passive investors exposed to a potential crash, as the funds hold weight based on market capitalisation, which causes more capital to be fed to large companies.
This has left industry figures urging investors to be aware of the anticipated stock market debut of Open AI and Anthropic, following Space X’s listing earlier this year, in particular for those who take a passive approach, as they were already affected by the tech sell-offs last month.
Passive investing is a long-term strategy aimed at gradually building wealth, but instead of picking individual stocks, investors buy and hold broad, low-cost index funds that typically track a market benchmark.
In contrast, active investing allows both investors and fund managers to track stock performance in an attempt to outperform the broader market and avoid the concentration trap.
Investors make decisions based on market trends, economic shifts and companies’ financial and corporate performance.
Property fund outflows ease
Elsewhere, property funds outflows fells to £6.1m, as investors anticipate incoming lower interest rates will bring buyers back to the market.
Outflows dropped from £14.8m in May, continuing the broader trend of dwindling outflows which began in October 2025.
But despite the fall, and June marking the smallest month of outflows since May 2024, it was the 25th consecutive month of losses, reflecting ongoing struggles in the housing market, with Glyn noting the market is not yet at a “decisive turning point”.
Glyn said: “Property funds have been under pressure since higher interest rates reduced the relative appeal of commercial real estate and increased financing costs across the sector.
However, expectations that interest rates are moving lower, together with attractive property yields and signs of
stabilisation in commercial real estate valuations, appear to be encouraging buyers back into the market.
“We’re not yet seeing a decisive turning point, but the trend over recent months points to
a gradual rebuilding of confidence.”
Easyjet board reaches agreement over £5.2bn Castlelake takeover
The board of Easyjet is poised to accept a takeover bid by private equity firm Castlelake, in a move that could add the airline to a growing list of blue-chip companies that have unveiled plans to quit the London Stock Exchange since the start of the year.
The offer of £6.90 per share, the fifth consecutive bid that Castlelake has made for Easyjet, is significantly higher than its original £5.60 bid but remains short of the £7 per share offer that some shareholders had been holding out for. It values the company at £5.2bn — or £5.5bn on a fully diluted basis, a spokesperson said.
“Having carefully reviewed it with its advisers, the board of easyJet concluded that the financial terms of the fifth proposal are at a value that the board would be minded to recommend to Easyjet shareholders,” the airline said in a statement.
Easyjet previously took aim at ‘opportunistic’ takeover bid
Easyjet’s move to reach a deal with Castlelake came after it rejected a string of previous takeover proposals, describing them as “opportunistic” at a time when its share price has fallen to comparative lows due to the Iran war.
Following the rejection of its third bid, the private equity firm made a public appeal for investors to review the bid themselves and lobby the airline to engage with it.
The bidder criticised the carrier for its “unwillingness to engage meaningfully” with its interest in a takeover, which kicked off with its first bid on 12 June.
Some investors have been urging Easyjet to hold out for a £7 per share offer. One large shareholder told the Financial Times: “I think they’ll engage if the price is at seven plus.”
But after a fourth takeover offer of £6.50, Easyjet’s board signalled it was willing to engage with the private equity firm and said it plans to give the bidder some commercial information to help it produce a “more attractive proposal”.
This bidding vehicle would be 49 per cent owned by Castlelake and 51 per cent by EU nationals, including former Malaysia Airlines boss Peter Bellew and Mark Breen, chief executive of Dublin-based Oneiros Aerospace.
Their involvement in the bid is necessary due to EU competition rules which require the takeover to have significant involvement from European citizens.
HMRC claws back £1m cutting ties with outside tech suppliers
HMRC has cut contractor costs by £1m a year after replacing a decades-old outsourcing model, as ministers face pressure to find £14bn of efficiency savings across Whitehall.
Whitehall risks missing Labour’s £14bn efficiency savings target unless departments stop repeatedly buying the same digital expertise from outside suppliers, according to a British technology consultancy working across government.
The warning comes as City AM can reveal HMRC has saved £1m a year after overhauling a contractor model that had supported critical Borders and Trade digital services for more than three decades.
Working with British tech firm Tecknuovo, the tax authority replaced more than 100 contractors with a service-based model supporting eight digital services used in the movement of goods into and out of the UK.
The transition was completed in three weeks, with no disruption to live services and no transition cost.
The programme delivered an 18 per cent reduction in operating costs, generating £1m in annual savings. Onboarding times fell by 86 per cent, while all eight services achieved green status for documentation, meaning critical knowledge was captured within HMRC rather than left with individual contractors.
Meanwhile, Labour has set a target of £14bn in savings over the course of this parliament, while pressure on the public finances has intensified after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the current budget deficit reached £34.5bn in the first two months of the financial year – £7bn higher than the same period last year and £6bn above the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)’s forecast.
At the same time, the Public Accounts Committee has warned that government cannot accurately account for its consultancy spending, with estimates ranging from £1.36bn to £2.23bn a year.
“If ministers want lasting savings, transformation programmes need to leave departments genuinely stronger than they find them and not dependent on buying in contractors again for whatever the next project may be,” Katie Carruthers, managing director of Tecknuovo, told City AM.
“The issue isn’t external contractors or suppliers. There is of course a place for partnership. The issue is dependency.”
Carruthers said government has spent years buying in digital expertise rather than building and retaining capability inside the Civil Service.
That can leave departments less able to act as “an intelligent client” when procuring technology, increasing the risk that services are not bought in the most effective way.
“When the knowledge leaves when the contractor ends, departments will find themselves paying to solve that same problem again,” she added.
Knowledge transfer
Tecknuovo calls its approach “zero dependency”, making the transfer of skills and ownership part of the contract rather than something left until handover.
“We think transformation should be measured by what’s left behind,” said Carruthers. “Knowledge transfer should be a requirement, not an end-of-contract activity.”
Under HMRC’s previous structure, more than 100 contractors supported key Borders and Trade services, with many able to leave at short notice.
Carruthers said that created “a significant and recognised risk”, because critical knowledge sat with individuals rather than the organisation.
“What we built now with HMRC belongs to them,” she said. “Their internal teams are able to operate those services independently and use suppliers where it makes sense to bring in additional capacity.”
Ministers have repeatedly presented AI as a route to better public services and lower costs, but Carruthers warned that adoption without internal capability risks creating another layer of dependency.
“There is huge potential for AI to help government deliver better services at a lower cost,” she said. “But that’s only half the challenge. You need the skills, the capability and ultimately the foundational data to make that enablement a success.”
She said the same principle applies whether departments are adopting AI, software-as-a-service products or any other emerging technology.
Carruthers stopped short of saying the £14bn savings target was unrealistic, but said it would require departments to change how they buy and retain digital capability.
“It’s a large number – many numbers add up to a large number. But project by project, programme by programme, lowering costs, increasing productivity and building longer-term capability starts to move towards that number.”
She added: “Knowledge transfer and bringing knowledge back into departments is part of what will enable government to succeed moving forward.”
World Cup gives London restaurants and retailers Deliveroo boost
England’s World Cup campaign has delivered a boost for restaurants and retailers across London, with new Deliveroo data showing a sharp increase in orders during the Three Lions’ group-stage matches.
Exclusive figures shared with City AM show BBQ orders more than doubled across the capital during England’s matches against Croatia, Ghana and Panama, while picnic-related orders nearly doubled as fans combined football with the recent spell of warm weather.
Demand for premixed cocktails and ready-to-drink beverages increased by more than 40 per cent, while pizza orders rose almost 40 per cent, suggesting many consumers opted for higher-value food and drink purchases while watching the tournament from home.
Suzy McClintock, vice president for consumer at Deliveroo, told City AM: “Londoners aren’t just watching the football, but turning it into a proper occasion. With a rise in orders for picnics, pizzas, to pre-made cocktails during the England games, we are helping fans celebrate no matter where they choose to watch a match.”
“It is also a reminder of the real opportunity these moments create for the restaurants and shops on our platform – match nights drive meaningful demand, and we’re proud to help them reach customers right when appetite is highest.”
Match nights drive spend
The London figures reflect wider national trends as hospitality businesses benefit from England’s progress through the tournament. Across Britain, Deliveroo said sparkling wine orders increased by more than 20 per cent during England’s three group-stage fixtures, while orders placed after the final whistle rose by an average of almost 40 per cent as consumers turned to late-night deliveries.
The data also points to changing consumer preferences during this summer’s tournament, with poke bowl orders rising by almost 30 per cent nationally alongside stronger demand for salads.
The findings come as analysts forecast a wider boost for the hospitality sector, with research by money.co.uk estimating that the UK food and drink industry could generate an additional £4.2bn in revenue over the May-to-July World Cup period, equivalent to a 9.3 per cent increase on a typical year, driven by stronger demand across restaurants and delivery platforms.
The shift towards home viewing has also prompted retailers and delivery operators to extend opening hours. Deliveroo has lengthened delivery times with partners including Nando’s, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons for England’s knockout fixtures, while Waitrose recently expanded late-night grocery deliveries after reporting increased demand during the tournament.
The data also aligns with YouGov research suggesting 60 per cent of viewers are more likely to watch late-night World Cup matches at home, creating even more opportunities for food delivery and grocery retailers as England’s knockout campaign continues.
Labour defends Burnham’s ‘very powerful’ No 10 North plans
Andy Burnham’s proposed ‘No 10 North’ would lead to a “very powerful reorganisation of government”, deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell has said.
Her words come as ministers push ahead with one of the biggest overhauls of English local government in decades before Burnham is expected to enter Downing Street later this month, with Labour arguing the reforms will help deliver faster regional growth by shifting power away from Whitehall.
Burnham has made devolution the centrepiece of his leadership campaign, promising to relocate parts of government to Manchester, hand regional leaders greater powers over planning, transport, housing and economic development, and create a “No 10 North” to drive policy outside London.
Powell sought to reassure businesses and local leaders that the reforms would not impose a single model across England, arguing regions should be allowed to build economic strategies around their own industrial strengths.
“We have a particular economy here that began in computing and digital,” the Manchester Central MP told Sky News. “We’ve got a real knowledge economy here, advanced manufacturing as part of that too.”
“Other places have got an economy that maybe is built around nuclear power or shipbuilding or renewable energy or an economy built around a university.”
“It’s not a one-size-fits-all… This is about taking power from Whitehall to distribute it around the country, and this will be a very powerful reorganisation of government in order to deliver that lifeblood back into every community and every postcode across the country.”
Meanwhile, ministers are preparing to approve sweeping council reorganisations across up to 16 areas, including Oxford, Cambridge, Leicester, Nottingham, Exeter, Stoke and Brighton, before Starmer leaves office, the FT has reported.
Local government secretary Steve Reed told the newspaper the reforms were “definitely” going ahead, arguing council reorganisation and devolution “go hand in hand” if Burnham is to fulfil his pledge to “rewire” the British state.
The plans would replace much of England’s existing two-tier council structure with larger unitary authorities designed to work alongside expanded metro mayor powers.
Ministers have claimed that this new model will simplify planning, speed up infrastructure projects and give regional leaders more control over attracting investment.
Early test for Burnham
The reforms will quickly become one of the first political tests of a Burnham premiership. According to the FT, more than 18 million voters could head to the polls in newly expanded council elections next May, giving Labour an early verdict on whether its devolution agenda is resonating with voters.
Jonathan Carr-West, chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit, told the said the elections would be a potential “proof of concept” for Burnham’s programme, although he warned councils embroiled in contentious reorganisations may lack the “political or logistical headspace” to make devolution work effectively.
The changes also come as Burnham attempts to convince both markets and business that constitutional reform can support growth rather than distract from it.
The incoming prime minister has repeatedly pledged to stick to Labour’s fiscal rules while arguing Britain’s highly centralised model has held back productivity and investment outside London.
His broader economic agenda includes devolving more planning and transport powers and reforming procurement to favour British industry and giving local leaders greater control over skills policy.
London currently generates around a third of corporation tax receipts, while many regions continue to lag behind on productivity and private investment.
Vance says ‘broken’ Britain must rebuild economy, not just change PM
US vice president JD Vance has branded Britain’s politics “broken”, saying the country’s revolving door of prime ministers reflects a deeper economic failure that has hollowed out industry, weakened productivity and left voters demanding structural reform.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Vance said Britain’s recent political instability was symptomatic of long-term economic decline rather than simply a succession of failed leaders.
“What I see is six prime ministers in the last few years,” he said. “What that says to me is that something is very broken about British politics and that people are really crying out for significant structural change.”
He added that Britain had “been failed by its leadership for a long time”, and said he hoped whoever succeeds Keir Starmer would “get Britain back on track”.
The comments come after Starmer announced he would step down after less than two years in office, paving the way for Andy Burnham to become Britain’s seventh prime minister in just over a decade after emerging as Labour’s sole leadership candidate.
But Vance’s harsher criticism was reserved for Britain’s economic model: “If you have an economy built around consumption, you ought not be surprised when your workers’ skills atrophy and your manufacturing base disappears,” he said, arguing that industrial capacity and productive investment had been sacrificed in favour of short-term consumer growth.
The remarks echo a growing school of economic thinking inside the Trump administration that places domestic manufacturing, industrial policy and strategic supply chains above decades of services-led globalisation.
Britain continues to wrestle with sluggish productivity growth that has persisted since the financial crisis.
While Brexit is frequently blamed for the UK’s weaker performance, many economists argue the slowdown predates the 2016 referendum, pointing instead to the long shadow of the 2008 financial crash, pandemic disruption, energy price shocks and years of weak business investment.
Indeed, official data showed UK GDP slipped by 0.1 per cent in April after the energy price shock triggered by conflict in the Middle East weighed on households and businesses.
Services output fell 0.2 per cent, manufacturing stagnated and economists warned higher energy costs and geopolitical uncertainty are likely to further squeeze corporate investment and profit margins later this year.
The UK’s growth model remains heavily reliant on consumer spending and services, while productivity has largely flatlined since 2008 and manufacturing has steadily shrunk as a share of the economy.
Despite stronger-than-expected first-quarter growth, economists expect much of that momentum to unwind as higher energy prices and weaker global demand feed through.
Burnham pitches strucutral overhaul
Vance’s diagnosis also mirrors much of the argument being made by incoming Labour leader Andy Burnham.
In one of his first major speeches since returning to Westminster, Burnham pledged to deliver “good growth in every postcode”, through what he described as the biggest transfer of power from Whitehall in modern times.
The incoming prime minister has promised to devolve tax-raising powers to regions, shift parts of No 10 to Manchester and use a partnership between government, local authorities, business and pension funds to drive investment into housing, infrastructure and reindustrialisation.
Burnham has argued Britain needs “a change in how the country is governed, not just who governs it”, while committing to a decade-long programme focused on raising living standards through regional growth and industrial investment.
At the same time, he has sought to reassure investors that any reforms would remain within Labour’s fiscal rules, amid concerns in the City over how a more interventionist industrial strategy would be funded.
Vance stopped short of endorsing Burnham personally, saying: “I don’t know a lot about Andy Burnham.”
But he stressed Britain remained “one of our closest and most important allies”, adding: “Whoever is the prime minister, we’re going to work with them and work with them as successfully as we can.”
Football may not come home but US investors will still cash cheques here
The US continues to invest in the English football pyramid. Matt Bonass gives his best shot at explaining why
Football attracting money is not novel, but what has changed is the type of money, where the money has come from and the thinking behind it all. In a previous era club ownership was a passion project, restricted to wealthy individuals who had affinity for the sport and broadly felt relaxed about the financial returns. It would be overstatement to suggest that this era is over, but it is giving way to something quite different.
If you look at Deloitte’s recent 2025 Sports Investment Outlook, 50 per cent of all global sports investment transactions in 2024 were in football, with around 55 per cent of those coming from North American investors. In the prized Premier League, US investors now hold stakes in 13 of the 20 clubs and 24 clubs across Europe’s big five leagues. In a sense, football is changing from a luxury collectible to a structured investment class, with institutional capital treating the sport the way it treats any other asset with strong fundamentals.
This ongoing shift is not just happening at the highest level of English football. It is taking form in the Championship, League One and League Two, parts of English football that until recently would barely interest local investors never mind American investors. So what are the drivers? Asset scarcity in the Premier League, the significance of the valuation gap relative to US franchises, and the genuine belief that lower league clubs are commercially underdeveloped relative to their potential.
Saturation at the top
Currently there are only 153 major league franchises across leading US sports and many of them have not changed hands in decades. The home market offers limited room for new entrants and consequently when an American investor comes to market, the scarcity premium is often brutal with prices driven to levels that leave little room for institutional returns.
American investment in Europe is not something that emerged recently, investors have held on to Europe’s most coveted clubs in recent times from both Milan clubs to Roma and Atletico Madrid, to Olympique Lyonnais and the interest across the continent will continue to grow.
Each market has its own structural quirks that investors need to work around. In Germany, the 50+1 rule affects how stakes can be structured; Italy brings its own transactional and regulatory considerations; in France, media rights have made valuations less predictable; and in Spain, the largest clubs remain member-owned and effectively off the market. Equally, each market still needs to be worked through rather than avoided, and with the right local advisers, investors are continuing to get deals done. That said, England’s more open ownership model still draws in the widest range of investors, especially first-time entrants looking for a simpler way into football investment.
Valuation of football clubs
Along with the entry points mentioned above, Premier League clubs have become extremely expensive, with Chelsea selling for £4.25bn in 2022 and mid-table sides now carrying nine-figure valuations. For investors who want English football exposure without paying top-flight prices, the most likely position is to go down the pyramid, where the Championship, League One and League Two offer a credible route to Premier League revenues if promotion comes, at a fraction of the entry cost.
We have already seen US investment with the likes of Wrexham, Birmingham City, Ipswich Town, Crawley Town, Plymouth Argyle, Swansea City and Leyton Orient, with ownership stakes now even extending into the National League. Roughly around 19 to 23 of the 72 EFL clubs now have American or American-linked ownership.
Global footprint
From a commercial lens, English football remains the most reliable product at a global scale. There is also a growing synergy between the appetite for football in the US with the recent 2025-26 Premier League season becoming NBC’s most-watched ever in the United States, with average viewership of 1.2m viewers per match, and American fans consuming 18.33bn minutes of Premier League content across all platforms.
To put this into context, the NBC broadcasting deal alone, at £378m a year, generates more broadcast revenue than the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 earn from every international market in the world put together.
The 2026 World Cup is underway featuring 48 teams and 104 matches across 16 cities. Analysts cited in Gabelli Funds’ 2026 Fifa World Cup investment outlook project a 20-30 per cent uplift in club valuations if US appetite translates into sustained fandom rather than a four-week spike, which remains the key question.
All things considered what is already obvious is that the market is crowded, and the easy money has largely been made. 72 EFL clubs cannot all get promoted. However, the underlying commercial story remains intact, and the money will keep coming to the UK because there is probably nowhere better to put it. Football may not come home, but the world keeps sending its cheques here.
Matt Bonass is co-head of law firm Bird & Bird’s International Corporate Group
CG Semi Commences Commercial Production at Its G1 OSAT Facility in Sanand, Gujarat
CG Semi Private Limited (CG Semi), established as a joint venture between CG Power and Industrial Solutions Ltd. of the Murugappa Group, Renesas Electronics Corporation, and Stars Microelectronics. Headquartered in Gujarat, CG Semi today announced the commencement of commercial production at its G1 Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test facility in Sanand. The launch was held in the august presence of Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Gujarat Shri Bhupendra Patel and Hon’ble Minister of Railways, Information & Broadcasting and Electronics & Information Technology Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw.
The G1 facility, inaugurated in August 2025, has a peak capacity of up to 300 million units per year. Since its inauguration, the facility has progressed through equipment installation, process stabilization, workforce training, customer qualification, and quality readiness. With commercial production now underway, CG Semi is positioned to serve customers across the globe.
Backed by central and state government support, and in collaboration between CG Power, Renesas Electronics Corporation and Stars Microelectronics, CG Semi is investing over ₹7,600 crore over five years to develop two OSAT facilities – G1 and G2. While G1 has now commenced commercial production, the second facility, G2, is under development and will significantly scale CG Semi’s production capacity once operational.
CG Semi has built a strong talent foundation by bringing together semiconductor professionals with deep experience across assembly, packaging and testing. The company has invested in training Indian engineers, operators, and technicians for high-volume OSAT operations, strengthening India’s semiconductor talent base.
Quality has been central to CG Semi’s operating model from day one. The G1 facility is equipped with high-yield production systems, robust process controls, manufacturing traceability, and in-house reliability and failure analysis capabilities.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Vellayan Subbiah, Chairman, CG Power, said, “Today, this first shipment speaks louder than any words. It reflects the enormous belief behind these small chips and the combined effort of a remarkable team.”
For more information, please visit www.cgsemi.com X: @CGSEMI_Official LinkedIn: CG Semi
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260704038873/en/
Contact
For media information, please contact: Jini PK: +91 94450 34039
Abstract
CG Semi commences commercial production at its G1 OSAT facility in Sanand, Gujarat, A key milestone in India’s semiconductor manufacturing journey.
Fifa World Cup 2026: The tournament of IP infringement and touts
With the World Cup well underway, Ben Travers explains why IP laws are being ignored?
Much has been written of the economics of the 2026 Fifa World Cup, which looks set to be the biggest yet with tens of billions in revenue on the table. With the global sports industry representing potentially trillions of dollars in earnings, the stakes could not be higher for businesses looking to capitalise on the action.
However, like many businesses, not just in sports, the real value is in the exploitation of intangible assets. The predicted revenues arising from the event will significantly surpass the value paid for tickets, transport and hot dogs at the stadiums. The value gap between the total value attributed to the event and the amounts paid for these tangible items can in large part be attributed for the value of the intellectual property (“IP”) behind the event.
Sometimes the value created by IP is clear. For example, IP that means an official replica kit costs more than an unbranded equivalent kit. Control over access to the event on broadcast media funnels attention to official TV channels, creating quantifiable advertising revenue during half time. Even the tickets themselves are the gateway to an intangible asset, the experience of watching a match, soaking up the atmosphere – these are not tangible assets.
Intrisic value
That organisations recognise this intrinsic value will no doubt be witnessed over the coming weeks as businesses with no official affiliation to the event look to take advantage through allusions to the tournament. Next time you are in a restaurant during the tournament, you will probably find World Cup inspired menus, even if the venue has no official link.
As with anything else with an intrinsic value, we can expect rights holders to enforce their IP to protect against imitators undermining their investment. At times when economies around the world face challenges, we may expect rights holders to protect their investments more actively, to help ensure no value escapes and that they make the most of squeezed consumer spend.
On a larger scale, we may see brands looking to stop ambush marketing, although event’s organisers tend to be very aware of these strategies, making it consequently tougher for ambush marketing campaigns at venues to work. So, whilst these large scale incidents may be unlikely, we will almost inevitably see a significant volume of IP infringement on a smaller scale.
IP flouting
Suggesting a business is affiliated with a major sporting event when it is not is a clear issue, but this is not the only way businesses tempted to take advantage of opportunities around the tournament may come unstuck. There is a fine line between following a trend and infringing IP and, as always happens with major sporting events, we are likely to see businesses falling on the wrong side of this line time and time again. This will happen where businesses look to take advantage of assets belonging to event organisers, sponsors and even athletes. These assets may include colour schemes, brand names or other elements which cause a consumer to associate a business with the tournament. If a business is only acting in a certain way because it wants to take advantage of the tournament then it is going to need to tread very carefully.
Recent developments, including sports personalities such as Cole Palmer and Luke Littler registering their brands, have helped to raise awareness of the value of IP protection, not just for clubs and sponsors but for the athletes themselves, who are also brands. The World Cup is likely to accelerate the trend of athletes taking more control of their brand as a business asset, securing opportunities for revenue creation through sponsorship, video game likenesses and more, long after their professional play careers are over.
The World Cup will accelerate and hold a lens to this trend of increased recognition in the value of IP and all that comes with it.
Ben Travers, Partner and Head of IP at law firm Foot Anstey