Fears copyright deal damages people’s rights April 4, 2012 EUROPE’S top court will determine whether a global trade agreement on copyright theft breaches citizens’ fundamental rights including the freedom of expression, the European Commission said yesterday. The European Union executive said it had referred the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which is designed to tackle intellectual property theft, to the European Court of Justice for [...]
BLINKBOX SIGNS PARTNERSHIP WITH DISNEY April 4, 2012 ONLINE movie service Blinkbox has joined forces with Disney to bring the film company’s latest releases to UK customers. Many popular titles, including War Horse (pictured) and The Muppets, will be available to rent online the same day that they are released on DVD, while Blinkbox users will also be able to access Disney classics [...]
Capita snaps up Axa’s Bluefin benefits consultancy for £50m April 4, 2012 OUTSOURCING group Capita has bought an employee benefits business from insurance firm Axa for £50m on a cash-free and debt-free basis. Capita will take over Bluefin Corporate Consulting, which advises on pension enrolment and other employee benefits, while Axa will keep the Bluefin trading name and its insurance and wealth management arms. Axa said in [...]
Daniels leaves BT directorship April 4, 2012 ERIC Daniels, the chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group during its doomed takeover of HBOS, has stepped down from a non-executive directorship at BT. The telecoms group said Daniels will step down on 13 June after four years on its board. Chairman Sir Mike Rake said in a statement: “Eric has been a great asset [...]
BG Group pays chiefs £5.4m April 4, 2012 THREE EXECUTIVES at fuel explorer BG Group have shared a pay packet worth a combined £5.4m this year – though their payouts were almost flat during a year in which the firm posted a 15 per cent rise in pre-tax profits Chief executive Sir Frank Chapman received a total of £2.87m, including a £1.2m bonus. [...]
German fund spends £235m on Kings Place April 4, 2012 GERMAN fund manager Deka has bought the home of the Guardian newspaper in King’s Cross for £235m, property agent Savills said yesterday. Savills, which acted for Deka, said Deka Immobilien’s open-ended fund WestInvest InterSelect bought the seven-storey Kings Place building from developer Peter Millican in an off-market transaction. Property consultant DTZ represented the seller. Kings [...]
JP Morgan ordered to pay $20m to settle charges over Lehman April 4, 2012 THE Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said yesterday that JP Morgan Chase will pay $20m (£12.6m) to settle charges that it unlawfully handled customer segregated funds at Lehman Brothers Holdings. The action comes as the CFTC and other regulators continue to probe what happened to segregated customer funds in the October 2011 collapse of MF [...]
KRAFT’S IRENE ROSENFELD NETS $22M IN 2011 April 4, 2012 KRAFT chairman and chief executive Irene Rosenfeld received total compensation of $21.9m (£13.7m) in 2011, 13.5 per cent higher than 2010. The rise was largely due to her $4.2m performance-based bonus – almost double that of the previous year. Rosenfeld received a base salary of $1.5m and her stock and option awards rose to $9.7m [...]
Puma claws at Shore’s results April 4, 2012 SHORE Capital slipped into the red last year after losing more than £6m on its investments in hotels and telecommunications firms. The small broker and independent investment group posted a statutory annual loss of £875,000, compared to a profit of £8.37m in 2010. It lost £4.8m on Puma Hotels, which owns 20 hotels around Britain, [...]
Fresh slump in value of buyouts April 4, 2012 THE value of private equity-backed buyout deals fell by a fifth in the first three months of the year, according to data published yesterday. The 669 deals were valued at $46.3bn (£29.1bn) in total, down 20 per cent from the final quarter of last year and the lowest value of buyout activity for two years, [...]