HMV in talks with Russian billionaire over sale of bookseller Waterstone’s February 27, 2011 HIGH street bookseller Waterstone’s could be sold to a Russian billionaire by its owner HMV. The retailer is said to be holding talks over a potential sale to oligarch Alexander Mamut, a wealthy businessmen best known in Britain as the backer of blogging website LiveJournal. Mamut has already built a 6.1 per cent stake in [...]
Falling in love with Gstaad February 27, 2011 I HAVE never liked the idea of skiing. I was raised strictly on a diet of city breaks and cultural immersion holidays. I thought that was the noble way forward, holiday-wise, until I went to Gstaad and stayed in the Grand Hotel Park. It might have helped that my baptism of Alpine leisure took place [...]
M&S hires overseas retail chief February 24, 2011 MARKS & Spencer (M&S) has poached Jan Heere from Spanish fashion group Inditex to lead its drive for business overseas. The clothing, homewares and food retailer yesterday named Heere as its new director of international, reporting to chief executive Marc Bolland. It said Heere, fluent in English, Spanish, French, Dutch and Russian, has worked for [...]
Abramovich set for legal fight February 23, 2011 Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich yesterday lost an appeal over a £2bn claim brought by ex-business partner Boris Berezovsky, meaning a legal battle in the British courts will go ahead in October. Berezovsky claims Abramovich pressured him into selling a stake in oil firm Sibneft at an unfair price.
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNINGF February 22, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES SUGAR TRADERS CONSIDER CAP The world’s largest sugar exchange and top traders are mulling “circuit breakers” to cap the recent surge in price volatility, people familiar with the discussions said. The ICE Futures US exchange, based in New York, and the World Sugar Committee (WSC), an advisory group of top traders, are setting [...]
Spotify stake values firm at over $1bn February 21, 2011 DIGITAL Sky Technologies (DST) is understood to be close to finalising a $100m (£61.7m) investment in Spotify that would value the music streaming site at $1bn. DST already owns a stake of up to 10 per cent in Facebook and invested in the $180m fund-raising for Farmville-maker Zynga. If DST went ahead with the move, [...]
BP inks $7bn Indian deal with Reliance February 21, 2011 BP has lined up one of the biggest-ever foreign direct investments in India after agreeing to pay Reliance Industries $7.2bn (£4.4bn) to jointly explore deepwater oil and gas deposits in the country. The long-term deal with Reliance, which could see BP pour $20bn into the project, was sealed at Downing Street yesterday. BP will take [...]
Carlsberg takes hit from Russian tax payments February 21, 2011 DANISH brewer Carlsberg blamed a sharp drop in fourth-quarter profit on an excise duty rise in its biggest market Russia and falling Eastern European sales. The world’s fourth biggest brewer said yesterday that organic operating profit growth declined significantly in its key Eastern European market, although it was strong in Northern and Western Europe and [...]
What the other papers say this morning February 20, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BUSINESS JET TRAVEL REBOUNDS AS RICH SPLASH OUT FOR PRIVACY Private jet travel, shunned in the recession as a sign of ostentation, is recovering in a further sign that the world’s richest people are spending more freely again. The number of business flights – which includes celebrity, state and business hire – grew [...]
Warner gets ready for takeover offers February 20, 2011 WARNER Music Group is ready to hear from up to 20 takeover bidders this week, a source close to the company confirmed yesterday, as the major label races to the market ahead of rival EMI. New York-listed Warner hired Goldman Sachs last month to examine its options, which could lead to the sale of all [...]