Aegis snaps up Russian rival December 1, 2010 MEDIA group Aegis yesterday expanded its presence in Russia by snapping up a majority stake in the country’s biggest independent market research business. Aegis acquired Comcon through Synovate, its market research group, for an undisclosed amount. According to the terms of the deal, it could acquire the remainder of the business in 2015. Comcon, which [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 29, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES BLUNDER REVEALS CARBON TRADING DATA Europe’s biggest clearing house, LCH.Clearnet, has admitted that “confidential information” about trading in carbon emission allowances, including the names of individual traders, was mistakenly published on the internet. Climate Markets, which provides marketing services for LCH.Clearnet, said the information was placed on its website in error and has [...]
Hooray: Hakkasan comes to Mayfair November 29, 2010 Hakkasan (Mayfair) 17 Bruton Street, W1J 6QB Tel: 020 7907 1888, www.hakkasan.com FOOD SERVICE ATMOSPHERE Cost per person without wine: £55 LAST week I gained half a stone. It all started (relatively) modestly with a couple of (gastro) pub meals. And it ended modestly: eating a cheeseburger and chips while standing up at the crowded, [...]
Russia’s Acron sells Canadian potash licence to BHP Billiton November 29, 2010 RUSSIAN fertiliser maker Acron has said it sold a Canadian potash exploration permit to BHP Billiton for an undisclosed amount. The permit covers 83,880 acres in central Saskatchewan. A source close to the Russian company said the deal was worth slightly more than the C$6m (£3.8m) sale of a similar deposit to Canada’s Sanya Resource [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 28, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES AMAZON SEEKS TO EXPAND GLOBALLY Amazon says it plans to revamp its international e-commerce platform to make it easier for the company to reach customers in new markets. The online retailer, the world’s largest by number of visitors, operates online businesses in six countries outside the US. It says it has set up [...]
Thomas Cook plans Chinese tie-up as it moves in to emerging markets November 28, 2010 TOUR operator Thomas Cook is hoping to forge a tie-up with a Chinese travel company to expand into tiger economies. The holiday group is understood to want to move into the Chinese market by 2012 as part of its drive to cash in on growth in emerging markets. The company last week announced a deal to [...]
Greenergy launches bid for Total’s UK forecourts November 28, 2010 GREENERGY, a supplier of fuel to British supermarket petrol stations, has launched a £1bn-plus bid to buy Total France’s UK retail network. Greenergy’s chief executive Paul Lester said he had held preliminary discussions with the French oil major about buying its portfolio of 780 petrol station forecourts. The supplier, in which the world’s number three [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK November 28, 2010 Sometimes Pret just doesn’t hit the spot for lunch, don’t you find? Such was the case for two Russian gents, residents of Chelsea, who splurged the best part of two grand on their midday meal one day last week. Our epicures started out with a £180 bottle of Dom Perignon to whet the appetite, which [...]
Cook takes Russian trip with Intourist tourist November 25, 2010 EUROPE’S second-largest tour operator Thomas Cook is buying more than half of Russian rival Intourist to enter the growing Russian travel market. Cook will invest up to $45m (£28.5m) – $10m in cash and $35m in its shares – in the venture for the 50.1 per cent stake. It said the deal would enable it [...]
Russian state bank eyes E.ON’s stake in Gazprom November 25, 2010 A DEAL for the sale of German utility E.ON’s stake in dominant Russian gas company Gazprom to Russian state bank VEB may be announced as early as today, a source in Russia’s energy ministry said yesterday. “The idea is completely realistic. I think that this is what will happen, I think it will be announced [...]