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 [...]
News Corp nears BSkyB deal with OFT February 24, 2011 RUPERT Murdoch’s News Corp is closing in on a deal with regulators over its £7.8bn bid for broadcaster BSkyB, sources said yesterday. The media group is close to agreeing a series of undertakings with the Office of Fair Trading that would satisfy its concerns that a takeover would unduly concentrate the UK’s media sector. The [...]
England can make toast of French in Le Crunch February 24, 2011 ENGLAND Vs FRANCE Tomorrow – 5.00pm BBC1 MARC LIÈVREMONT does not like the English. The French coach admitted so this week, initiating the mind games ahead of ‘Le Crunch’ tomorrow. The fact is hardly surprising, given that it is the English that stand in the way of a Grand Slam for Les Bleus, while England [...]
Wareing’s next stop: St Pancras February 23, 2011 MARCUS Wareing appears, sleek in dark clothes, at the building site that is soon to be the Gilbert Scott, his first restaurant since his flagship at the Berkeley. With his silky-looking clothes, graceful step and searing blue eyes, he looks like what he is: the sort of man who understands and presides over Michelin stars [...]
Moneybookers owner eyes IPO February 22, 2011 The owner of the online money transfer service previously known as Moneybookers plans to announce next week that it is seeking a stock market listing in London aimed at raising about £150m. Investcorp, the Bahrain-based private equity group, could disclose its intention to float Skrill as early as next Monday, according to Sky News.
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, [...]
Soft commodity traders could be hung out to dry February 21, 2011 GROUPS of older ladies like to coo over small children’s cotton socks, otherwise this soft commodity didn’t use to cause too big a stir. That is until now: in the last month the price has broken from a three-decade range, rocketing to $2 a pound – that is a 40 per cent increase since January. [...]
2011 is the year that London becomes the world’s best place to stay February 20, 2011 JUST when it seemed as though London couldn’t fit another slice of luxury into its five star-crammed hotel scene, along comes… well, everything. This has been a huge year for the capital. The completion of the spectacular £200m refurb of the Savoy sparked the buzz of excitement. Since then, Park Lane has seen the rebirth [...]
Morgan Stanley to get Northern Rock UKFI deal February 17, 2011 UK FINANCIAL Investments, the government body in charge of managing public stakes in bailed-out institutions, is soon to appoint Morgan Stanley to advise on the sale of the Northern Rock “good bank” later this year. The sale will follow the auction of 318 RBS branches sold to Santander UK last summer for £1.65bn and is likely to attract [...]
IT’S A NEW CHANNEL, BUT NOT AS WE KNOW IT February 17, 2011 WITH viewers of Virgin Media unable to watch Sky’s new flagship channel Sky Atlantic because of a failure of the two groups to agree on price, chief executive Neil Berkett and his team were keen to downplay its attractions yesterday. Berkett described the channel as “completely unproven” while a colleague somewhat contemptuously chipped in to [...]