WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
BTG PACTUAL LOOKS AT IPO AS IT EYES EXPANSION
BTG Pactual, Brazil’s largest independent investment bank, is looking to hold an initial public offering as early as next year as one option to fund an ambitious expansion in Latin America. The move comes as the bank is also strengthening its foothold in Asia with a planned strategic alliance with a financial institution in China that will involve some mutual purchases of equity.
SUBSCRIBER CANCELLATIONS STRIKE NETFLIX
Netflix shares tumbled close to 15 per cent on Thursday after the fast-growing DVD and online video streaming service said it expected 1m people to cancel their subscriptions in the US because of a recent price hike. It downgraded its subscriber estimates in a letter to shareholders.
BAA TO CHALLENGE ORDER TO SELL AIRPORTS
BAA is to mount a fresh legal challenge against the competition regulator’s rulings that it must reduce its market dominance by selling some of its airports. Britain’s leading airports operator said on Thursday it would seek a judicial review of the Competition Commission’s rulings that it should sell some of its businesses – Stansted airport and either Edinburgh or Glasgow airports.
VICKERS SHAKE-UP CUES SANTANDER LISTING DELAY
The planned listing of Santander’s UK operations on the London Stock Exchange is likely to be delayed following the proposed Vickers reforms to overhaul British banking until at least 2013. Initially the Spanish bank had hoped to float 20 per cent of Santander UK, the subsidiary formed by the acquisitions of three former building societies, for about £3bn in the second half of this year.
THE TIMES
CABLE STANDS UP FOR STRATEGY TO CUT BRITAIN’S DEFICIT
Vince Cable has mounted a staunch defence of the government’s deficit reduction strategy amid growing pressure on the coalition to come up with an economic Plan B. In a pamphlet written for the CentreForum think-tank, the Business Secretary acknowledges economists’ concerns about Britain’s sluggish recovery.
MINT HOTELS TO JOIN HILTON STABLE IN £600M DEAL
Blackstone is poised to complete one of Europe’s biggest hotel deals since the credit crunch after agreeing terms on the acquisition of the Mint Hotel group — formerly City Inn — for just over £600 million. The privately owned chain’s eight hotels will be run as part of the American investment firm’s Hilton Worldwide business under a management contract.
The Daily Telegraph
EDF ENERGY RAISES ELECTRICITY AND GAS PRICES
Average electricity tariffs will also rise by 4.5 per cent in changes that will come into effect on 10 November and reflect rising wholesale energy, network and other costs. EDF’s decision means that all of the big six power suppliers have now raised their tariffs for the coming winter.
CHINA RISKS A HARD LANDING AS GLOBAL WOES SPREAD
China’s carefully-managed soft landing is turning harder by the day, threatening to deflate the torrid credit bubble of the past three years. “There is a large potential risk,” said Zhu Min, the deputy managing director of the IMF and a former Chinese official. Mr Zhu said China had doubled the loan ratio from below 100 per cent of GDP before the Lehman crisis to roughly 200 per cent today.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
EUROPE
YAHOO HEARS FROM POTENTIAL BIDDERS
Yahoo has been contacted by potential bidders for some or all of the Internet company, even as it focuses on stabilizing its executive ranks and bolstering its online-ad business, people familiar with the matter said. Executives at private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners are among the potential bidders that have called Yahoo directors.
BRIDGESTONE TO PLEAD GUILTY IN BID-RIGGING CASE
Bridgestone will plead guilty and pay a $28m criminal fine for participating in bid-rigging and bribery conspiracies related to the sale of marine hose, the Justice Department said yesterday. It said Bridgestone was part of an antitrust cartel that affected prices for hundreds of millions of dollars of marine hose.