WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
THE SUNDAYS
The Sunday Telegraph
T-MOBILE OWNER EYES BID FOR SPRINT
Deutsche Telekom has called in banking advisers to study a possible multi-billion dollar bid for Sprint Nextel, the third-largest mobile phone operator in the US. The company’s decision to call in Deutsche Bank comes hot on the heels of the agreed tie-up of its struggling T-Mobile UK business with Orange.
TAX HIGH FLYERS, SAYS SIR RONALD COHEN
Sir Ronald Cohen, one of Gordon Brown’s closest business allies, has called for higher tax rates for the City’s top earners. The founder of Apax Partners said the government should avoid putting a cap on bonuses but called for more punitive taxes on high-fliers.
THE SUNDAY TIMES
TELECOMS TYCOON DENIS O’BRIEN FACES CABLE & WIRELESS LAWSUIT
Cable & Wireless has opened a fresh offensive in its battle in the Caribbean with telecoms tycoon Denis O’Brien by launching a $44m (£26m) lawsuit against his Digicel mobile-phone empire. C&W alleges Digicel has overcharged its Jamaican division for six years after switching the amount it charged to connect callers to its network from a per-second rate to per-minute in 2003.
HAMBRO BIDS FOR KLEINWORT
The French banking giant Société Générale has joined the race to buy Kleinwort Benson, as the battle for the private bank nears a conclusion. Soc Gen’s UK private bank, SG Hambro, is among a clutch of bidders that have gone through to the final round of the auction for Kleinwort — one of the oldest names in the City.
TODAY
FINANCIAL TIMES
HEDGING LOSES ITS LUSTRE FOR GOLD
The gold industry’s legacy of forward sales is set to all but disappear by next year following the decision by the largest gold miner to buy back its hedges. The size of the industry’s hedge book is set to drop to a residual of less than 200 tonnes by the end of 2010, the lowest in almost 25 years.
ECB NETS €900M FROM CRISIS LENDING
The European Central Bank has made up to €1bn (£875m) in extra profits from crisis-related lending, but its caution on unconventional policy measures has curbed potential earnings. Extra liquidity pumped into the banking system since the collapse of Lehman Brothers has probably generated an extra €900m in profits so far.
The Daily Telegraph
EU FACES EXISTENTIAL DANGER FROM ECONOMIC CRISIS
Mario Monti, the European Union’s former Competition tsar, says abandonment of free market principles is deadly. The global financial crisis has inflicted such damage to free market principles that it risks undermining the core function of Brussels and triggering the disintegration of the European Union, according to the EU’s most revered economic figure.
REGIONAL VENTURE FUNDS LOSE 75 PER CENT OF VALUE
Government-backed regional venture capital funds lost 75 per cent of their value in the last year, official figures reveal. The dramatic fall formed the bulk of a £17m write-down in the value of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ venture capital funds, according to the Whitehall department’s annual report.
theguardian
EXECUTIVE PAY KEEPS RISING
Executives at Britain’s top companies saw their basic salaries leap 10 per cent last year, despite the onset of the worst global recession in decades, in which their companies lost almost a third of their value amid a record decline in the FTSE. The Guardian’s annual survey of boardroom pay reveals that the full- and part-time directors of the FTSE 100, the premier league of British business, shared between them more than £1bn.
BBC MAY SELL SLICE OF WORLDWIDE DIVISION
BBC executives are considering the part-privatisation of the corporation’s commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, as part of a wide-ranging review, the director general, Mark Thompson, has told the Guardian. Among the options under consideration is a stockmarket listing of the business.