WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
VODAFONE’S GHANA DEAL ATTRACTS SFO INTEREST
The UK Serious Fraud Office has contacted Vodafone about its controversial deal to buy a controlling stake in Ghana’s third-largest mobile phone operator. The SFO has not launched an investigation into the deal, but is monitoring allegations of irregularity that have been made in Ghana.
INDIAN SURGE BENEFITS SUZUKI
Suzuki Motor, the Japanese small car and motorcycle specialist, displayed the fruits of its long cultivation of India’s car market yesterday as it trebled its net profit forecast on surging sales in the south Asian country. India’s economy has weathered the turmoil better than most and, thanks to tax incentives, demand for cars has held up especially well. Sales growth accelerated to 21 per cent in September from an already robust 13 per cent between April and August.
GM BOARD TO RECONSIDER OPEL SALE PLAN
General Motors’ board is set to meet today to reconsider the planned sale of Opel to Canadian car-parts supplier Magna and Sberbank, the Russian bank. The reassessment of the long sales process, which has been fraught with political haggling over job cuts and state financing, comes after the European Commission last month expressed concerns about the fairness of the bidding procedure.
WENDEL SET TO REJOIN HUNT FOR ACQUISITIONS
Wendel, the private equity group, has started casting around for acquisitions, according to Frédéric Lemoine, its new chief executive, signalling a return to normality for the Paris-based group after a year of upheaval.
Mr Lemoine said any acquisitions for the heavily indebted group would be “modest”.
THE TIMES
COMMERCIAL SITES GLOOM ‘HIT VALUATION ACCURACY
The slide in commercial property prices was responsible for a decline in the accuracy of surveyors’ valuations last year, according to a report published today. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said that there was an improvement in accuracy across Europe as a whole in 2008.
PUTIN WARNS EUROPE ABOUT WINTER GAS SUPPLY AMID MORE ROWS WITH UKRAINE
Russia has warned the European Union that a new gas conflict is brewing with Ukraine, reviving memories of a previous dispute that led to fuel shortages across a swath of Central and Western Europe. Naftogaz, Ukraine’s main gas importer, must pay $500m to Gazprom, the Russian energy group, by the weekend for gas consumed last month.
The Daily Telegraph
EMI ‘ANGERED’ BY US WEBSITE SELLING BEATLES SONGS FOR 15P
A Santa Cruz-based website, BlueBeat.com, was yesterday selling MP3 files of every single Beatles track for 25c (15p) each, including songs from the recently released remastered albums. The site was also streaming the albums in their entirety, allowing users to listen to them for free. EMI and Apple Corps, The Beatles’ own company, have fiercely protected the band’s back catalogue and have so far resisted releasing any songs digitally.
A PROPERTY IS REPOSSESSED EVERY 11 MINUTES, ACCORDING TO CREDIT ACTION
New figures from Credit Action show that a property is repossessed every 11 and half minutes as the recession begins to bite. The organisation also said that 9,300 people are visiting Citizens Advice every day.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
LUPUS DRUG SHOWS PROMISING RESULTS
Human Genome Sciences and GlaxoSmithKline said their experimental drug Benlysta met the goal of a second late-stage study in treating lupus, making it likely to be the first treatment in decades for the hard-to-treat autoimmune disease. The study showed that patients benefitted from a higher dose of Benlysta, which the companies are co-developing, while a lower dose failed.
GOLDMAN LOOKS TO BUY FANNIE TAX CREDITS
Goldman Sachs is in talks to buy millions of dollars of tax credits from government-controlled mortgage giant Fannie Mae, but the potential deal is running into opposition from the US Treasury, which could block the deal. A sale would bring some financial respite to Fannie Mae.