WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
APAX PAYS £975M IN MARKEN BUY-OUT
Apax Partners will today announce the £975m buy-out of Marken, the provider of distribution services to the pharmaceutical industry, generating big profits for its management and Intermediate Capital Group, which acquired the company in 2007. The acquisition of Marken is the biggest private equity deal in the UK for more than a year.
L’ORÉAL CHAIRMAN NAMED IN BATTLE OVER GIFTS
Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones, the British chairman of L’Oréal, has emerged as a controversial figure in the legal battle between Liliane Bettencourt, France’s wealthiest woman and L’Oréal heiress and her daughter, who also sits on the company’s board. Sir Lindsay, chief executive of L’Oréal for 18 years until 2006, is alleged to have received at least €100m (£90m) from Bettencourt.
RESEARCH IN MOTION SETS SIGHTS ON CHINA
Research in Motion is launching a push to market its BlackBerry smartphones to millions of individual users in China with two new distribution deals in the largest mobile market by subscribers. The Canadian company yesterday announced a distribution agreement with Digital China.
OMEGA HIT BY CALL TO REVAMP BOARD
Omega Insurance Holdings, a Lloyd’s of London insurer, revealed that Invesco, its leading shareholder, has demanded a string of board changes as part of a growing spat over the direction and management of the company. Invesco, wants to replace the chairman and deputy-chairman while adding four extra non-executive directors to the four now on the board.
THE TIMES
HEATHROW’S THIRD RUNWAY PASSES THE CARBON TEST
Climate change advisers have decided that an extensive building programme at Heathrow — including the construction of a third runway — can proceed without jeopardising the Government’s carbon emissions targets. The Committee on Climate Change will report today that 138 million extra passenger could use British airports in 2050, an increase of 60 per cent, without breaching government targets to reduce aviation emissions to below 2005 levels.
GOVERNMENT TO FORCE BBC TO REVEAL SALARIES
The BBC will be forced to reveal the names and salaries of 105 senior managers paid more than £150,000 under Government plans to “name and shame” highly paid workers in the public sector.
The Daily Telegraph
NOKIA TO CLOSE FLAGSHIP REGENT STREET STORE
Nokia, the world’s biggest mobile phone maker, has admitted defeat in its battle to reclaim Regent Street from the grasp of rival Apple. The Finnish company said it will close its flagship store, which is almost opposite Apple’s shop on the London street, less than two years after it opened. Nokia, said it would close the shop in the first three months of 2010.
GO-GO HAMSTERS SURVIVE TOXIC SCARE
Fears over traces of chemical on “must-have” Christmas toy hit shares in Character Group, its UK distributer.
The global toy industry was rocked yesterday by claims that the fur on one of this season’s must-have Go Go Hamsters range of electronic rodents contained traces of an arsenic-like chemical beyond permitted levels.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
FEDEX BOOSTS ITS EARNINGS VIEW
FedEx yesterday signaled further strengthening in the global freight market as the package shipper boosted its earnings guidance by more than 10 per cent. The company cited better-than-expected growth in its US small-package business and from international express markets, notably in Asia and Latin America.
MERRILL BULL RETURNS TO BUSINESS CARDS
The bull is back. Former Merrill Lynch investment bankers won a major concession from Bank of America, as it agreed to reverse a decision preventing them from using the old Merrill bull logo on their business cards. Legacy Merrill Lynch staff have been delighted by Bank of America’s u-turn on the bull logo, which was axed in June as part of a global rebranding of the investment banking business.