APPLE PLANS NEW CORK CITY OFFICE - The Irish Examiner says computer giant Apple has signed a property deal to establish an office in Cork city centre.
The paper says the company, which employs more than 3,000 people in Ireland, has signed a deal to lease offices in Cork's Half Moon Street, a move that reverses recent trends of companies moving out of the city to cheaper suburban parks.
Apple has had a major presence in Cork, since 1981, at Hollyhill, on the city's northside. It is to lease the top two floors of a €75m building in a mixed-use development by Owen O'Callaghan, completed in 2009.
The Examiner says Apple is committing to 25,000 square feet (about 2,300 square metres), which the paper says could accommodate up to 350 employees.
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'ABNORMALLY' LOW TENDERS ANGER GOVERNMENT - The Irish Independent reports that Government agencies are claiming that building firms are submitting 'abnormally low tenders'' to win major state contracts, only to push up the prices at a later stage in an 'abusive'' way.
Last night, the building industry rejected the claims, but the Indo says the issue is unlikely to go away as the Government wants to effectively name and shame firms that 'habitually' engage in such practices.
The EU is now reviewing the procurement rules at a time when the construction industry is under pressure in several EU economies, including Ireland.
In what the paper calls a frank submission, two Government agencies - one connected to the Office of Public Works - have spelled out a problem that appears to have worsened in the downturn. 'Some contracting authorities are experiencing difficulties on the issue of abnormally low tenders, particularly in the construction sector,'' claims the submission.
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QUINN FAMILY SECURES CYPRUS INJUNCTION - The Irish Times reports that the family of businessman Seán Quinn secured an injunction in the Cypriot capital of Nicosia last Sunday which they claim prevents Anglo Irish Bank 'interfering' in their property companies in Cyprus and Russia.
The injunction secured in the District Court of Nicosia would 'preserve the value of the Quinn property portfolio and allow those companies to retain their capacity to repay their debt', they said.
The paper, however, quotes a spokesman for the State-owned bank as saying: 'They are looking to preserve the value of the portfolio for the family; the bank is looking to preserve value for the taxpayer.'
The family confirmed that they had initiated litigation in 'a number of other jurisdictions, in particular Sweden and Cyprus'. They said that it would be inappropriate to comment on the status of their litigation with Anglo but they 'remain confident that they will be ultimately vindicated by the Irish courts'.
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LOAN CLAIMS PROVISIONS COULD WIPE OUT BoA PROFITS - The Financial Times reports that Bank of America has set aside $14 billion to meet investors' claims that loans packaged in mortgage-backed securities before the financial crisis failed to meet promised underwriting standards.
The FT says provisions will wipe out BofA's profits during the second quarter and underline the high price the bank is paying to move beyond the crisis and its disastrous 2009 acquisition of Countrywide Financial.
BofA said it had settled claims with 22 investors in Countrywide mortgage bonds, agreeing to $8.5 billion to holders of some 530 securities. The bank said it would record another $5.5 billion in charges to cover additional claims from government-owned mortgage companies as well as other private investors.
In addition, BofA said it could eventually face as much as $5 billion in additional claims over its underwriting standards from other banks.
