BILLIONAIRE'S DAUGHTER TO START AT THE BOTTOM- The Guardian reports that the daughter of the eighth richest man in the world, Marta Ortega who founded the Zara fashion chain, is to start work at his £12bn Spanish retail empire.
Amancio Ortega, aged 71, is reported to be grooming Marta, his youngest daughter, to lead the international chain he founded in 1974.
Her first stop is to be an anonymous employee in one of 445 Bershka stores, which target teens and young adults, before moving on to the six other brands in the group, a company spokesman confirmed to the paper yesterday.
Ms Ortega will perform the duties of a clerk: sorting garments, monitoring stocks and overseeing merchandise lorries unloading at 7.30am.
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LIMERICK INVESTOR TAKES BIG STAKE IN DRUG FIRM - The Irish Times reports that Limerick-based Ryan Group Holdings, which is headed by pharmacist Gerard Ryan, has taken a significant stake in Vienna-based Austrianova Biomanufacturing.
The paper says this is the first step in a series of fundraisings for Austrianova that is expected to net the biotech company over €35m in the coming months.
The size of Mr Ryan's investment was not revealed, but was described as 'multimillion euros'.
The money will be used to complete phase three trials of a drug that is being developed for use in the treatment of cancer, diabetes and brain tumours.
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M&S STAFF TO SHARE £90m IN PROFITS - The Irish Independent reports that Marks & Spencer staff are reported to be in line to scoop bonuses of up to £1,250 each as the group looks to share the success of an expected 28% leap in profits.
The paper says the resurgent retailer is understood to be announcing that staff will share a record £90m bonus pot when it unveils its full-year figures tomorrow.
Around 72,000 employees at the group are believed to be netting payouts thanks to what analysts are predicting was a profitable year for M&S, the paper says.
The group is forecast to report a pre-tax profits haul for the year to April 1 of around £960m.
This is up by more than a quarter on the previous year's £751.4m and nearly back to the levels seen before M&S hit its trading blackspot in the late 1990s.
The expected £90m windfall pot would be a substantial rise on the £73m handed out last year to staff, and is thought to be one of the largest bonus payouts from the food to fashion group.
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BEIJING TO BUY BLACKSTONE STAKE FOR $3 BILLION - The Financial Times reports that the Chinese Government is to use $3bn of its foreign exchange reserves to buy a 9.9% stake in Blackstone, the US buy-out fund, in an unprecedented move that underlines Beijing's desire to tap into the private equity boom.
The investment will coincide with Blackstone's landmark $40bn stock market listing, expected in the next few months, and will allow the private equity group to nearly double its original target of raising $4bn.
Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone's chief executive, is quoted as describing the deal - the first time Beijing has invested its foreign reserve in a commercial transaction - as an 'historic event that changes the paradigm in global capital flows'.
Under the terms of the deal, which is believed to have been agreed in just a few weeks, the Chinese government has taken the unusual step of giving up its voting rights associated with the stake in Blackstone.
The move appears aimed at defusing any US political opposition to the deal at a time of tension between Washington and Beijing over the renminbi.
The US Treasury pointed out that it had decided last week to allow the Chinese to invest more in foreign stocks and was working to create 'opportunities for US financial services firms like this'.
