SANCTIONS-LISTED RUSSIAN OIL GIANT ROSNEFT LINKED TO $10 BILLION IFSC LOAN DEAL - Russian state oil giant Rosneft, targeted by western sanctions over the Kremlin’s interference in Ukraine, is the beneficiary of a $10 billion (€8.06 billion) bond issuance programme with an IFSC-based affiliate in Dublin, says the Irish Times.
The Moscow-based group has declined to say whether the bond scheme will be disrupted by EU and US penalties against Rosneft and senior management figures in the business over the conflict in Ukraine. “Rosneft will not comment on the issue,” said Ignat Pavlov, a spokesman for Rosneft. The affiliate’s immediate parent, which is a Dublin unit of Deutsche Bank, also declined to discuss the outlook for the bond programme. “We are following developments and are applying any sanctions if appropriate and as directed by the relevant authorities,” said a London-based spokesman for Deutsche. Rosneft International Finance Ltd was established in Dublin in October 2012 as a special purpose vehicle to finance loans for Rosneft Oil Company, the world’s fastest growing oil business and a top contributor to Russia’s budget. Rosneft, which produces more oil than Iraq or Iran, is the only borrower on the books of Rosneft International Finance. Bank of Ireland is a banker to the Dublin company, Arthur Cox solicitors acts for it and Ernst & Young’s Dublin office is its auditor.
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FIANNA FÁIL ECONOMIC POLICY 'AT HEART OF BANKING CRISIS' - Fianna Fáil's stimulation of the economy by way of tax breaks, weak governance in the banks and poor regulatory supervision within the Central Bank lay at the heart of Ireland's banking crisis. That is according to the advisory team to the Oireachtas Banking Inquiry, who made the comments in "strictly private and confidential" documents seen by the Irish Independent. The 24-page advisory document examined the previously conducted reports into the banking crash. The much-anticipated €5m inquiry team is meeting in private this morning to begin finalising its agenda before it is due to commence its public hearings next week. The inquiry's advisory team - Karl Whelan, Dr Pat McCloughan and Jim Devlin - last week presented three separate documents to the members. Firstly, the 11-man inquiry received a detailed chronology of the banking crash, charting events from 1992 until the end of 2013. They also received an 11-page guide as to how banking systems work. Finally, they received a detailed analysis of four separate reports already completed into the banking crisis. These were the 2009 Regling and Watson report which looked at the role of markets, policies and institutions and the 2010 Honohan report which looked at crisis prevention and crisis containment. They also looked at the 2011 Nyberg Report, which examined the herd instinct within the bailed-out banks, and finally the Wright Commission report into the failures of the Department of Finance.
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PROFITS INCREASE AS GAP OPENS FOURTH IRISH STORE - Pre-tax profits at the Irish arm of US retail clothing giant Gap last year increased by 77% to €1.67m, the latest data reveals. Boosted by the opening of the firm’s fourth store in Ireland last year, Gap Stores (Ireland) Ltd increased its revenues by 21% from €9.86m to €11.96m in the 12 months to the end of February 1 of this year, says the Irish Examiner. In a post-balance event, the directors disclosed that the retail firm paid a dividend of €5m to its immediate parent, Gap (UK Holdings) Ltd in September of this year. The firm’s pre-tax profits increased from €948,522 to €1.67m last year. Numbers employed last year increased from 83 to 91, with staff costs increasing from €1.19m to €1.42m.
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DISNEY, SKYPE AND RECKITT DRAGGED INTO LUXEMBOURG TAX ROW - Disney and Koch Industries have become the latest companies to be dragged into the growing row over secret tax deals in Luxembourg after a fresh trove of leaked documents were released on Tuesday. The new leak sheds light on the complicated tax deals struck by 35 companies and the tax authorities in the Grand Duchy, writes the Financial Times. Other companies named include Skype, the internet phone division of Microsoft, and FTSE 100 consumer group Reckitt Benckiser. It comes just weeks after a leak of 28,000 documents from PwC revealed how 340 of the world’s largest companies, including Pepsi and Ikea, had orchestrated their tax affairs within Luxembourg. The new documents will renew pressure on newly installed European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker, who was prime minister of Luxembourg when the bulk of these deals were reached. Mr Juncker saw off calls to resign from European lawmakers last month, defeating a motion calling on him to step down just weeks into his role. He has said that he was not the “architect” of Luxembourg’s tax model, which allowed some companies to pay as little as 1% in tax. But Mr Juncker did praise Luxembourg’s tax code as prime minister, saying that Skype was based in the Grand Duchy because of its “favourable fiscal environment”.
