CREDIT SUISSE'S UK ARM CONSIDERS SWITCH TO IRELAND - The British arm of Credit Suisse has advised big hedge fund and asset management clients that it may switch some its European operations to Dublin from the City of London.
The bank is understood to have entered extensive talks with clients of its “Prime Services” business division about the steps required to relocate certain activities from the City. The talks are at a sensitive point and no definitive decision has been taken to move to Dublin, says the Irish Times. Credit Suisse has publicly acknowledged its interest in Dublin but say its main operation would stay in London. Not all parts of the “Prime Services” unit would move, it is understood. “While the largest and most important centre for our European business will remain in London, Credit Suisse views Dublin as an attractive location for some business functions and support services and is currently assessing the possibilities available,” a Credit Suisse spokesman said. “We think there could be significant benefits to clients in creating new state-of-the-art platforms in Dublin.” Credit Suisse, which has been seeking to establish how clients would respond to such a development, sees potential to take advantage of lower costs in Dublin as increased regulation puts pressure on business costs in the City.
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THREE IRISH LAW FIRMS CATAPULTED TO THE TOP RANKS OF EUROPEAN MERGER ADVISORS - A slew of takeover deals helped catapult three Dublin law firms to the top of the European legal adviser rankings last year, jostling with Wall Street and the City of London's so-called Magic Circle of top firms. A&L Goodbody was ranked 18th in Europe according to new research from Thomson Reuters based on the $64.77 billion (€54 billion) value of mergers and acquisitions the Irish firm advised on last year. That was up from 32nd place in 2012. Rival Matheson, formerly Matheson Ormsby Prentice, ranked 20 among European law firms last year, up from 122, and Arthur Cox moved from 119 to 22, based on the value of deals the firm advised on. A&L Goodbody's David Widger said 2014 had been an exceptional year in terms of the value of Irish deals, but warned that the figures reflect so-called "inversions" involving US corporations merging with smaller, Irish-registered, but global, companies. "Corporate inversion deals skewed the dollar value of mergers and acquisitions in Ireland," Mr Widger said. The so-called inversions were driven by corporations looking to shrink global tax bills that are levied at 35% of profits if they are US-based, higher than their rivals pay, he said. For firms here it created a demand for advice on Irish company law, tax and takeover regulation.
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WILD ATLANTIC WAY 'GENIUS' IDEA, SAYS KERRY HOTELIER - One half of TV’s trouble-shooting hotelier team yesterday described the Wild Atlantic Way as “genius” and its impact on the tourist trade as “phenomenal”. John Brennan made the comments yesterday when confirming that business at his five-star Park Hotel in Kenmare, Co Kerry, was up 6% last year on 2013, writes the Irish Examiner. Mr Brennan runs the Park Hotel with his brother Francis and said yesterday: “We’re in good shape. We are very happy where we are are. Revenues have returned to where they were outside the boom years.” He said the impact on tourism from the Wild Atlantic Way “has been phenomenal”, that it had increased business at the Park Hotel, but also that “it is hard to quantify”. The tourism initiative involving a 2,500km drive along Ireland’s western Atlantic seaboard was launched last year. “It is the most significant development in Irish tourism since Aer Lingus commenced flights across the Atlantic,” Mr Brennan said. He added that “the product was already there. What has been done is the spend of €4m on signs. Ryder Cups come and go, but the Wild Atlantic Way will be there forever and business will only increase from it.”
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SAUSAGE ROW REVEALS GERMAN DISQUIET OVER TRADE TALKS - A small grilled sausage from Bavaria has become the unlikely symbol of German resistance to the transatlantic trade deal being negotiated between the EU and the US, after the country’s agriculture minister warned that “not every sausage can be protected” in the trade talks. Christian Schmidt, Germany’s agriculture minister, said in an interview with Der Spiegel: “If we want to seize the opportunities of free trade with the enormous American market then we can’t carry on protecting every sausage and cheese speciality.” Food producers, politicians and campaigners against the trade deal seized on his remarks as evidence that the protection of regional brands would be sacrificed to globalisation, reports the Financial Times. While GM food and investor protection rules remain the most contentious aspects of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the agriculture minister’s remarks provoked an outcry in support of the Nürnberger Rostbratwurst, a finger-sized pork sausage from Nuremberg which is protected as a regional speciality by the EU. Progress in the trade talks between the US and the EU to create what would be the world’s biggest free trade bloc has been slow, and there is growing public scepticism towards the deal, particularly in Germany. Anne Vollmer, spokeswoman for the BVE, a lobby group for the German food and drink industry, said: “Regional specialities must remain regional specialities. We don’t want Nürnberger Rostbratwurst from Kentucky, and Tennessee whiskey from Baden Baden. The seal stands for a designated quality and a designated expertise.”
