CENTRAL BANK EXAMINED SITESERV DEAL - The Central Bank scrutinised Irish Bank Resolution Corporation’s sale of Siteserv to businessman Denis O’Brien in the wake of the deal in 2012.
No regulatory or enforcement action followed the review, The Irish Times understands. News of the Central Bank examination of Siteserv’s sale by the former Anglo Irish Bank comes as Government prepares to publish terms of reference today for an inquiry into the transaction by IBRC’s special liquidators. The Central Bank is understood to have carried out the review of the sale arrangements on its own initiative in its capacity as prudential supervisor of IBRC. The conclusions of the review are not known, but no further action was taken and the matter is not ongoing from the Central Bank’s perspective. Separately, the Irish Stock Exchange declined to say whether it ever examined a spike in the trading of Siteserv shares before IBRC received bids for the firm. Tánaiste Joan Burton said more information might be needed about the details of people who bought shares in Siteserv before it was sold in March 2012. Ms Burton said “the transactions went through the stock exchange so we may need some information on exactly where that documentation would be”.
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DISNEY CHIEF WARNING ON STUDIO SPACE - The head of Disney's Irish division has said a lack of film studio space could see this country lose out on investment to the UK. Trish Long, general manager of Walt Disney Studios' distribution business here, told the Irish Independent that there was a "huge" need for additional film studio space in the country. "As the industry picks up, it's going to become more and more difficult, because if someone has a need for studio space and it can't be filled here, right on our doorstep is the UK - which has the most amazing infrastructure of studio space. "Given the level of business and talent already [in Ireland], in anticipation of increased demand we need to have greater studio space and access to studio space." Tax breaks provided by the Irish Government in the hope of tempting foreign productions here could help attract productions filming in the North to also work in the Republic. "There is a greater tax break here now than ever and a lot of people making films can work in the North, in the UK and in Ireland and the tax-break environment would be very supportive of that," she said. Ms Long's comments echo concerns previously raised by the chief executive of Ardmore Studios, the largest film and TV studio in the country.
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IRELAND FINDS SUPPORT FOR CORPORATE TAX POLICIES - Ireland found itself surrounded by supporters, for the first time, on the issue of corporate tax rates, during an informal meeting of EU finance ministers. Finance Minister Michael Noonan was not present, as he returned to Dublin early, but the head of the Central Bank, Patrick Honohan and a number of the Government’s tax experts attended. Usually, nobody mentions tax rates, other than to complain about the low rates in some countries, notably Ireland’s 12.5%, partly because the setting of tax rates is a national competence over which the EU has no say. However, the reality is that some big countries, and especially Germany and France, have been promoting policies at EU level that would eventually effect the tax rates applied by different member states, says the Irish Examiner. With proposals on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) due from the OECD later this year, and with the European Commission due to relaunch the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base in June, the issue is now coming to the surface. The ministers gave the political green light also to tougher new rules that say every country must immediately communicate the tax arrangements they reach with big companies.
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EBAY BACKS GOOGLE OVER BRUSSELS ANTITRUST INQUIRY - Ebay’s chief executive has added weight to Google’s antitrust defence by saying that the pair are direct competitors in online shopping, echoing the US search group’s claim that Brussels misunderstands how people buy products online. John Donahoe said in an interview with the Financial Times that barriers were breaking down between different areas of online commerce. The auction website chief’s comments support arguments already made by Google in its first response to the European Commission’s landmark competition case. Brussels’s complaint, announced this month, focuses on a claim that Google has abused its dominance of web search to squeeze out rival specialist shopping search engines by favouring its own in-house service. Google has responded by saying that European regulators have not recognised how it is dwarfed in online shopping by eBay and Amazon, making questions about how it handles product queries on its own site beside the point. Asked if eBay was a direct competitor of Google Shopping, Mr Donahoe said: “Yes . . . We are a strong commerce competitor [of Google’s].” The eBay chief’s comments highlight the challenges that Brussels faces in bringing its most important case in the fast-moving tech world since taking on Microsoft more than a decade ago.
