QATARI GROUP BUYS McKILLEN STAKE IN LUXURY HOTELS - Developer Paddy McKillen’s stake in three luxury London Hotels - Claridges, the Berkeley and the Connaught - has been bought by the Constellation Hotels Group.
Qatar-based Constellation Hotels acquired Mr McKillen’s 36% shareholding in the Maybourne Group, which is the owner and operator of the three hotels. According to an agreement between them, Mr McKillen will continue to lead, direct and develop these assets. Constellation Hotels, which is owned by Qatar Holding, the sovereign wealth fund backed by the Qatari royal family, purchased the other 64% stake in Maybourne last week for an undisclosed sum, believed to be more than £2 billion, writes the Irish Times. That shareholding was bought from British property tycoons Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay who had a 28.36% interest, and Irish financier Derek Quinlan, who had a 35.41% stake, ending a five-year legal row between Mr McKillen and the Barclays. Mr McKillen was one of a group of investors who backed Mr Quinlan’s purchase of the three hotels, and the Savoy, which was sold shortly afterwards in 2004 for €950 million. The agreement between the parties gave him first refusal over Mr Quinlan’s stake if it came on the market.
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AIB UNION NOT YET TOLD JOB LOSS TARGET AT BAD LOANS WING - Allied Irish Banks (AIB) has not yet told union chiefs how many redundancies it is targeting at its bad loans division. The State-owned lender is offering a voluntary redundancy scheme at its Financial Solutions Group (FSG), which was established to restructure the bad debts of customers. Bank management briefed representatives of the Irish Bank Officials Association (IBOA) late last week on the plans for the division, which has about 1,600 staff assigned to it. An IBOA spokesman said management claimed the FSG division "does have a future", says the Irish Independent. "We can interpret that to mean that FSG isn't going to be closed down any time soon, but they are maybe trying to taper it down," the spokesman said. "We don't have any clear indication as to what the timespan might be, what the eventual number in the back of their heads they might have. "They may not be too clear at this point. It is almost the case that they are anticipating that this is likely to happen in some stage in the future, and to put it out there at the moment to see what level of interest is there."
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ARDAGH GROUP SEES FIRST QUARTER REVENUE UP 25% - Ardagh Group has reported a near 25% year-on-year increase in its first quarter revenues to just over €1.2 billion. The Luxembourg-based glass and packaging group, which traces its origins to Irish Glass, also posted an underlying pre-tax profit of €6m for the period, up from a loss of €14m for the same period last year. After income tax charges, the company posted a loss of €10m for the quarter, down on the €18m first quarter loss posted last year. The group saw revenues rise by 17%, last year, to €4.7 billion, with earnings growing by 27% to €792m, says the Irish Examiner. On a divisional basis, Ardagh’s glass division recorded quarterly revenues of €735m - up 10% on a pro-forma/year-on-year basis, but down 1% in constant currency terms. The metal container arm, which is tipped for a €2-€3 billion IPO this year, grew revenues by 9% proforma, and 7% constant currency, to €472m. Revenue in this division primarily reflected an initial contribution from the group’s new North American plants. Earnings-wise, Ardagh’s glass arm saw an 18% year-on-year increase to €140m, while the metal division saw a 31% rise to €64m.
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GOOGLE OPEN TO CHANGING NEWS SERVICE IN ALLIANCE TO HELP PRESSED PUBLISHERS - Google is considering significant changes to its controversial Google News service to aid publishers that have been struggling to make money in the online world, according to one of the company’s senior executives in Europe. The comments, made in an interview with the Financial Times by Carlo D’Asaro Biondo, head of strategic partnerships in Europe, came as Google and eight European newspaper groups announced an alliance aimed at bolstering the digital skills and business model of publishers. Known as the Digital News Initiative, it will include joint work on product development, assistance with digital training for newsrooms and €150m in grants to back digital projects over the next three years. The Financial Times is among the companies to join the initiative, along with the Guardian, Les Echos in France, El País in Spain and Die Zeit in Germany. Asked if Google was prepared to change its own platforms to help the online news industry, rather than simply pushing publishers to become more digital, Mr D’Asaro Biondo said: “It’s both . . . I want to do better for the press, and I know we can do better for the press.” Google News has faced criticism from newspaper companies for years over accusations that it robs news sites of traffic and disadvantages those that build and run subscription services online. Last year, the company shut down its news site in Spain after a law came into effect requiring it to pay fees for carrying even small snippets of copyright content.
