Business news from economist newspaper

Business this week

Oct 11th 2007
From The Economist print edition

A consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland won a lengthy takeover battle for ABN AMRO after Barclays dropped its bid for the Dutch bank, citing a lack of shareholder support. In the biggest-ever deal in the financial-services industry, the RBS-led group will pay euro72 billion ($101 billion) for ABN, which will be split among the consortium's members: RBS takes ABN's wholesale business and Asian operations, Spain's Santander gets its Italian and Brazilian units, and Fortis, a Belgian-Dutch group, its Dutch retail-banking business.

The British Treasury extended its guarantee of customer deposits at Northern Rock to include new accounts. The bank was bailed out by the Bank of England last month after reporting difficulties raising cash during the credit-market crisis. Several private-equity firms are weighing a takeover. Meanwhile, officials from Britain's Financial Services Authority admitted to a parliamentary committee that they had made mistakes leading up to Northern Rock's problems, which resulted in the first run on a British bank in generations.

Google's share price passed $600 on NASDAQ for the first time. The company made its stockmarket debut, at $85 a share, in August 2004.

Flight delay

Boeing said that it would, after all, have to postpone the first deliveries of its new 787 Dreamliner. The company had given reassurances that despite production mishaps and a short test-flight programme the first delivery would take place on schedule next May. That date has now been pushed back to late November or December 2008.

Chrysler and the United Auto Workers union reached a tentative contract agreement similar in scope to that signed between the UAW and General Motors two weeks ago. A strike at Chrysler that began just hours before the negotiations concluded was halted.

Gary Forsee stepped down as chief executive of Sprint Nextel when America's third-biggest mobile-phone operator lowered its profit forecast for the year. Mr Forsee oversaw the $38 billion merger of Sprint and Nextel Communications, but the company is losing customers. Its planned $5 billion project for new WiMax broadband services is thought to be in doubt.

SAP, the world's leading producer of business software, made its biggest acquisition when it agreed to buy Business Objects for euro4.8 billion ($6.7 billion).

Beer buddies

SAB Miller and Molson Coors said they were merging their brewing operations in the United States in a joint venture, enabling them to compete better with Anheuser-Busch, America's biggest beermaker.

Cadbury Schweppes confirmed that it would spin off its North American beverages arm in a de-merger rather than seek a buyer. Before the recent turmoil in the money markets private-equity groups had expressed an interest in the business, which includes Dr Pepper and 7UP among its brands.

SLM, a student-loan company better known as Sallie Mae, filed a lawsuit seeking a $900m break-up fee from a group of private-equity investors that wants to renegotiate a buy-out. Led by JC Flowers, the group made a $25 billion offer for Sallie Mae in April, but says recent government legislation that reduces subsidies to student lenders has had a materially adverse effect on the deal.

A consortium led by JPMorgan and which includes an Australian infrastructure fund won the auction of Britain's Southern Water in a deal worth £4.2 billion ($8.4 billion). The seller is Royal Bank of Scotland.

The European Union and China reached an accord on the flow of Chinese textile exports that sets up a new monitoring system. Quotas that were stiffened after Chinese clothing imports surged into Europe in 2005 are set to expire at the end of this year. The agreement between the two powers is an attempt to stave off a repeat of the “bra wars” of two years ago.

The latest employment data for America showed an extra 110,000 payroll jobs in September. The Bureau of Labour Statistics also revised the figure for August from a loss of 4,000 jobs to a gain of 89,000.

Costly cargo

The Baltic Exchange Dry Index, a measure of shipping costs for commodities such as grains, coal and iron ore, passed the 10,000 mark for the first time. One factor adding to the cost of freight is the drought in Australia. Asian countries that rely on Australian cereals have had to seek their wheat elsewhere, meaning some vessels have been tied up by travelling farther than expected to load cargo.