A round up of the main financial stories of interest from the weekend papers.

Cantor Fitzgerald Ireland Ltd (Cantor) is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Cantor Fitzgerald Ireland Ltd is a member firm of the Irish Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange

Monday, 28st September 2015

Saturday 26th Sept 2015

Irish TimesTwo Dublin office blocks back on market for €120mAn American investment firm will be hoping for a 50 per cent increase in value when it puts two office buildings in Dublin’s south docklands back on the market next week, two years after it bought them. Blackstone, paid in the region of €80 million for the Bloodstone Building and an adjoining block on Britain Quay. It is now hoping to sell them for close to €120 million as a result of the sharp recovery in office values and the shortage of modern space in the city. The two office blocks were completed shortly before the property crash by developer Sean Dunne and offered for sale by Nama, even though they were largely vacant. The original sale also included Hume House on Pembroke Road, in Ballsbridge, which had been acquired by Mr Dunne in 2005 with the intention of redeveloping it. Bloodstone paid in the region of €100 million for the three buildings and is expected to offload Hume House at some time in the future. Bloodstone Building is an eight-storey block overlooking the Liffey in the heart of the docklands. With 7,720sq m (83,100sq ft) of space, it is producing rents of €2,145,321, accounting for 47 per cent of the portfolio rent. The block is 84 per cent occupied. As many of the original lettings were at bargain rents of €23-€30 per sq ft, there is potential for rental and capital growth. A recent letting was completed at €49.50 per sq ft. The tenants include SEB Life, TripAdvisor, Log Meln and AWAS Aviation. The second office block, Central Quay, has a floor area of 5,490sq m (59,091sq ft) and with an 84 per cent occupancy rate has a rent roll of €2,411,666.

Nama considers two international bids for Dundrum CentreThe National Asset Management Agency was last night weighing bids from two groups of international investors for Project Jewel, a portfolio of loans that includes the Dundrum Town Centre, the Pavilions in Swords and the Ilac Shopping Centre in central Dublin.It is understood that a bid from US real estate group Hines and the Kuwait Investment Authority was vying with an offer from Allianz Real Estate and Hammerson, a UK listed Reit, for the loans that are associated with Irish developer Joe O’Reilly and his company, Chartered Land. Both parties were waiting to hear from Nama as to who has been chosen as the preferred bidder, with a decision considered to be imminent. Project Jewel is expected to trade for in excess of €1.6 billion. The new owner is thought likely to work with Mr O’Reilly and Chartered Land on a consensual basis to manage and develop the underlying assets. There had been five bidders at the earlier stage of the process but Davidson Kempner dropped out while Allianz and Hammerson teamed up with a joint offer at the final offer stage. The portfolio sale also includes 50 per cent stakes in both the Ilac and Pavilions shopping centres in Dublin, as well as a substantial site between O’Connell Street and Moore Street that Mr O’Reilly assembled at a cost of €400 million in the years before the property crash in late 2008. In such a scenario, it is likely that Irish Life, which has a 50 per cent interest in the Ilac and a 25 per cent stake in the Pavilions, and Iput, which has a quarter share of the Swords centre, would be interested in acquiring their interests. Nama originally held €538 million of the €775 million in senior debt secured by Dundrum. The agency subsequently bought out Ulster Bank’s €129 million and KBC Bank’s €108 million loan at par. Eastdil Secured is selling Project Jewel on behalf of Nama in a process that began in June. Chartered Land’s loans were transferred to Nama in 2009 and 2010

Sunday 27th Sept 2015

Weekend Financial TimesDollar and Treasury yields rise on Yellen commentsThe dollar, Treasury yields and most main equity gauges rose after Federal Reserve boss Janet Yellen indicated that an interest rate rise this year was still on the cards. However, the S&P 500 turned negative, with sliding healthcare stocks eroding earlier gains and contrasting with the more chipper market mood in Europe. The index closed down 0.1 per cent at 1,934.34. There was a reduced demand for supposed havens such as gold, down $8.10 to $1,145.80 an ounce, and the Japanese yen — the latter also hit by the prospect of more Bank of Japan easing after the world’s third-biggest economy returned to deflationary territory.

Fed’s decision to hold rates adds to the uncertaintyWill we look back on this week as the one when everything turned? Markets alarmed not so much by an unexpected “black swan” event, but by a series of familiar swans choking on an excess of diesel particulates. In a speech on Thursday, Janet Yellen, chair of the US Federal Reserve, built the case for a recovery in the US economy. The long-awaited first rise in interest rates, postponed only a week earlier, was still likely this year, she said. Yet since she surprised investors by deferring a shift in monetary policy while the Fed watched volatile markets and “developments abroad”, it seems as if each piece of news confirmed a shift. Told to worry about the news, markets duly did. Demetrios Efstathiou, head of trading strategies for ICBC Standard, does not believe China is the world’s growth engine, but for now it does not matter as good European economic data prompt a mere brief and mild rally before selling resumes. “In this environment, when investors are dumping equities of high-yielding blue-chip names for zero-yielding cash, it is only fear that matters. And until sentiment changes, there is barely any hope for emerging markets,” he adds.

Yellen propels dollar higher and calms forex nervesSome of the market nerves that stalked currency trading since the start of the week had dissipated by the end thanks to the assertion from Janet Yellen, Federal Reserve chair, that an interest rate rise later this year was still probable. Dollar trading had been looking rather aimless since last week’s Fed decision to stay pat on rates and turned negative ahead of Ms Yellen’s speech on Thursday night, while emerging market currencies felt the force of market gloom about China’s slowdown and the global economy. But her speech, though largely reiterating last week’s cautious tone, did refer to how the Fed believed the global slowdown would not have “a significant effect on the path for policy”, and that headwinds to US economic growth would “continue to fade”. That put the wind behind the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, taking it to a five-week high, with a rise of more than 1 per cent since the start of the week.

Emerging market ETFs bleed $19bn so far this yearFears about deteriorating economic conditions in China, Brazil and Russia have led to a massive retreat from emerging market exchange traded funds. So far this year investors have pulled $19bn from emerging market ETFs but experts suggest these vehicles are vulnerable to much more selling pressure.

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Aberdeen Asset Management braces for more investor outflowsAberdeen Asset Management, one of Europe’s largest investment houses, has long been seen as a proxy for problems in emerging markets. And right now those problems are taking a heavy toll on the UK 100-listed fund company. It has suffered net redemptions on a quarterly basis since May 2013 and its share price has fallen by nearly a third this year. Investors and analysts warn that Aberdeen, which employs 2,485 people, could soon be forced to cut up to 100 jobs if outflows and faltering investment performance continue to weigh on the UK asset manager.

Switzerland bans sale of VW cars with outdated emissions systemsSwitzerland has banned sales of Volkswagen cars with outdated emissions systems following the global emissions scandal that started in the US. The Swiss federal office of roadways said the ban applied to all cars with diesel engines in the Euro 5 emissions category made by VW group companies. The ban, which could affect 180,000 diesel vehicles, comes after Europe’s largest carmaker appointed a new chief executive and promised to introduce a tougher corporate governance regime as part of a wide-ranging overhaul intended to show it is dealing decisively with the scandal.

Catalan voters go to the polls in a critical test of separatist sentimentCatalan voters are heading to the polls on Sunday in an election that is widely seen as a critical test of the region’s desire to break away from Spain and form an independent state. Pro-independence leaders have vowed to take Catalonia out of Spain if voters hand them a sufficiently clear majority. Madrid insists, however, that independence is out of the question, and has in turn urged the region’s 5.5m voters to show their support for the union with Spain by backing the anti-independence camp.

VW’s approach to emissions baffled rivalsVolkswagen used such unusual emissions-cleaning technology for some of its diesel vehicles that rivals puzzled for years how it could meet tough US standards, competitors have told the Financial Times. While most major carmakers injected urea into exhaust gases to break down nitrogen oxides, VW did not for three of its top-selling models. Rivals said they believed urea was vital to meeting the US’s stringent emissions standards, and could not understand how VW avoided it. “We wondered. . . how they did it,” said one engineer, who declined to be identified because of the issue’s sensitivity. “Now we find out they didn’t have a magic trick.” VW’s Jetta, Golf and Beetle diesel vehicles all relied for exhaust cleaning on catalytic converters known as Lean Nox Traps (LNT), which trapped nitrogen oxides (Nox) without the use of an extra chemical.

White House declares truce with China over AIIBUS officials have declared what amounts to a truce in their campaign over China’s new Asian infrastructure bank, claiming that they have secured commitments from Beijing to address Washington’s concerns as well as “meaningfully increase” its financial contributions to the World Bank and other potential regional rivals to the new institution. Together with the New Development Bank being founded with other Brics economies, the AIIB represents perhaps the most significant challenge ever mounted to the Bretton Woods international financial architecture established in 1944.

US growth revised higher to 3.9%US gross domestic product expanded at a faster pace in the second quarter of the year than previously forecast, according to the third and final government estimate of the how the economy performed. The economy grew at a 3.9 per cent annualised pace, up from a

second estimate of 3.7 per cent. Economists had not expected an upward revision. The final reading is also up from a paltry 0.6 per cent annualised expansion in the first quarter.

Federal Reserve plans more QE, not rate rise, says Jerome BoothThe Federal Reserve will pursue another round of quantitative easing before it increases interest rates, according to economist Jerome Booth, who said a premature rate raise would trigger a recession in the US. The former head of research at Ashmore, the emerging market fund house Mr Booth co-founded in 1999, said the Fed was right to keep interest rates unchanged at its last meeting and predicted it would begin a fourth round of bond-buying before rates were increased. “What we have had is a jobless recovery in the US and so the Fed could not afford to cause another depression by raising interest rates. QE4 will be their next move, which is now much more likely than a rate hike.”

Sunday Business Post Apple’s latest offering hits shopsThe latest phones from Apple, the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, went on sale last Friday. “The stage is set for Apple to show year-over-year growth over the Herculean iPhone 6 sales.” FBR Capital Markets senior analyst Daniel Ives

Thousands of jobs in the firing line at CaterpillarUS manufacturing giant Caterpillar has announced a massive cost-cutting programme, which could see more than 10,000 jobs lost by the end of 2017. “We are facing a convergence of challenging marketplace conditions in key regions and industry sectors – namely in mining and energy. While we’ve already made substantial adjustments as these market conditions have emerged, we are taking even more decisive actions now.” Caterpillar chief executive Doug Oberhelman

Nike reports strong quarterly figuresSports giant Nike has reported a 5 per cent increase in quarterly revenue to $8.4 billion and a 23 per cent increase in net income to $1.2 billion. “Fiscal 2016 is off to a great start. Our relentless pace of growth is driven by our proven strategy of putting the consumer first, obsessing innovation in everything we do and leveraging our powerful portfolio. We’re well-positioned to continue to deliver long-term growth that is both sustainable and profitable.”Mark Parker, Nike president and chief executive

Coca-Cola unveils changes to its production systemCoca-Cola has announced plans to sell nine production facilities in a bid to reduce its manufacturing costs in the US. “We will leverage the strengths and capabilities of the four largest producing bottlers in our US system, CCR, Consolidated, United and Swire to operate as one highly aligned and highly competitive national product supply system.” Muhtar Kent, chairman and chief executive of The Coca-Cola Company

Aryzta selling Origin Enterprises stakeIrish-Swiss food group Aryzta has announced that it will sell off its stake in agri-services company Origin Enterprises. Aryzta said it will sell more than 36 million ordinary shares in Origin – about 29 per cent of its ordinary share capital. Origin reported operating profits of €93 million for the year to the end of July last week, with revenues of €1.46 billion. Meanwhile, Aryzta will publish results tomorrow. “This is a crucial earnings release for the company, which needs to deliver evidence of a rebound in North American volumes to help restore investor confidence in the stock,” Cantor Fitzgerald said in a research note. The broker said that investor confidence in Aryzta had been “significantly dented” in the past year.

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Boost for Ryanair shareholdersRyanair has said it will distribute the €398 million it received from the sale of its 29.8 per cent stake in Aer Lingus to shareholders. The money will be distributed via a ‘B’ share programme which the airline said will be concluded before December, subject to approval at an extraordinary general meeting. Ryanair said this will bring total funds returned by the airline to shareholders this year to €800 million, and to more than €3.3 billion since 2008. The airline expects to grow traffic by more than 13 million to 104 million customers this year while it foresees profits of €1.2 billion, it announced at its annual general meeting last week.

Management change at CRHCRH has said that Mark Towe, currently president and chief executive of its Oldcastle division in the US, will assume the new role of chairman of CRH Americas. The appointment of Towe, who will remain on the board of the building materials company, is effective from January 1, 2016. Towe will work with chief executive Albert Manifold “to support performance and excellence programmes across the group”, the company said in a statement.

Hibernia to hold egm next monthHibernia Reit will hold an extraordinary general meeting next month to consider the proposed “internalisation” of its investment manager. Earlier this year, the property investment company announced plans to acquire its investment manager. The proposed transaction will be considered at the meeting at the Marker Hotel in Dublin’s Grand Canal Square on October 27.

Currency weighs on Diageo profitsDrinks giant Diageo, the maker of Guinness, has said that adverse currency shifts will reduce full-year operating profit by £150 million (€208 million), more than it had expected previously. In a trading update issued last week, the company’s chief executive Ivan Menezes predicted “modest organic” profit margin improvement as volume improves. “Volume has grown mid-single digit reflecting both improved volume growth trends and comparison against weakness at the start of last year, especially in US spirits,” he said. “Our outlook for this financial year included the possibility that further currency weakness could impact demand for premium spirits in the emerging markets.”

Taking apart Volkswagen's defeat device’The revelation that ended Martin Winterkorn’s career at Volkswagen AG came on September 3 in a meeting at an office park east of Los Angeles. After months of obfuscation, company engineers finally divulged a secret to engineers at the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Resources Board: Volkswagen had installed a “defeat device” to cheat on vehicle emissions tests – and then lied about it to the board and the US Environmental Protection Agency for more than a year. On September 23, Europe’s largest carmaker announced that Winterkorn, its 68-year-old chief executive, had resigned. While the company exonerated him of involvement in the manipulations, it said it will conduct an internal investigation and has asked local German prosecutors to assist and open a criminal probe

IT tycoon Bottriell buys landmark Dublin home Sorrento House in Dalkey makes nearly €10mThe new owner of Sorrento House in Dalkey – Dublin’s most expensive house – is British IT recruitment millionaire Bill Bottriell, The Sunday Business Post can reveal. Bottriell, a Tottenham Hotspur fan who owns about 1 per cent of the club, agreed to buy the six-bed Victorian house on Dublin’s waterfront for €10 million in August, and the deal closed this month, he said. It was the biggest residential deal of the year after Tony O’Reilly’s Castlemartin estate, which was sold to telecoms billionaire John Malone for €28 million in January. In May, the High Court heard the house described as

Ireland’s unluckiest, having been at the centre of eight legal disputes in a decade.

Lone Star to take another shot at Nama’s €8.4bn Project ArrowLone Star, the multibillion-dollar US investment fund, is looking to re-enter the bidding for Nama’s €8.4 billion Project Arrow loan book. The loan sale – which is the largest ever undertaken by Nama and relates to the loans of thousands of borrowers across the state – is reportedly in danger of collapsing, amid diminishing levels of interest from one of the two borrowers still left in the bidding process. Sources close to the bid said that Lone Star had conducted due diligence on the portfolio and was willing to re-enter the process at a late stage. It remains to be seen whether Nama can or will permit the fund to come back into the running for Project Arrow. It is understood that both Apollo Asset Management, the fund which is reportedly considering dropping out of the race, and Cerberus, the second fund involved in the final run-off for Project Arrow, are continuing with due diligence on the loan book and are conducting significant activities in the “data room” set up by Nama for prospective buyers. Bids on the loan book, which is expected to fetch in the region of €900 million, are due by the end of next week.

New Generation to deliver first major social housing since 2006New Generation, the developer backed by €370 billion asset fund M&G, is to build the only substantial development of social housing since the property crash. The firm, run by Kerry businessman Pat Crean and Arklow developer Greg Kavanagh, plans to deliver 169 Dublin homes in total - 27 houses and 142 apartments - as well as leisure and community centres, which it hopes to complete in the first quarter of 2017, if approved by planners. Its partner in the development is Oaklee Housing Trust, a voluntary housing association. This will be the largest planned delivery of social homes this year in Ireland and the largest since 2006. “Demand is at unprecedented levels and we are in a unique position to be able to construct at scale,” Crean said last Friday. “We are delighted to partner with Oaklee to provide high-quality housing.” The social housing development will be at a 41-acre site owned by New Generation on the Jamestown Road in Finglas in north Dublin, where it also plans to build a primary care centre and nursing home.

Owners of Noonan Services mull review as sales double since 2008The private equity owners of Noonan Services Group, one of Ireland’s largest employers with 6,800 staff, are understood to be considering conducting a company review. Alchemy Partners, a British private equity firm, originally acquired the business for €90 million in August 2008. The fund has now owned Noonan for seven years, and is believed to have previously considered selling the company a few years ago before deciding to invest further in the business through acquisitions and organic growth. The venture capital fund has doubled the sales of Noonan to over €200 million since acquiring it and increased its headcount by over 1,300 people.

Brosnan, Magnier and McManus cash out of US firmA US healthcare business backed by Irish businessmen Denis Brosnan, John Magnier and JP McManus is set to be sold for over $1 billion, netting them a massive return on their investment. Lydian Capital, the Swiss private equity firm backed by the former Kerry boss, the racing tycoon and the Limerick businessman and other very wealthy Irish shareholders, is selling its stake in Trilogy Health Services, a major nursing home and senior living centre operator in the US midwest. Investors look set to triple their money when the $1.12 billion sale of Trilogy to the US healthcare Reit Griffin-American Healthcare goes through. Lydian paid $350 million for Trilogy, according to reports in 2007. “Trilogy is one of the last Lydian companies, a sister company of Barchester,” Brosnan said in an interview with this paper earlier this year. Barchester Healthcare

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is a £20 million profit British healthcare business and is one of the largest nursing home operators in Britain. It is backed by Brosnan, McManus, Magnier and Dermot Desmond.

O'Reilly lands job in Santa MonicaGavin O’Reilly, the former chief executive of Independent News & Media, has taken up a new position in Santa Monica as chief marketing officer with StarClub Inc, a social media broadcast network. StarClub was founded by digital music pioneer Bernhard Fritsch. The German-born entrepreneur founded the world’s first music distribution business, MCY.com, in 1998. It was later acquired by Apple, which went on to launch iTunes. rStarClub helps celebrities and big brands manage their social media and monetise and collect data about their followers.

Desmond gets plum post with Live NationDenis Desmond has been made head of Live Nation UK and Ireland. The veteran music promoter is set to be given the title of chairman of promotions for Britain and Ireland. Meanwhile, LN-Gaiety Holdings Ltd, a joint venture between Desmond and Live Nation, is reported to have acquired Mama & Company, the operator of nine venues including the Jazz Café in London’s Camden, the Borderline in Soho and the Forum in Kentish Town. It also runs a number of festivals, including Lovebox. This man builds homes, but fears we can't get money to buy them (Michael Stanley CEO Cairn Homes) The housing crisis will not be fixed quickly because Ireland doesn’t yet have a fully functioning house-building market or a fully-functioning mortgage market, according to Michael Stanley, the chief executive of listed housebuilder Cairn Homes. If the housing situation remains as it is, rents will continue to rise, and it will begin to have an impact on Ireland’s attractiveness as a location for foreign direct investment. The first step in alleviating that, Stanley said, is releasing more development land to people who can develop it. Cairn has cash-on-hand of €388 million to spend on acquisitions, according to its most recent half-year results. Stanley said the company would not be going back to the market any time soon to raise more funds, though it is in negotiations with its banks to raise debt.

Builders claim houses selling below costThe selling price of a three-bed semi is now lower than the cost to build and bring it to market, the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) has claimed. More than a third of the total cost of building the average house is accounted for by taxes and other charges that go into the exchequer, claimed the builders’ lobby group. When rising land costs are included, the average price of building a three-bed semi in Dublin is over €306,000. “It is now effectively costing more to build a house than you can sell it for,” said CIF director general Tom Parlon. “Either prices have to go up or costs have to go down. Right now, costs are just too high for builders to get on site.” The CIF calculation on the cost of building a house includes a 15 per cent profit margin, but Parlon defended his members’ “right to make a proper living”.

Digicel cuts 500 jobs ahead of flotationIt has emerged that Digicel, the Caribbean and South Pacific telecoms giant owned by Denis O’Brien, cut 500 jobs this year. Digicel employs about 6,000 in the region, but opened a voluntary severance scheme to workers earlier this year. That resulted in hundreds of people leaving the company. However, Lawrence Hickey, Digicel’s chief financial officer, said during a presentation last week that the company was still hiring in some areas, as it looks to shift from being a telecoms company into becoming an entertainment and communications business. The company took a charge of $14.4 million (€12.9 million) to pay for the cost-cutting in the 12 months to the end of March. Hickey also disclosed that Digicel will use about $1.3 billion of the proceeds from the

company’s imminent stock market listing in New York to pay down some of its $6.5 billion debt with the lowest prepayment premiums.Enormous Elm Park scheme on the marketOstensibly designed – but now perhaps eternally consigned – to be his magnum opus of Dublin development, former property tycoon Bernard McNamara’s impressive Elm Park office and apartment development on Merrion Road in Dublin 4 was formally released for sale by Nama last week. McNamara, along with developers Jerry O’Reilly and David Courtney, were advanced some €550 million by the former Anglo Irish Bank for the leviathan of a project, which is for sale through receivers Peter Coyne and Marcus Bell of Duff & Phelps guiding €185 million. The 17.3 acre site overlooking Dublin Bay incorporates three detached headquarter office buildings, a cafe/restaurant, a creche, multi-family apartment blocks – The Links and The Bay – which comprise some 332 apartments, of which 218 are included in the sale. Llandaff, an original terrace of eight restored houses at the front of the scheme, is also part of the offering. The receivers did a “huge amount of work” over the past three years, at a cost of about €10 million in contractor works, to develop the campus to a ‘fit for sale’ condition as some of the commercial and residential aspects of the scheme were still in shell form when Elm Park was seized by Nama, Duff & Phelps’ director Peter Coyne told The Sunday Business Post.

Ireland's mortgage malfunctionA group of thirtysomethings meet for dinner, somewhere in Dublin. Before long, the conversation turns to property. Joe wants to buy a modest house in the Dublin suburbs, but can’t afford to, thanks to new rules that cap his mortgage at 3.5 times his gross earnings, and so he faces indefinite renting. Alan and Michelle have mortgage approval, but can’t find a suitable property, due to the lack of supply. John and Louise want to sell their apartment and move to a house with room for their kids, but can’t manage the 20 per cent deposit (meaning one less property coming to market for the likes of Alan and Michelle). Fianna Fáil’s finance spokesman, Michael McGrath, said that the mortgage market was dependent on a normal housing market “where transactions can be easily completed, where first-time buyers do not face a mountain of difficulties to buy a home and where upward and downward mobility is an available option for existing homeowners”. “The current chronic shortage of housing supply is like throwing a spanner into a revolving wheel,” he said. “The whole system will become choked if the government doesn’t address the underlying reasons why builders are not building enough homes.” Part of the problem is the cost of building, according to McGrath. “The government needs to urgently examine the reasons why the viability threshold has still not been met for builders,” he said. “A completely new funding model has to be urgently put in place where builders are not having to pay 15 per cent or more for funds, as that cost of funds simply makes many projects unsustainable.”

Sunday TimesBudweiser set to bid £70bn for SAB MillerAB INBEV could table a £70bn bid for SAB Miller this week, firing the starting gun on the biggest-ever takeover of a British company. Over recent days the world’s two biggest brewers have begun “friendly” talks, sources said. The discussions continued into yesterday, with Budweiser owner AB InBev expected to make a firm opening offer within days — possibly tomorrow morning. London-listed SAB, the maker of Peroni and Grolsch, is understood to be playing hardball with its Belgian rival over price, but is not unreceptive to a deal. A tie-up would create a £177bn colossus with 400 brands, including Stella Artois, Foster’s and Corona. AB InBev made a preliminary approach two weeks ago. At first, SAB insiders said the company would fight to preserve its independence and would treat AB InBev’s aggressive chief executive, Carlos Brito, with

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extreme caution. Over the past week, though, that position has softened. SAB is now eager to secure a big premium from Brito, who is backed by Brazilian buyout giant 3G Capital.

Builder roars back to City with £1bn floatCountryside, which was seized by Lloyds during crisis, joins rush to stock market ONE of Britain’s biggest housebuilders has hired a roster of heavyweight advisers as it prepares to launch a £1bn stock market float. Countryside Properties, which was bought out of Lloyds bank by the American private equity firm Oaktree Capital two years ago, has drafted in investment bankers from HSBC, JP Morgan, Numis and Barclays to plan a listing early next year. After £100m of debt is factored in, the deal will bring a payday of about £90m for the housebuilder’s bosses and members of the founding Cherry family, who own 10%. Countryside is the latest company to accelerate plans for a share sale after America’s Federal Reserve and Britain’s monetary policy committee voted to hold interest rates at historic lows. The payments processing giant Worldpay, which is valued at about £6bn, leads a queue of potential floats. The retirement flats builder McCarthy & Stone has hired six investment banks to orchestrate a £1bn float, although market sources said it was also exploring a sale to private equity.

Foreign giants take a shine to JewelHammerson and Allianz edge ahead of Hines and Kuwaitis for Nama asset HAMMERSON, a British quoted Property Company, and Allianz Real Estate, the namesake German insurer’s property investment arm, are in pole position to take control of the Dundrum Town Centre in Dublin. The two companies have teamed up to submit the highest bid for Project Jewel, a portfolio of loans connected to the developer Joe O’Reilly which include Ireland’s largest shopping mall. The Nama loan sale, easily the most lucrative in the agency’s history, is expected to fetch well over €1.6bn. The portfolio also includes debt secured on 50% stakes in the Ilac shopping mall in central Dublin and the Pavilions, a shopping centre in Swords, north Dublin. The portfolio is completed by development sites adjacent to all three properties, including a site on O’Connell Street in the capital. Talks are ongoing this weekend between Nama — and its adviser Eastdil Secured — and two joint bidders: Hammerson and Allianz; and Hines, a large US property investment company, and the Kuwait Investment Authority, the oldest sovereign wealth fund in the world.

Michael Noonan eyes CGT reliefs for start-upsMICHAEL NOONAN, the finance minister, is to improve access to reliefs on capital gains tax (CGT) for entrepreneurs in the forthcoming budget. Currently, entrepreneurs can cut their CGT bill in half by rolling over their gains into a new business. However, the relief can be claimed only after the sale of the second business. Small Firms Association (SFA) director general Patricia Callan said the conditions are so restrictive as to render the relief useless for anyone other than a tiny group of “serial entrepreneurs” . “It would actually take you 10 years to [benefit] because you only get to avail of it on the sale of your second business, going into your third,” she said. “It is an infinitesimally small number of people who have been able to use this.” SFA sought a 10% rate for entrepreneurs and a 13-point cut in the overall CGT rate from 33% to 20%. Such a move is deemed unlikely in the 2016 budget. “We’re seeking the UK equivalent [entrepreneur’s] rate of 10%, which applies in Newry,” Callan said. “We do have anecdotal evidence of people opting for Northern Ireland to avoid the punitive rates down here.”

PTSB to review its mortgage optionsPERMANENT TSB is to undertake a comprehensive review of its entire suite of mortgage products to investigate if the bank wrongly denied customers lower interest rates. A senior bank executive will shortly be appointed to head the review, and the bank will hire

external advisors to assist in the process. The reassessment of its 120,000 mortgages will run alongside the bank’s Mortgage Redress Programme (MRP). The scheme was introduced to address the position of 1,372 fixed-rate mortgage customers who lost a contractual right to return to a cheap tracker mortgage due a failure by the bank to manage the accounts properly. As a result of the bank’s failure, customers ended up paying an unnecessarily higher rate. Some went into arrears and others faced legal proceedings, while a small number lost their homes.

Fitzpatrick’s CapVest to sell stake in MaterCAPVEST, a London-based venture capital company headed by the Irishman Seamus Fitzpatrick, is planning a sale of its majority stake in the Mater Private healthcare group early next year. Investec and Rothschild are believed to be in the frame to run a sales process for the hospital group, which will take place after the end of its financial year. The formal sales process will be held several months after the collapse of a possible transaction with Netcare, a South African healthcare company this summer. Talks on a takeover ended after the parties failed to agree a price. It is believed the unsolicited Netcare approach put an enterprise value of €500m on the group. Netcare, which owns hospitals in South Africa and the UK, is expected to feature in any future auction. Other potential purchasers include Spire Healthcare, a large UK private hospital group, sources said.

Lone Star in late bid to rejoin Arrow saleLONE STAR, a private equity group that has been one of the most active buyers of Irish loans and distressed assets, has sought to be readmitted to the sale of Project Arrow, a portfolio of €7.2bn in loans being sold by Nama. The US group made approaches to Nama after it emerged that one of three shortlisted bidders for the portfolio — a joint venture of Goldman Sachs and CarVal — had dropped out of the running. The exit has left Cerberus Capital Management and Apollo Global Management in the final shake-out for Project Arrow, the biggest loan sale to date by Nama. There are fears that Apollo may also withdraw from the sale, leaving Cerberus as the sole bidder and likely driving down the price Nama would achieve for the loans. Cerberus last year bought Project Eagle, Nama’s £4.3bn (€5.9bn) Northern Ireland loan portfolio, which is caught up in allegations that £7m was earmarked for payments to third parties.

Digicel tempts IPO investors with ‘bigger dividends’ hopeTHE board of Digicel, Denis O’Brien’s telecoms company, will consider increasing its dividend after March 2016, depending on the level of cash it is generating, according to documents it published ahead of its flotation. The company, which will list on the New York stock exchange next month, has committed to paying a quarterly dividend to shareholders of $10m (€8.9m) in this financial year, which runs to the end of March. O’Brien has been the beneficiary of the company’s generous dividend policy to date and after the IPO will continue to get 60% of Digicel dividends and will hold 94% of the company’s voting rights. About 40% of the company’s stock will be placed in the flotation, with the aim of raising $1.7bn.

Sweet profits for Jam Media as BBC animation gets spin-offJAM MEDIA, a Bafta-winning Dublin animation company that makes Roy for the BBC, recorded a profit of €532,000 last year. The company is currently planning to increase staff numbers from 60 to 90 after winning a 52-episode commission from both CBBC and CBeebies, BBC’s children’s channels, for a new series called Little Roy. Roy combines live action and animation and is filmed in the style of a documentary centred on Roy O’Brien, an Irish cartoon boy living in the real world. Little Roy will be based on the younger life of the original character, who is 11 years old. The company is also making a spin-off series, The Roy Files, on CBBC. Jam has worldwide rights to both of the new series.

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Jurys hotels in ‘notice to quit’ talksMANAGEMENT at the listed hotel group Dalata will have detailed talks this week with the new owners of the former Jurys hotels in Ballsbridge, Dublin, about the future of the Dalata-run properties. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Chartered Land, an Irish property group run by Joe O’Reilly, bought the hotels on a 6.8-acre site for about €170m in July. The deal was cleared by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission at the start of this month, paving the way for the redevelopment of the site into apartments and shops. Property sources said ADIA and Chartered Land have until September 30 to serve notice on Dalata to quit the hotels, which it runs under a management contract. It is understood the arrangement involves a three-month notice period. Chartered Land and Dalata declined to comment but sources said talks would take place this week.

Uninsured drivers rack up bill of €600mThe MIBI reclaims just fraction of costs and may raise levies on insurers THE Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) has paid out almost €600m over the past decade in respect of claims involving uninsured or untraced vehicles, according to accounts filed in the Companies Office. According to the accounts, the MIBI settled 2,198 cases last year alone at a cost of €55m. The agency recovered just €850,000 from uninsured drivers in the same year. Last year the MIBI, a non-profit organisation, raised more than €60m in levies from insurance companies to meet its costs. A spokesman for MIBI said that it pursued the uninsured drivers who were liable for these claims “vigorously”.

Briefing:DiageoThe stock’s performance will be dependent on the management ability to deliver 1% of operating margin expansion over the next three years, cost reductions of £500m (€677m) and long-term mid-single digit organic volume growth. Management forecasts that negative foreign exchange movements will impact earnings by £150m in FY16. Diageo’s trading performance is sensitive to the strength of the global economy, so fears of a slowdown may hurt its share price. Diageo currently trades at 19x FY16e earnings.

The Sunday IndependentGeorge Soros cuts stake in Hibernia REITBillionaire investor George Soros has reduced his exposure to the Irish commercial property market just as experts warn about a severe shortage of office space in the capital.Hungarian-born Soros is considered one of the world's shrewdest investors. He made a killing betting against sterling before the Black Wednesday crash, earning him the title of 'The man who broke the Bank of England'. Forbes Magazine put his wealth at $24.5bn (€21.9bn) as of Friday. Filings last week show that Quantum Strategic Partners, a vehicle managed for Soros' benefit, sold off over five million shares in Irish property investor Hibernia REIT on Friday, September 18.Based on Soros' initial investment of €30m at €1 a share in the company's IPO, that would have delivered him a profit of around €1.5m. He later added a further 22 million shares to maintain his stake around 8pc. Now, his stake is just under 7pc.

O'Leary defeats shareholder revolt over pay at RyanairRyanair shareholders have revolted against the airline director's pay, with almost one-in-five shareholder votes going against a motion on the remuneration package at the airline's AGM. It's the biggest 'No' vote on pay seen at a major Irish listed company this year. Documents, filed with the Irish Stock Exchange, show 18.96pc

- or almost one-in-five - of votes cast went against the package. However, institutional proxy votes pushed through the resolution. This year, chief executive Michael O'Leary was awarded 5m share options in the airline with an exercise price of €8.35. The options can be exercised between September 2019 and November 2021. The airline's shares are now trading around €13.40 - meaning the options are currently worth around €25m to O'Leary on paper. At the end of March, he owned over 51m shares - worth around €700m. The Ryanair share price hike has made O'Leary a billionaire.

EY Ireland reviews degree requirementProfessional services firm EY is reviewing whether its entry-level job candidates should be required to have a degree.There will be no change in this year's recruitment round in Ireland, but management is reviewing the idea. EY is one of Ireland's biggest graduate recruiters. It hires hundreds of young people every year into its tax, assurance, advisory and transaction units. The news follows a decision by Ernst and Young in the UK to ditch the requirement for degrees at entry level from 2016 onwards. In Britain, EY's managing partner for talent, Maggie Stilwell, said research revealed there was "no evidence to conclude that previous success in higher education correlated with future success in subsequent professional qualifications undertaken.

State pension fund takes hit on scandal-hit VW stakeThe National Pensions Reserve Fund, which manages assets to cover future pension needs of State employees, is a shareholder in the German car group Volkswagen - which slumped in value last week, following revelations that the company had fiddled its emissions tests to beat regulations. Shares in Volkswagen have fallen by 60pc over the last week. The NPRF held 24,450 shares in Volkswagen at the end of last year, according to its most recent annual report. Those shares were valued at €4.5m. However, last week's share price collapse means the taxpayer's stake is now worth just €2.6m, having shed €1.9m since the start of the year. The State pension fund also holds Volkswagen corporate bonds, which it valued at €4.9m at the end of last year. It held over two million Volkswagen leasing bonds due in 2023 with a 1.125pc coupon. These were valued at €2.11m by the State bond last year. It also held 2.5 million Volkswagen long-dated variable-rate corporate bonds due for redemption in 2049. These were valued at almost €2.8m at the end of last year. Last Sunday, Volkswagen lurched into the biggest crisis of its 78-year history after US regulators found that its software for diesel cars gave false emissions data. CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned after apologising for the scandal.

Eir launches new multi-device TV package to hit back against UPCNewly rebranded Eir is building a television product that will broadcast across all devices, including smartphones and tablets. By rolling out 'TV Everywhere', the company wants to compete with Sky and UPC, whose television packages give consumers the option of viewing shows on their mobile devices, as well as their TVs. The move is part of a revamp of the telecommunications company's television service, which has fared poorly in recent years in the face of fierce competition, both from traditional rivals and online streaming-only services, such as Netflix. The television subscription market is led in Ireland by Sky, which had around 700,000 subscribers last year. Its Sky Go service allows subscribers to view

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Sky content from any device connected to the internet. UPC, which is soon to be Virgin Media following its purchase by John Malone's Liberty Global, had about 386,500 at the end of last year. On-the-go subscribers can watch UPC content on mobile devices, using its Horizon Go app. Netflix, meanwhile, is estimated to have about 200,000 Irish subscribers.

TDs set to grill PTSB on tracker scandalThe Oireachtas Finance Committee is to call Permanent TSB to a public grilling over the tracker mortgage scandal that resulted in almost 1,400 customers being overcharged. The chairman of the committee, Liam Twomey, has told the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation (IMHO) that it shares "serious concerns" over the lender's routine overcharging of customers who were denied cheaper tracker mortgages. He said the subject of PTSB was added to the committee's programme at its first meeting since the Dail resumed. The IMHO has called for Permanent TSB to be held to account publicly over the tracker-mortgage scandal to ensure that it was dealing fairly with customers. David Hall, director of the IMHO, has also asked the committee to hear testimony in private from customers who were overcharged by PTSB.

Blackstone flips prime docklands buildings barely two years after buying from NamaPrivate equity giant Blackstone has put two of the most high-quality office blocks in Dublin up for sale, less than two years after it bought them from Nama, the Sunday Independent can reveal. The eight-storey Bloodstone building in the heart of the Dublin docklands and neighbouring Central Quay building are being sold by agent Lisney. The properties have a guide price of around €130m. They are located on the South Dock of Sir John' Rogerson's Quay, seconds away fromFacebook and around the corner from Google. The buildings, which are considered to be two of Ireland's most valuable office blocks, were originally developed by Sean Dunne. Blackstone bought them from Nama in late 2013. They came as part of a portfolio of three properties called the Platinum Portfolio, which also included Hume House in Ballsbridge. Blackstone reportedly paid €100m for the three properties. Hume House is not being sold.

Former Eircell boss Stephen Brewer teams up with Enterprise IrelandFormer Eircell chief executive Stephen Brewer has moved back to Ireland and is working with Enterprise Ireland to help Irish companies grow.Brewer, who has also worked for Vodafone and Digicel and secured the UK distribution rights for Apple computers in 1980, told the Sunday Independent that he now wants to centre his life and his business here - "and try and find those companies who have a real desire for growth, who have got a great proposition and understand that nothing happens until you sell something. "I got involved in Enterprise Ireland in the UK and, using that method back in Ireland, I want to help these companies find new markets, give them the introductions to the right people and coach them, mentor them into being able to knock on that door and walk in with confidence with a proposition that actually can mean something to even the largest companies.Digicel seeks to double revenues as it ramps up business solutionsDenis O'Brien's Digicel is planning to double its revenues as it scales up its presence in the business solutions sector.The media and communications group, which is poised to pull the trigger on a $2.3bn IPO in New York within days, told investors that "the addressable opportunity in its markets for business solutions could total revenues of up to $3bn," according to documents seen by the Sunday Independent. Last year, Digicel generated revenues of $2.8bn, with operating profits of $707m. The business solutions space has proved a very high margin play for Digicel, generating compound annual growth of 45.2pc as 2015 revenues came in at

$115m. Slowing growth in its core pre-paid mobile markets has seen the company transform itself into a cable TV, broadband, business services and communications business. The change in consumer habits has seen an explosion of smartphone usage, which is now growing by 1pc per month. The expansion of data is expected to surpass the fall-off in voice traffic by the end of the year. Cable and television are also seen as high potential growth opportunities for the company as there are very low penetration rates in Digicel's key markets. Its Diaspora remittance product added $128m to revenues this year and the total incremental opportunity for this service is seen as approaching 10 million people. The Digicel flotation, which will be the second largest IPO in the US so far this year, will raise around $2.3bn. Around $1.3bn of this will be used to retire expensive debt. It has been estimated that interest cost savings from retiring expensive debt could be significant.

Dublin runs with the also-rans as Government admits we aren't at the races for top tech investmentsIs Dublin's tech dream beginning to wobble? Last week certainly didn't do it any good. First there was the Web Summit's decision to move its tech conference for 30,000 people to Lisbon because of Dublin's sub-standard infrastructure and "user experience". Then there was confirmation (from the ESRI) that Dublin can't accommodate growing tech firms for at least a year, due to a lack of office construction. And then to top off a week when officials put back new transportation plans around the city - a main reason why tech firms mostly only locate in the centre. When told of the Web Summit ditching Dublin, Finance Minister Michael Noonan said that Dublin was fine without the 30,000-person conference. "I don't think that people will be disappointed," he said. "Dublin is choc-a-block with business at present. The hotels are full nearly every weekend." Who needs new tech businesses when you have tourists? If Noonan's comments were flippant, then Richard Bruton's remarks were positively depressing. "I think this is a natural step," he said of the Web Summit's departure. "This is a very successful company that has now become an international success. This is the next chapter in its growth." Yes, in case you missed it, that comment was from the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.

INM invests €250,000 in staff training programmeIndependent News & Media (INM) is investing €250,000 in a digital training and education programme for its staff. The programme will cover areas including digital marketing and advertising, IT and general management. It will be delivered in partnership with the National College of Ireland, which will deliver tailored programmes for INM staff through its campus in Dublin's IFSC. The plan was announced by INM chairman Leslie Buckley at the opening of the company's new centralised news hub on Tuesday. INM is the publisher of this newspaper. "Earlier in the year, the board gave a commitment to management and staff that it would ensure they would have the opportunity to learn the skills that will enable them to work into the future in this rapidly changing digital era," Buckley said. "I am therefore pleased to announce an investment of €250,000 in a new digital training and education programme with the National College of Ireland.Euro is gaining 'safe-haven' status among traders at worst time for DraghiThe "Japanification" of the euro is all but complete.That's the message from the foreign-exchange market, where - just like the yen - the euro now tends to strengthen when investors need havens. The two currencies' fluctuations versus the dollar are the most alike since the 2007 financial crisis. It's a reflection of how, even with the challenges faced by both economies - from stagnant growth to an aging population - their strong trade positions mean they don't need to rely on foreign capital to finance deficits. That's allowed the euro to defy many of the market's best and brightest,

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who've been calling for it to weaken to parity versus the greenback. "The euro has behaved like the yen, and recently more so," said Ulrich Leuchtmann, head of foreign-exchange strategy in Frankfurt at Commerzbank, which topped the Euromoney Institutional Investor currency research rankings for 2015. "The policy challenge for the ECB is that the currency appreciation may come at the moment when they least want it - when it's totally out of line with the economy." The trend was illustrated last week by the currencies' reaction to a key Chinese manufacturing gauge, whose slump to a six-and-a-half-year low sparked a sell-off in Asian stocks. The euro posted the biggest gain among major peers versus the dollar, while the yen briefly climbed to the highest level last week.

Russian stock market may manage 21pc rise over the next yearRussia's benchmark stock gauge, one of the most volatile in the world, may rise 21pc over the next year in dollar terms as valuations already reflect the worst of the country's economic crisis, according to BCS Financial Group. The RTS Index can advance to 930 in the next 12 months after tumbling 45pc in 2014 as a rout in oil and sanctions related to the Ukraine conflict weighed on the Russian economy. The dollar-denominated benchmark has declined this year by 2.7pc. While the world's largest energy exporter entered its first recession since 2009 earlier this year, equity prices already reflect the factors hindering the economy, according to BCS, which was named Russia's third-best brokerage firm in 2015 in an Extel survey. The firm still maintains a neutral recommendation on Russian stocks amid lingering concern that corporate earnings will be hurt by the slump in gross domestic product, which will prevent the index from rebounding at the same pace as after the crises of 1998 and 2008.

The Sunday TelegraphVodafone ends talks with Liberty Global over asset swapsTalks between Vodafone and cable company Liberty Global, owner of Virgin Media, have ended. The pair had been in talks since June over combining their mobile and cable networks in the British, German and other European markets, either through asset swaps, a merger or a takeover. Liberty owns Virgin Media in the UK and cable operators across Europe, and is controlled by the US billionaire John Malone. The Nasdaq-listed company had been seeking a way to combine its networks with Vodafone’s to offer full bundles of broadband, mobile and television services to consumers. However, talks had stalled in recent weeks and the deal looked increasingly unlikely after Mr Malone said they "hadn't been able to figure out a way to [make it] mutually successful".

Digicel to pay owner Denis O'Brien's advisory firm $11.5m from IPOAn investment advisory (Island Capital) owned by Denis O’Brien, the Irish telecoms billionaire, is in line to receive as much as $11.5m in fees from the flotation of Digicel, the Caribbean mobile operator of which he is also owner. Digicel said it would seek a valuation of up to $2.3bn in its imminent Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the NYSE in New York. The shares will be priced between $13 and $16 each. Island Capital’s fee from Digicel’s IPO will bring the total it has received from the company for advisory services to $40.1m in the past three years. The figure is dwarfed by the dividends Mr O’Brien has personally received as owner. According to regulatory filings he has been awarded $1.1bn in the past three years. Digicel plans to use most of the proceeds of its stock market debut to pay down some of its $6.5bn in bond market debt, accumulated during its rapid expansion.

Britain would be better off outside the EU even if Brussels yields, says Labour donor

The UK would be better off outside the European Union even if Brussels yields to all of David Cameron and George Osborne's current demands, according to one of Labour's biggest donors. John Mills, the JML home shopping entrepreneur, said the UK had a "one-off" chance to re-shape the bloc in a way that was fair for Britain, but that chance was "not being taken" by the Prime Minister and Chancellor.

AB InBev set to table formal bid for SABMillerAnheuser-Busch InBev is thought to be close to announcing a formal bid for SABMiller as soon as this week in a deal that would create a £181bn brewing behemoth with more than 400 brands. Analysts have said they expect the Belgian brewer to table a bid of between £42 and £49 per share, which at the midway point of £45.50 would value SABMiller at up to £74bn. Such an offer would represent a premium of around 50pc to SABMiller’s closing price on September 15, before AB InBev’s interest was announced. It would be the largest ever takeover of a British company and one of the priciest M&A deals in history.

Questor share tip: UDG Healthcare delivers long term valueUDG Healthcare [LON:UDG], the Dublin-based provider of services to the pharmaceutical industry, has generated a lot of money for Questor readers. The future still looks promising, after the company announced a deal last week to complete its exit from its drugs distribution business. The shares are trading on 15 to 17 times forecast adjusted earnings, which looks reasonable for a company that has cash to expand, and has promised to increase the dividend this year and next. The slight disappointment is that Liam FitzGerald, the chief executive, will be leaving in March next year after 15 years in the job. He will be replaced by Brendan McAtamney, the current chief operating officer.

Volkswagen scandalSeveral articles covering various aspects of the VW scandal that causes turmoil across the auto sector and wider equity markets last week. Departing CEO could get a £22m payoff. Causes of the scandal covered and some solutions suggested but it will be a while before we have a clear idea of the true costs to the company.

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