A round-up of today's other finance stories in brief
GE/Gama to build Bord Gáis plant
Bord Gáis has appointed a GE/Gama consortium to build its new power plant at Whitegate in east Cork.
Construction of the €400 million project is scheduled to begin in October, with the plant expected to start operating in 2010. The proposed 440 megawatt gas-fired combined-cycle plant will be located within the ConocoPhillips refinery site.
New headquarters in UK for B of I
Bank of Ireland has signed a long lease on a new London headquarters for its UK businesses.
The building, Bow Bells House, is located on Bread Street in the City area and is currently under construction.
Vodafone to keep stake in Verizon
Mobile phone giant Vodafone Group said yesterday it had decided not to sell part of its 45 per cent stake in fast-growing US mobile phone joint venture Verizon Wireless.
Vodafone had until today to exercise a put option and sell up to $10 billion (€7.2 billion) worth of its stake in Verizon Wireless, which analysts have valued at about $45 billion.
Investors last month rejected calls by a small activist shareholder, Efficient Capital Structures, for Vodafone to spin off the stake. - (Reuters)
BCI funding round for radio shows
The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) is seeking applicants for the fifth funding round of Sound and Vision, a grant scheme for radio programme makers focused on Irish culture, heritage and experience.
The deadline is noon on September 5th.
Tax institute names new head
The Irish Taxation Institute yesterday named Joan O'Connor, an international tax partner at Deloitte, as its new president.
It also announced the appointment of the first co-opted members to its council: Paul Haran, former secretary general of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and Don Thornhill, chairman of the National Competitiveness Council.
ING posts 27% rise in profits
Dutch financial services group ING Groep NV reported a 27 per cent rise in quarterly net profit yesterday, helped by a gain on the sale of shares in ABN Amro and strong insurance results. Net income in the second quarter rose to €2.56 billion from €2 billion a year earlier.
Underlying net profit rose 8.2 per cent to €2.17 billion, excluding a €573 million gain on the sale of part of ING's stake in ABN Amro and a charge of €188 million for integrating its Postbank operations with ING Bank in the Netherlands. - (Reuters)
Google bid for Postini approved
Google has received US anti-trust approval to acquire web-based security provider Postini, US officials said yesterday.
Anti-trust authorities completed a review of the $625 million (€453 million) deal without taking any action to block it, the US federal trade commission said. - (Reuters)
TVC Holdings
Contrary to a report in yesterday's editions, TVC Holdings does not consist of former Jurys Doyle chief Pat McCann and clients of Davy Stockbrokers. TVC, Mr McCann and Davy clients are each members of a group which has bought out the Quality and Comfort hotel chains. The error occurred in the editing process.
