SIDENOR: Basque steel company interested in a Talgo takeover
Credit: CC/Zarateman
Talgo move STEEL company Sidenor, based in Basauri (Vizcaya), is prepared to head a 100 per cent takeover of train manufacturer, Talgo.
This followed earlier reports that Sidenor was considering acquiring a 29.9 per cent stake together with the Basque government, which already owns 3 per cent of another Basque train manufacturer, CAF.
Talgo’s chief executive Gonzalo Urquijo announced on October 16 that he had contacted Spain’s National Securities Market Commission (CNMV,) informing them that Talgo had received a letter of intent from Sidenor.
At present Talgo, which specialises in high speed trains, has a portfolio of orders worth €4 billion but its two production plants are stretched to the limit and cannot deliver on time.
A new contender DOVID EFUNE, owner of the New York Sun website, is in talks to buy the Telegraph newspapers.
Efune has signed an agreement with RedBird IMI giving both parties six weeks to negotiate a deal worth approximately £550 million (€657.6 million).
AbuDabi-backed RedBird IMI hopes to recoup the £510 million (€609.8 million) it paid for the Telegraph in a complex transaction that settled £1.2 billion (€1.4 billion) in unpaid debts owed to Lloyds Banking Group by former owners, the Barclay family.
RedBird IMI was obliged to sell the newspaper following new legislation banning foreign state ownership of UK publications and since then it has a spent up millions in advisory fees.
Property deal SANTANDER’S Private Banking service for affluent clients is offering the opportunity of participating in Rivoli Asset Management’s purchase of 50 per cent of Madrid Xanadu.
The company is bidding €200 million for a stake in one of Europe’s largest shopping and entertainment centres, located in the capital’s Arroyomolinos district.
The UK’s Intu Properties, which was hit by the pandemic and went into administration in June 2022, owned half of Madrid Xanadu, with the remaining 50 per cent in the hands of US asset manager, Nuveen.
Waiting for 007 PROFITS for Eon Productions, based in Pinewood Studios near London, fell to £224,985 (€269,025) last year.
This was around 75 per cent lower than the £900,879 (€1.07 million) posted in 2022, although Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson, who head the company, earned £3.7 million (€4.4 million) between them, plus a £600,000 (€717,279) dividend.
Eon Productions has yet to find a successor to Daniel Craig as James Bond and there has been no 007 blockbuster for the company since 2021.
Choc horror SPAIN’S Consumer Price Index (CPI) slowed to 1.5 per cent in September, falling by eight-tenths of a percentage point compared with August, the National Statistics Institute (INE) revealed.
The reduction was mainly due to lower prices for transport and fuel, INE said, while food inflation went down by seven-tenths of a percentage point to 1.8 per cent, its lowest since September 2021.
Chocolate overtook olive oil as the household item which went up most, soaring 20.7 per cent above its August 2023 price, with olive oil – which retained its zero IVA added value tax – increasing by 10.3 per cent year-on-year.
Pay later THE John Lewis Partnership has struck a deal with digital bank Zopa and will now offer personal loans on its website.
Customers can access between £1,000 (€1,196) and £35,000 (€41,855) within two hours, the partnership said, later making repayments in fixed monthly amounts.
They will receive a quote in three minutes with no impact to their credit score and access the money once the loan is approved, John Lewis said.
Tasty profits HAM specialists Industrias Carnicas Loriente Piqueras (Incarlopsa) posted sales of €1.17 billion in 2023, doubling revenues over the last seven years.
Much of the family firm’s success can be traced to its alliance with Mercadona which accounts for 59 per cent of Incarlopsa turnover, said chief executive Jesus Loriente de la Ossa, who took over this year from his cousin Clemente Loriente.
Loriente de la Ossa said Incarlopsa expects sales to exceed €1.2 billion in 2024, with hopes of reaching €1.5 billion before very long.
