WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
BANK TEAMS RUSH TO SET UP NEW FUNDS
The hedge fund industry is seeing a rush of start-ups amid a series of high-profile spin-outs from the in-house trading teams at investment banks.
In spite of one of the worst second-quarter performances for the industry on record, the new funds also are attracting strong backing from investors. The launches come as many of Wall Street and the City of London’s star traders look to take their leave before a tough new regulatory environment forces them out in the coming months.
CARREFOUR TO SLIM DOWN IN ASIA
Three years ago, Carrefour, the French hypermarket group, announced an expansion drive to open new stores in Thailand, backed by a $154m investment. Today Carrefour is planning to quit the country – where it added 16 stores to the 24 it had, to become one of the top five players – and to pull out of Malaysia and Singapore.
NISSAN WARNS PARTS DELAY COULD HIT US PLANTS
Nissan warned yesterday that a disruption in the supply of key parts from Hitachi that has hit production in Japan might also affect its plants in the US and Mexico. The Japanese carmaker will from today stop production at four of its five domestic car plants for three days.
HAGUE VOWS TO DEFEND EMBASSIES
William Hague, foreign secretary, vowed yesterday to defend Britain’s embassy network in the face of budget cuts, insisting that his department would in future have an “existential” mission to promote trade. Mr Hague also suggested that the Foreign Office would be spared the heaviest of the spending reductions about to hit Whitehall.
THE TIMES
ADEFENCE ON CHEAP WILL DESTROY INDUSTRY, WARNS BAE
The head of Britain’s biggest manufacturing company has warned that the Government will be forced pick winners and losers in the defence industry as a result of budget cuts.
Britain still has the capability to design and build its own helicopters, tanks, fighter jets, ships, submarines and command and control systems, but budget cuts could threaten the country’s ability to finance these projects in the future.
MIDDLE EAST SLUMP DRAGS DOWN DLA PIPER’S PROFITS
Profits at DLA Piper fell 18 per cent last year after the Anglo-American legal giant was forced to bail out its Middle East practice, it emerged yesterday. DLA Piper blamed a loss of £20m in the Gulf for a drop in partners’ profits at its non-US practices.
The Daily Telegraph
SPAIN “RELYING ON SHORT-TERM FUNDING” AS COUNCILS GO BUST
A third of Spain’s city councils are in dire straits and may be forced to suspend payments by the end of the year, replicating the woes in the US, where many states are bearing the brunt of fiscal tightening. More than 400 of the 8,000 councils across the country have stopped paying electricity, water and telephone bills.
MCC NAMES SHORTLIST TO REDEVELOP LORD’S CRICKET GROUND
The Duke of Westminster’s property company and Almacantar, the investment vehicle founded by Mike Hussey, are in the running to lead the redevelopment of Lord’s cricket ground. The list also includes Capital & Counties, the demerged London arm of Liberty International, and residential specialists London Newcastle and Native Land.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
NOKIA IN TALKS TO BUY MOTOROLA
Nokia Siemens Networks is in talks to buy the telecom-equipment arm of Motorola, people familiar with the matter said, a deal that would hasten the dismantling of the US technology company. The two companies are discussing terms, and a deal could be worth $1.1bn to $1.3bn, one of the people said. A deal could be reached in the next few weeks, though talks could still fall apart.
CRASH DATA SUGGESTS DRIVER ERROR IN TOYOTA ACCIDENTS
The Department of Transportation in the US has analysed dozens of data recorders from Toyota Motor vehicles involved in accidents blamed on sudden acceleration and found that at the time of the crashes, throttles were wide open and the brakes were not engaged, people familiar with the findings said.