WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
BRISTOL WATER SALE LOOMS
The owners of Bristol Water have appointed Citigroup to advise on a possible sale of the company, according to people familiar with the matter, in a move that paves the way for the first deal in the privatised UK industry since the financial crisis. Agbar, the Spanish water specialist majority-owned by France-based Suez Environnement, should expect to fetch about £370m for the utility, based on typical takeout multiples.
OPHIR SET FOR $1BN LONDON FLOAT
Ophir Energy, the African explorer backed by Lakshmi Mittal, one of Britain’s richest men, is set to tap into the demand for energy stocks by announcing this morning its intention to float on the London market. The flotation is expected to value Ophir at more than $1bn (£607m), making it one of the largest exploration IPOs in London. Ophir hopes to raise up to $400m through the sale of new shares to fund exploration.
TEMASEK CHIEF TO STEP DOWN
Ho Ching, the executive director and chief executive officer of Singapore’s Temasek investment fund, is likely to step down in August, according to people familiar with the matter. If confirmed, her departure would come at a time when the fund, whose sole shareholder is the Singaporean government, has fully recovered from the financial crisis, during which the value of its portfolio fell from S$185bn ($150bn) to S$130bn.
US SOLAR NEARS COMPETING ON PRICE
US solar power will compete on price with conventional generation within three years without subsidy thanks to plummeting costs, industry leaders say. In a breakthrough for renewable generation, the cost of solar power in California is near that of gas-fired plants at times of peak demand.
THE TIMES
FACEBOOK SPARKS PRIVACY ROW
Facebook secretly changed users’ privacy settings to turn on technology that automatically identifies people in photographs, renewing concerns about the social networking site’s practices. The feature uses facial recognition technology to analyse photographs of users then asks Facebook friends to “tag” them. But Facebook does not give its 500 million users the option of not being tagged in this way.
L’ORÉAL PEACE TREATY IN TATTERS
The family feud that racked the L’Oréal empire last year broke out again yesterday after the daughter of heiress Liliane Bettencourt sought to have her placed under legal protection. Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers took action after a judge ruled in March that her mother, who has a €14.5 billion fortune, was no longer in full possession of her faculties.
The Daily Telegraph
ONE IN EIGHT STRUGGLE TO PAY BILLS
Sharp increases in energy and food prices mean household budgets are being stretched to breaking point, leaving six million people unable to pay their bills on time. The figure has more than doubled since last summer, from 5 per cent to 12 per cent today. It means many are turning to debt to cover the shortfall in their household incomes.
HOUSE OF LORDS GETS £6M EXPENSES
Figures released by Parliament show that peers received more than £6 million in allowances during the first three months of the new regime, compared to around £4.25 million the year before, when the old system was still operating. Among those who claimed were two Conservative peers, Lord Taylor of Warwick and Lord Hanningfield, who have since been convicted of fraud after being found guilty of cheating on their expenses.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
GENETICS CLUE TO E. COLI OUTBREAK
The culprit behind Europe’s E. coli outbreak appears to be an evolved and extremely toxic version of a bug first identified in Münster, Germany, in 2001, according to genetic analyses. Identifying the bug’s ancestor may help scientists identify the origin, spread and source of the disease.
PORTUGAL BEGINS COALITION TALKS
Portugal’s prime minister-elect Pedro Passos Coelho and the conservative Democratic and Social Center Party started official talks yesterday to form a coalition government that will allow Lisbon to quickly implement a €78 billion ($114.54 billion) bailout program. Passos Coelho’s center-right Social Democratic Party won general elections late Sunday, defeating the Socialist Party of Prime Minister José Sócrates, but falling short of having a majority in Parliament.