How to find the perfect Maldives August 8, 2010 BEST FOR: FAMILY FUN ANANTARA DHIGU Lots of resorts in the Maldives have kids’ clubs, but it’s the little touches at Dhigu that make a difference. From dusk til dawn, your sandy, sticky-handed brood will be smiling. At breakfast, you can send them off to bark orders at the guy in the pancake and waffle [...]
Unilever puts Italian firm on block April 19, 2010 Consumer goods giant Unilever is set to put its Italian frozen foods unit up for sale next week with private equity groups Permira and Lion Capital likely to lead the €600m plus (£527.6m) auction, sources close to the situation said yesterday. Permira, which owns Birds Eye Iglo, and Lion Capital which runs Findus Group are [...]
Ukranian egg maker in LSE listing April 5, 2010 Ukranian egg producer Avangard is set to push ahead with plans for a London Stock Exchange listing in a deal that could value the firm at $200m (£130m). It is the Ukraine’s biggest egg producer with more than 16,000 birds over 19 farms.
Blackstone to snap Birds Eye Foods up in $1.3bn cash deal November 19, 2009 Private equity titan Blackstone is set to buy Birds Eye Foods through its portfolio firm Pinnacle Foods. Pinnacle Foods, which already owns pancake mixture company Mrs Butterworths, will pay more than $1.3bn (£700m) for the biggest frozen-vegetable firm in the US. Birds Eye is majority owned by private equity firms Vestar Capital Partners, while New [...]
The Cornwall haven that’s just for grown-ups July 18, 2010 THE Scarlet. Where to begin? The 37-bedroom eco-hotel in Mawgan Porth, northern Cornwall, is a nexus of cutting-edge green technology and style; of character and sleekness. It’s cosy yet minimalist; an architectural statement yet completely at one with its environment. Of all the above, the latter is the most impressive. The boundary between inside and [...]
The Cornwall haven that’s just for grown-ups July 18, 2010 THE Scarlet. Where to begin? The 37-bedroom eco-hotel in Mawgan Porth, northern Cornwall, is a nexus of cutting-edge green technology and style; of character and sleekness. It’s cosy yet minimalist; an architectural statement yet completely at one with its environment. Of all the above, the latter is the most impressive. The boundary between inside and [...]
Ukrainian egg company to float April 6, 2010 Avangardco, the Ukrainian egg company, is planning to float on the London Stock Exchange. It yesterday said it plans a £132m initial public offering (IPO). The Kiev-based company currently has 16m birds and is the country’s biggest producer of shell eggs and dry egg products. It has 13 factories across the Ukraine and exports to [...]
Fall in love with lava in wild and woolly Iceland July 25, 2010 THIS year Iceland became infamous for the deeply inconvenient glacial eruption of “that” volcano – Eyjafjallajökull (pronounced “AY-uh-fyat-luh-YOE-kuutl-uh”). Its extraordinary qualities as a country were overshadowed by the chaos of grounded planes. Yet it is starkly beautiful and untamed, overflowing with adventure, history and plenty of volcanic action (brilliant to watch when it doesn’t spoil [...]
Asian indices will not move at the same pace May 10, 2010 ASIAN indices have not been immune to the Greek crisis and the wave of risk aversion that has been sweeping across the world, despite traders’ relatively bullish attitude towards the region. Major stock indices have all suffered: the Chinese Hang Seng H-Shares index has dropped 10 per cent since the middle of April, while the [...]
Jungles, sea and history in old Malaysia June 13, 2010 A 100-mile ferry-ride across the South China Sea is Langkawi, one of the world’s most idyllic spots for sunbathing, swimming in crystal green waters framed by lush jungle, and the total luxury of a world-class beach resort. It’s gorgeous – but probably quite similar to retreats in Thailand, Indonesia, the Caribbean, Costa Rica, Mauritius…you get [...]