What the other papers say this morning – 17 July 2013
FINANCIAL TIMES
Dell ultimatum as buyout vote looms
Michael Dell faces a last-minute ultimatum from some of his company’s biggest shareholders to raise his $24.4bn buyout offer or risk losing his attempt to regain control of PC maker Dell, say people close to the affair. Several large outside shareholders have told Michael Dell and private equity group Silver Lake they would reject the deal at a vote called for tomorrow unless the terms are sweetened. The opposition has prompted Dell’s board to consider delaying the shareholder vote on the deal rather than seeing it fail, these people said.
Brussels eyes assault on card fees
Lucrative fees to process card transactions are to be capped under a proposal by the European Union’s executive arm aiming to draw a line under a decade-long battle with payment groups such as Visa Europe and MasterCard.
Pan-African bank’s boardroom battle
Ecobank Transnational (ETI), the bank that blazed a trail across African borders to build the continent’s most geographically diverse network, is locked in a boardroom battle over outstanding debts owed by businesses associated with its chairman, Kolapo Lawson.
THE TIMES
CBI attacks government over tax
Britain’s leading business group today turns on the government, attacking its stance on tax, rejecting its flagship infrastructure policy, and deriding any progress made in its attempts to restart the economy.
Water firms accused of profiteering
David Cameron will be confronted today over claims that “profiteering” water companies are doling out huge windfalls to their shareholders at the expense of consumers.
The Daily Telegraph
EU Mercedes ban moves closer
Some new vehicles produced by German carmaker Daimler cannot be sold or registered in the EU because they contain a banned coolant, the European Commission has said. EU norms demand that car makers use a cleaner R1234yf refrigerant, deemed less polluting.
Vodafone free to complete Kabel deal
Vodafone is free to complete a £9.1bn deal for German cable company, Kabel Deutschland, after rival bidder Liberty Global admitted defeat.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Google pitches online TV service
Google has approached media companies about licensing their content for an internet TV service that would stream traditional TV programming, people familiar with the matter say.
As GM’s Opel Shrinks, Ford gets lift
Ford registrations rose 6.9 per cent in June from a year earlier compared with a 7.2 per cent combined decline that month for GM’s Adam Opel and Vauxhall brand registrations, greater than the 6.3 per cent contraction in Europe as a whole.