WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
GCL-POLY TO BUY SOLAR ASSETS FOR $3.4BN
GCL-Poly Energy, a Hong Kong-based power plant operator, said yesterday it would pay HK$26.4bn (£2bn) to acquire solar assets from its chairman as it seeks to expand in the green energy sector. The company said it would buy Jiangsu Zhongeng, a supplier of polysilicon and wafers used by the solar industry, from Zhu Gongshan, chairman and controlling shareholder of GCL-Poly.
ACTIVISTS BOARD VESSEL IN KINGSNORTH PROTEST
Environmental campaigners have stepped up their fight against coal-fired power with an attempt to block a vessel carrying fuel to the Kingsnorth power station in Kent.
Greenpeace protesters boarded the coal freighter while others tried to impede its passage along the river Medway to the dock.
INDIA TO BAN REPLICA HANDSETS FROM CHINA
India is moving to block millions of cheap copy-cat Chinese mobile phones and accessories from flooding the market, because they are of dangerously poor quality. “Many of these phones behave like little bombs – exploding because the battery is bad,” said Pankaj Mohindroo, president of the Indian Cellular Association.
TV’S COWELL AND RETAILER GREEN JOIN FORCES
Simon Cowell, one of the world’s biggest TV stars, has joined forces with Sir Philip Green, the British retail billionaire, to form a global entertainment company that will create and own television content on both sides of the Atlantic.
The two men, close friends for the past decade, have been working closely together in recent weeks, with Green advising Cowell on contracts.
THE TIMES
BANK’S LACK OF ACTION ON LENDING FRUSTRATES TREASURY
Frustration is growing at the highest levels of the Treasury over the Bank of England’s failure to take swifter and more determined action to boost flows of lending to cash-strapped businesses across Britain. Treasury ministers and officials are said to be increasingly exasperated over the Bank’s tardiness in taking more urgent steps to ease credit conditions for business, especially for small firms and medium-sized companies.
FINANCIAL MESS SHOWS THE LONDON DEVELOPMENT AGENCY CAN’T BE TRUSTED
The latest financial mess to emerge from the London Development Agency vindicates the decision to create a separate 2012 legacy company to own and operate the Olympic Park after the Games.
The Daily Telegraph
HEDGE FUND MANAGERS BETTING TWITTER WILL GIVE THEM AN EDGE IN RAPID TRADING
Hedge fund managers are turning to Twitter in an attempt to steal a march on their rivals. Traders are using software developed by US-based technology StreamBase to monitor “tweets” for price sensitive information. The software plugs into Algorithm-based automated trading platforms that have been used by traders for years. But rather than searching Reuters or Bloomberg the software now scans Twitter.com.
AIRBUS FEARS CHINA’S AVIATION INDUSTRY MAY SOON CHALLENGE BRITAIN’S WING PRODUCTION
Airbus factories in China are rapidly mastering aircraft technology and may soon pose a direct challenge to Britain’s niche industry of wing production, Airbus has warned.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
RED ROOF INN DEFAULTS ON MORTGAGE DEBT
Red Roof Inn defaulted on $367m face amount of mortgage debt that was packaged into commercial mortgage-backed securities, it said yesterday. Debt-rating company Realpoint reported earlier that Red Roof defaulted on $332m, face amount, in mortgage debt this month. Realpoint said it found a fourth delinquent mortgage of $35m, bringing the total default to roughly $367m.
NORSK HYDRO QUITS TAKEOVER BID
Norwegian aluminum supplier Norsk Hydro ASA dropped its efforts to buy Asia Aluminum Holdings, dashing hopes for an alternative to a restructuring of the Chinese company that will leave some foreign debtholders with next to nothing. Advisers to the foreign creditors informed them of Norsk Hydro’s decision.