February 27th, 2008 SOUTH Korea has issued a revised importation licence to Diageo that seems to fly in the face of new Scotch Whisky regulations. The licence could cause a headache for Diageo Korea. This is because it specifies that, by April 2010, at least 50 per cent of the company’s Scotch whisky sales by volume [...]
By Ian Fraser Sunday Herald February 24th, 2008 Director at centre of row protesting judge’s ruling on breach of duties TWO SPARRING oil companies in dispute over access to oil and gas reserves in Azerbaijan are heading to a Scottish court next year in a bitter conflict-of-interest dispute over the oil riches of the wild [...]
February 21st, 2008 The Scottish government has got itself into right fankle (the Scottish word for ‘mess’) over the taxation of Scotch, opening itself up to charges of double standards. On the one hand, we have Scotland’s finance minister John Swinney pleading with the UK chancellor, Alistair Darling, to reduce the amount of duty paid [...]
By Ian Fraser Citywire February 14th, 2008 WHAT does it take to outperform in today’s volatile and uncertain market conditions? Citywire has asked a selection of the UK’s leading fund managers how they have amended their portfolios to cope with the fall-out from the subprime crisis and the near-certainty of a UK consumer downturn this year. [...]
By Sir Geoffrey Chandler Ethical Corporation magazine February 11th, 2008 Sir Geoffrey Chandler argues that, if we wish to see human rights prevail in the world, we will not do so without the positive involvement of companies. In this essay, first publised in Ethical Corporation, he argues that NGOs that take a confrontational stance are [...]
By Eric Ellis The Melbourne Age February 9th, 2008 These excerpts from an article published by the Melbourne Age paint an appalling picture of how Dubai’s economic miracle is dependent on slave labour, imported largely from the India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. There are parallels with the workings of apartheid in South Africa. Dubai [...]
By Ian Fraser European Venture Capital Journal February 4th, 2008 With over €2 billion in commitments to date, the London-based European Bank of Reconstruction & Development is the largest investor in private equity funds whose focus is investing in Central and Eastern Europe. However, as the region’s economies have become more developed, the EBRD’s role [...]
By Ian Fraser European Venture Capital Journal February 4th, 2008 In Central and Eastern Europe, private equity has been welcomed with open arms and the opportunities are plentiful – if you know the right people. Ian Fraser reports on whether new entrants have the composure and cultural sensitivity to succeed. Fifteen years ago Central and [...]
February 2nd, 2008 YOU’VE got to hand it to Mark Boyle, a former dotcom entrepreneur turned “community pilgrim” from Bristol, who is trying to prove you can live without money, even in this most materialistic of decades. Boyle, who is of Irish ancestry and goes under the alias “Saoirse” (pronounced sear-shuh), which means freedom in [...]