Friday newspaper round-up: HMV, British Airways v Unite, Facebook v Google

13th May 2011 06:13

HMV's efforts to sell its Waterstone's book business are being stymied by a stand-off between the beleaguered entertainment group's banks and the potential buyer, Alexander Mamut, over price. The Russian billionaire is thought to have offered between £35m and £45m to acquire the 297-store bookseller but HMV's banks want as much as £70m for the chain, reports the Independent.British Airways (which is now owned by IAG) has finally thrashed out an agreement to end a bitter two-year battle with its cabin crew which cost the company £150million. The conflict, which lasted longer than the miners' strike of the 1980s, saw the airline and its passengers hit by a total of 22 days of strikes since its start in February 2009. But a deal has been reached with the militant Unite union, the Daily Mail reports.Facebook has been exposed as running a smear campaign against its giant US rival Google. In a highly embarrassing mea culpa, the company said it had taken on an external PR agency Burson-Marsteller to try to place negative stories about the web search­business, the Telegraph reports.Europe remains highly vulnerable to another systemic banking crisis, itself sparked by the continuing sovereign debt problems in Greece and other distressed "peripheral" eurozone member states, the International Monetary Fund warned yesterday. The fund, which is funding around a third of the cost for the rescues of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, states: "Contagion to the core euro area, and then onwards to emerging Europe, remains a tangible downside risk," reports the Independent.The IMF also warns that The UK's recovery faces "strong headwinds" from the Government's austerity measures and high levels of consumer debt, according to the Daily Telegraph. In its latest report on Europe, the fund said growth will be "restrained" to 1.7% in 2011 and 2.3% in 2012, as it pointed out the "pick-up in inflation".Savers eager to boost the value of their returns will once again be able to link their savings to inflation, after National Savings and Investments announced it was re-launching its popular Index-linked Savings Certificates. NS&I was forced to withdraw its inflation beating products from the savings market last July because of "overwhelming demand," according to the Times.Takeda of Japan is in advanced talks to buy Nycomed, the Swiss drugs company, in a deal likely to value the business at up to $14bn, according to individuals close to the talks. The purchase - which could be finalised as soon as next week - would herald a fresh effort by Japanese companies to strengthen their pipelines of medicines and diversify into new markets, says the Financial Times.William Hill yesterday suffered a major shareholder revolt over pay after a third of investors voted against the bookmaker's remuneration report. A further 4.7% abstained from the vote as shareholders vented their fury after chief executive Ralph Topping enjoyed a 56% leap in his pay package, including bonuses, to £1.65m last year, the Daily Express writes.---RG