PARIS – The French government appears to be on a “Save the National assets from outsiders” campaign as it mediated a merger of Suez SA and the state-owned Gaz de France in order to pre-empt Italy’s Enel, which was considering tabling an offer for Suez. This is the second time in less than two months that the French government has intervened in a business deal after it opposed the hostile bid of steel baron Lakshmi Mittal’s LNM Company for Arcelor.

The merger of Suez and Gaz de France, which has been given an initial approval by both boards, will create the world’s second largest energy utility. The deal, which is a one-for-one stock swap, was termed as a “merger of equals” by both companies. French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin had announced the deal on Saturday and the boards gave their nod on Sunday, “Given the strategic importance of energy, the fusion of Gaz de France and Suez seems today to be the most appropriate path,” Villepin said.

“It will give France a second big player in the energy sector besides EDF and boost the global industrial vocation of our country.” Finance Minister Thierry Breton said that the details are yet to be trashed out, but the government stake in Gaz de France would automatically come down, “The government’s stake will automatically fall below 34 to 35 percent. But the state also has indirect shareholdings and overall the state shareholding will be slightly below 40 percent,” he said.

The state currently holds 80 percent of the energy utility. This move is the latest in what is being dubbed as “economic patriotism” in France. However, Italy and Enel were not pleased with this high-handedness displayed by the French government. Enel’s chief executive Fulvio Conti said that the move was akin to renationalizing Suez, “It’s as if the Italian government took over Fiat to defend it from a takeover bid by Renault. It’s the funeral of the European market,” he said, adding that it was a big blow for the European market.

Italy’s economy minister, Giulio Tremonti went a step further and labeled this move as a declaration of war, “We still have time to stop this race by the European states to build protective barriers,” he said.

LONDON: Supermarket chain Somerfield is planning to sell 270 of its budget stores, Kwik Save, according to news reports.

Somerfield, now owned by a consortium including property tycoon Robert Tchenguiz, Apax and Barclays Capital, is said to be in talks with a number of buyer for its loss-making business.

Latest reports indicated that Richard Kirk, chief executive of Peacock Group, is a front-runner to buy a majority of these stores with his own funds. Kirk had acquired Peacock Group with the help of hedge funds in a 405-million-pound deal in November last.

Iceland’s retail group Baugur is also keen on buying a number of these stores. The other potential buyers could be Aldi, Lidl and Netto, all of Europe, the reports said.

The consortium had bought Somerfield for 1.1 billion pounds late 2005. It had brought in a new management team and restructured the business, which included converting the better performing Kwik Save stores into Somerfield mould and selling the remaining ones, mostly located at secondary sites. The company is said to be losing 40 million dollars a year on account these unprofitable stores.

A spokesman for the company refused to comment on the report that the Kwik Save stores are for sale.

Baugur had earlier hinted at buying the whole of Somerfield but withdrew following internal problems.

Kwik Save vends a range of branded goods at knock-down prices. Somerfield had bought the business in 1998.

NEW YORK: Apple Computer announced Thursday its iTunes Music Store has sold one-billionth song — in less than three years of its debut in the online music market.

The song, Coldplay’s Speed of Sound, was downloaded by 16-year-old Alex Ostrovsky of West Bloomfield, Michigan. In reward, Apple is to present him with a 20-inch iMac, 10 iPods and a $10,000 in gift card that can be used to buy any item at the iTunes Music Store.

Adjudged as the world’s most-visited online music store, iTunes is the first e-store to break into the top 10 ranks of music retailers. It is estimated to have 80 per cent of worldwide market share and in 2005, its traffic had grown by a phenomenal 241 per cent, from 6.1 million to 20.7 million, according to Nielsen NetRatings.

Ostrovsky , who has not been a frequenter at the iTunes store, said he must have downloaded around 50 songs. He was more of a borrower of music CDs from his friends. “I’m certainly going to download more songs now,” he said.

Apple has announced that it will set up a scholarship at the Juilliard School of Music in New York in Ostrovsky’s name to mark the occasion. The company has posted a ‘thank you’ announcement at its website, saying, “Music lovers like you in 21 countries around the globe have purchased 1 billion songs from the iTunes Music Store. And for helping us reach this massive milestone in digital music history, we’d like to thank you.”

Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement: “I hope that every customer, artist and music company executive takes a moment today to reflect on what we’ve achieved together during the past three years. Over 1 billion songs have now been legally purchased and downloaded around the globe, representing a major force against music piracy and the future of music distribution as we move from CDs to the Internet.”

The company has been awarding a black 4GB iPod nano and $100 worth of coupons to every fan downloading 100,000th music.

Globally, digital music sales constitute only 6 per cent of overall music sales, but they grew from $220 million to $790 million in a year.

LONDON: The City of London Corporation is all set to have Wi-Fi network in place covering the entire city (The square mile). The project is being undertaken by the corporation in partnership with a private Wi-Fi firm, The Cloud. It is expected to be implemented in full in the next few months.

The Cloud, which will install the hardware and equipment, will make use of street furniture like the lamp posts and street signs for the purpose.

The network will make the city Wi-Fi-enabled and workers as well as visitors within the square mile will be able to make use of wireless devices to access the internet on streets and in open spaces. The project will support high speed internet access, email, music and video downloads and voice over Wi-Fi services.

The network also incorporates secure access and private data networks for emergency services.

Michael Snyder, chairman of the corporation’s policy planning committee, said the corporation is responding to the increasing time pressures faced by City workers by providing the technology to stay uptodate. “We feel it is important to provide this technology to maintain our position as the world’s leading international financial centre,” he said.

The system will facilitate connectivity to as many as 350,000 workers while on the move through their laptop or palmtop computers. Users can opt for business subscriptions or pay-as-you-go accounts.

Wi-Fi hotspots function by broadcasting internet signals across radio frequencies. The hotspots enable anyone with a wireless-enabled device to surf the web. The Cloud will install some 150 beacons at strategic places to ensure coverage as there are several high-rises and narrow streets in the city.

The Cloud’s chief executive George Polk said corporate users are increasingly turning to Wi-Fi for a range of services, including converged voice services. “We have strong demand from existing customers for coverage in high density and high profile locations like the City of London, and we expect this trend to continue.”

The Cloud has opted for an open network concept, which means that any service provider can use the network for a price to provide services to its customers. The firm already runs several Wi-Fi hotspots in London, such as at Canary Wharf, the British Library and Coffee Republic, a chain of cafés. Operators, including BT Group and Nintendo, rent time on The Cloud’s network.

NEW YORK – Nike Inc, the world’s biggest maker of shoes and sportswear has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against rival Adidas-Salomon AG alleging that the latter has copied designs from Nike’s SHOX technology and has incorporated it into Kevin Garnett signature shoes and A3 shoes.

“Nike is widely recognized for its product innovation in footwear and athletic products and we invest heavily to provide performance products to our consumers,” said Eric Sprunk, the Vice President of Global Footwear at Nike. “It is deeply frustrating and inappropriate when companies borrow or refashion such technologies as their own without making similar investments.”

Nike’s SHOX cushioning technology first hit the markets in 2000 as a follow-up of the Nike Air Shoe released in 1979 and has more than 19 patents designed to protect it from imitators. The Beaverton-based company said that the technology took more than 16 years to develop and required considerable financial investment, “Nike often reinvests its revenues into research and development of such new products.

Understandably, Nike and its shareholders cannot allow infringement to occur unchallenged,” Sprunk stressed. Nike also brought patent infringement cases against two other companies at the World Shoe Association Show in Las Vegas last week. The companies in question, Air Max Import and Export Inc. and Romeo and Juliette, had allegedly violated Nike’s patents on another occasion and hence the company decided to serve complaints against them.

Nike was also in the news last month after former chief executive William Perez left following a disagreement with the board. Adidas, which acquired Reebok for $3.8 billion (£2.2 billion) last month was unavailable for comments.
For the full complaint, visit http://www.nikebiz.com.

LONDON: Spain’s Real Madrid has overtaken England’s Manchester United to become the richest soccer club in the world. Real’s income of 275.7 million euros for 2004-2005 dislodged United with its 246.4 million euros, thus ending the English club’s eight-year standing at the top.

The Football Money League report published by consultants Deloitte Thursday revealed that the income of the world’s top 20 soccer clubs exceeded three billion euros for the first time.

The Spanish club capitalised on the presence on its side of internationals like David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo, the report contended. Deloitte partner Dan Jones said Real has transformed its revenues, doubling them in just four years.

He said: “Although president Florentino Perez’s strategy of recruiting world class `galactico’ players has not necessarily delivered the anticipated on-pitch results recently, their presence has facilitated a transformation in the club’s financial performance.”

Third in the list of super rich clubs is Italy’s AC Milan with 234 million euros, followed by Juventus and Russian oil czar Roman Abramovich-owned Chelsea of England. The others in the order of their revenues are Barcelona, Bayern Munich, European champions Liverpool, Inter Milan and Arsenal.

The report predicted that French and German teams would move up the wealth ladder in the next few seasons.

Deloitte’s sports business consultant Austin Houlihan said Real Madrid has broken the mould in terms of revenue growth in football and it is its ability to grow commercial revenue that has guided it to the top of the Money League. The club has not won a major trophy for the second straight year.

The report said: “The mainstay of Real’s revenue growth is not match-day revenues, as we have seen in many of the U.K. clubs, or broadcasting revenue, as we have seen — and continue to see — in Italy, but strong progress in realizing their commercial potential.” Commercial revenue including sponsorship, merchandising and licensing contributed 45 per cent of the club’s total income.

The report said Manchester United’s revenue fell because of a reduction in broadcast income. It had exited from the Champions League at the first knockout round.

Jones said Beckham has been a major factor in Real’s show. “You can’t put a figure on his impact but there is no doubt having big-name players makes an impact and he’s the most famous footballer in the world.”

LONDON: Regulators in the U.S. and Europe are investigating possibilities of price fixing in the air cargo industry and several leading trans-Atlantic carriers have been brought under the scanner. In Europe, the European Commission carried out surprise inspections Tuesday at the offices of major European airlines, while the justice department in the U.S. has issued subpoenas to several U.S.-based carriers.

British Airways, Air France, KLM, Lufthansa and Cargolux Airlines of Luxembourg were subject of the inspections in Europe and these airlines said they are cooperating with the authorities probing pricing practices in the industry.

In the U.S., American Airlines said it has a subpoena in this regard. The airline clarified that it has not been told that it was a target of the investigation and did not receive a search warrant.

United Airlines said it received an inquiry from European Commission at its United Cargo office in Frankfurt.

Justice department officials have also searched cargo offices of Japan Airlines at New York’s JFK International Airport. Japan Airlines’ Frankfurt office was also searched by European Commission officials.

South Korean airlines Korean Air Co. and Asiana Airlines Inc., confirmed their offices in Seoul were raided by the local antitrust watchdog, the Fair Trade Commission. The airlines said their offices in Europe and U.S. were, however, not raided.

In Washington, a justice department spokesperson said the U.S. investigators are working with the EU and other authorities to investigate possible “anti-competitive behavior.”

An unnamed federal law enforcement source revealed the raids were carried out on airlines in major cities across the country, including Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.

In Brussels, the European Commission said it had carried out “unannounced inspections” at the offices of several air cargo carriers and these constitute preliminary steps in investigations into suspected cartels.

EC said in a statement that the fact that it carried out such inspections does not mean that the companies are guilty of anti-competitive behavior nor does it prejudge the outcome of the investigation itself.

The commission’s competition spokesperson Jonathan Todd said the commission has reason to believe that the companies concerned may have violated Article 81 EC-Treaty, which prohibits practices such as price fixing. If it is proved, the commission can impose fines.

LONDON: British MPs voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to ban smoking in all enclosed public places. The ban will be implemented in 124,000 pubs and clubs across England from next summer.

In a historic free vote, the MPs rejected a compromise formula, which mooted a partial ban, terming it as “unworkable”. Prime minister Tony Blair and his Labour Party had fought the general elections on this formula, which allowed smoking to continue in pubs that do not serve food.

The vote, 453 to 125, means all pubs and clubs will be covered by the ban. The MPs also dismissed a last-minute proposal to exempt private members’ clubs, voting 384 to 184.

The vote has been welcomed by health groups. England now joins Northern Ireland and Scotland in totally banning smoking in public places. Wales plans to have its own vote on the issue soon.

Among the cabinet ministers voting for a total ban were prime minister Blair, Gordon Brown, Charles Clarke, Peter Hain, Ian McCartney, Margaret Beckett and David Miliband. However, six ministers, including John Reid, John Prescott, John Hutton, Tessa Jowell and Ruth Kelly, supported the compromise, which proposed smoking to continue in not-for-profit clubs such as working men’s’ clubs and the Royal British Legion.

The cabinet has fixed additional levels of fines for defaults. Landlords who allow smoking will face a 2,500-pound fine, which is up from 200 pounds. Individuals who violate the ban will be fined 50 pounds on the spot. In addition, there will be spot fines of 200 pounds for failing to display no-smoking signs. There will be a penalty, if the issue goes to court, which will be1,000 pounds.

The Health Bill, introduced by health secretary Patricia Hewitt last year, has been dogged by cabinet splits and insurrection in the Labour ranks. The ruling party MPs were given a free vote.

The vote was generally welcomed by unions, health campaigners and NGOs. Peter Hollins, director general of the British Heart Foundation, described it as a landmark victory for the public health of the country, which will save the lives of many people across the U.K. Prof. Alex Markham, chief executive of Cancer Research U.K., said the smoke-free law will give all workers, including those in pubs and private members’ clubs, equal protection from the life-threatening effects of second-hand smoke.

Even the British Beer and Pub Association welcomed the legislation. The association’s director of communications Mark Hastings said the association is happy that the MPs have ensured a level playing field for all, with no exemption for private members’ clubs.

The bill will now move to the House of Lords, where it is expected to pass. Once this formality is over, it will become law by mid-2007.

The ban is estimated to cut revenue to pub companies by about 8 per cent, according to consulting firm KPMG International.