In The Papers 10 March

10-03-2009

by Sylvia Leatham

Digicel fundraising falls short | Irish star-gazer spots new asteroid

The Irish Times reports that Denis O'Brien has come up short in his effort to raise USD435 million for his Digicel mobile operations in the Caribbean and Central America. Digicel confirmed that it had secured USD335 million from investors in recent days, leaving it USD100 million shy of its original target. The failure to raise the full amount can be attributed to the global downturn, which has made it very difficult for companies to raise funds, particularly those with a large debt burden. Digicel will have debts of about USD3.2 billion as a result of this fundraising. Digicel declined to comment on the fundraising.

The Irish Examiner says that Astronomy Ireland member David Grennan has spotted a new asteroid. After seeing a faint object in the constellation Leo on 1 March, Grennan submitted a report to the Minor Planet Centre. He received confirmation that the object was a new and undiscovered object, which was given the official identification of 2009 EN1. Grennan will get to name the new asteroid in the near future. Meanwhile, Astronomy Ireland has announced that the director of science and robotics at the European Space Agency, Prof David Southwood, is to give a lecture in Trinity College Dublin on 16 March. See www.astronomy.ie for details.

According to the Financial Times, YouTube has begun blocking music videos to UK users following a failure to reach agreement with PRS for Music on a new royalties deal. YouTube said it was being asked to pay an amount to the collecting agency for writers, composers and publishers that was "many, many more times higher than under the previous agreement". PRS for Music criticised YouTube for taking action without any consultation and urged it to reconsider.

The paper also says that shares in Tiscali nosedived after the Italian telecoms firm disclosed that efforts to sell its UK business had collapsed. Shares fell nearly 48 percent on Monday before trading was suspended by the Milan Stock Exchange. Tiscali said on Friday that it was "de facto impossible" to continue with talks about the disposal of its UK broadband business to satellite TV operator BSkyB, blaming "the worsening of the market environment" for the breakdown in negotiations. Tiscali added it was asking its banks for a suspension of payments relating to EUR500 million of long-term debt, and the company is devising a business plan that supposedly involves a restructuring of its debt.

The Wall Street Journal says that Sam Palmisano, chairman and chief executive of IBM, has issued an upbeat message to stockholders, in sharp contrast to the mood of other large IT firms. Big Blue said in a letter accompanying the company's annual report that it is "positioned to lead in the era that lies on the other side of the present crisis. We will not simply ride out the storm. Rather we will take a long-term view, and go on offence." Palmisano's letter stresses that IBM's global exposure -- nearly two-thirds of the company's business comes from outside the US -- and its investment in cloud computing are two trends that it believes will help the company to keep its edge over rivals and to prosper after economic growth returns.

The same paper says that Palm, in a bid to raise cash before the launch of a new smartphone, is re-selling nearly half of an investment that its largest backer made in January. The company said it will re-sell about 18.5 million common shares that were related to a USD100 million investment in the firm by private equity firm Elevation Partners in January. The move lets the company raise additional money as Palm shares have rallied this year. Palm said it would receive all net proceeds in excess of the original USD49 million that Elevation invested -- and that money will be returned to Elevation. Palm is preparing to launch an iPhone-like touchscreen device called Palm Pre.

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