In Short

A round-up of today's other stories in brief...

€400m offer for Alitalia withdrawn

Italy's ailing national carrier Alitalia lurched one step closer to collapse last night following the decision of CAI (Compagnia Aerea Italiana) to withdraw its €400 million takeover offer.

It is estimated that Alitalia has lost €15 billion in the last 15 years, while it is currently losing some €2 million daily.

The CAI consortium was widely seen as a last hope for Alitalia. However, the company pulled out of the deal yesterday following the refusal of four trade union groups representing pilots and flight staff to sign a protocol agreement on future terms and conditions.

Investors baulk at Barclays plan

Shares in Barclays dropped sharply yesterday as shareholders baulked at plans to raise £7.3 billion in a deal that could leave as much as 30 per cent of the bank in the hands of two Middle Eastern investors.

The bank is raising £5.8 billion from investors in Qatar and Abu Dhabi in the form of capital notes and convertible shares, which convert into ordinary shares by June. Though Barclays yesterday offered a further £1.5 billion worth of convertible notes to institutional investors, ordinary investors are facing heavy dilution of their investments.

Analysts said the funding was more expensive than the cost of the capital the UK government has injected into Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and HBOS. - (Financial Times service)

Gunne to leave CB Richard Ellis post

Businessman Pat Gunne is leaving his post as deputy chairman of real estate business CB Richard Ellis and is joining Green Property as group managing director.

Mr Gunne joined CB Richard Ellis in 1995 and became managing director of Gunne Commercial two years later on the death of his father Fintan, who founded the firm. He sold Gunne to CB Richard Ellis in 2005, remained on as deputy chairman and joined its European board.

Green Property's assets include the Blanchardstown centre, Microsoft's Dublin offices and the Killarney Outlet Mall.

Bank of Japan cuts interest rates

Bank of Japan cut interest rates for the first time in seven years yesterday, under pressure to join the global response to the worst financial crisis in 80 years.

The central bank was divided over how far to trim rates, with the cut to 0.3 per cent passed on the vote of the governor only after a 4-4 split on the policy board. Three had wanted a slightly deeper cut and one no cut at all. - (Reuters)

Pat Phelan named 'Net Visionary'

Pat Phelan of MaxRoam was named overall Net Visionary at the Irish Internet Association's (IIA) 2008 awards event held in Dublin on Thursday night.

Maeve Kneafsey, chairperson of the IIA, said Mr Phelan was a "relatively clear choice".

She said Mr Phelan was one of those entrepreneurs who had taken risks and succeeded on a world-wide basis. Cork-based Maxroam offers a mobile phone service that allows frequent travellers share local numbers with their contacts in over 50 countries. A full list of winners is available on www.iia.ie.

Brown Thomas chief executive

In yesterday's Business This Week, the caption on a photograph accompanying the report of Brown Thomas's results identified the group's chief executive as Mr Nick Blow. It should have read Mr Nigel Blow.