In Short

A round-up of other business stories in brief...

Dutch bank deal to be queried by EU

The Dutch government’s nationalisation of Fortis’s Dutch banking unit and its recently acquired ABN Amro operation may have breached EU state aid rules, EU anti-trust regulators said.

Competition commissioner Neelie Kroes announced an in-depth investigation, saying: “At this stage, the Commission has reason to believe that the measures may not be in line with its communications on state aid to banks during the crisis.”

Ms Kroes said in a statement that the Dutch intervention was justified because of the risk of bankruptcy for Fortis Bank Nederland (FBN) but added that there were competition concerns.

Last October, the Dutch state took over the Dutch business of financial group Fortis and ABN for €16.8 billion after the now- dismantled Belgian financial group lost the confidence of investors and depositors, a victim of the credit crisis.

It was in the middle of digesting its acquisition of ABN, purchased in 2007 in a consortium with RBS and Spain’s Santander for €70 billion.

The European Commission said it was concerned about a loan facility granted to FBN, the interest charged by the Dutch state and the price paid for the purchase of ABN activities from FBN and whether they comply with EU state aid rules.

Diamond market facing bleak year

De Beers, the world’s biggest diamond miner, is planning for a 50 per cent fall in turnover this year, it emerged yesterday as the diamond market faces one of its bleakest years in a generation.

However, in a rare public fightback against a sceptical market, the South African group, which mines 40 per cent of the world’s diamonds, said that it was convinced it could survive a further two years of recession.

“Trading conditions are tough,” said Stuart Brown, De Beers’s finance director, “but because we saw it early and took very dramatic steps around the business, we are in a position to weather trade in 2009 and 2010 without any recourse to shareholder funds.”

De Beers saw demand for diamonds plummet in October after the September collapse of Lehman Brothers froze industry financiers’ access to credit. – Copyright: The Financial Times Limited 2009

New notebook computer launched

Acer, the world’s third- largest PC vendor, yesterday shook up the global notebook computer market with the launch of a range of ultra-thin products at half the price charged by competitors.

JT Wang, Acer’s chairman, said in Beijing that the Aspire Timeline, a lightweight, very portable notebook with a slim profile and more than eight hours of battery life, would sell for less than $1,000, compared with about $2,000 for most similar products.

The sector was launched last year by Apple, whose Macbook Air, the world’s thinnest laptop, has a minimum price tag of $1,800.

Mars opts for sustainable cocoa

Mars, which owns Mars, Snickers and MMs, is to spend tens of millions of dollars annually, certifying that the cocoa used in the $10 billion of chocolate products it sells every year is sustainably sourced by 2020.

The move by the world’s biggest confectionery company comes as chocolate companies worry over rising cocoa prices and falling supply.

Cocoa analysts forecast total global production at 3.5 million tonnes in 2008- 2009, down 66,000 tonnes on last year and the fourth successive seasonal deficit, and have warned of further increases in cocoa prices, which hit 24-year highs earlier this year.

Analysts at Fortis Bank said in a recent report they were concerned that the scope for production growth was reaching upper limits, due to a lack of locations suitable for cocoa production. – Copyright: The Financial Times Limited 2009