In Short

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

Tax move may attract wealthy

New remittance tax provisions flagged in the Budget could persuade wealthy individuals who generate much of their income in Britain to relocate to the Republic, Deloitte suggests.

Currently, most non-UK foreign income made by people living in the Republic, but not permanently domiciled or resident here, is only liable to Irish tax if it is brought into this State. However, this provision does not apply to income made in the UK, which is currently liable to Irish tax whether it is brought in or not.

The new rules to come into force in January will mean expatriates who generate income in both the Republic and the UK will only attract Irish tax in respect of the Irish income.The UK income will only incur Irish tax if it is brought into the Republic.

Next Coca-Cola chief revealed

Coca-Cola, the world's largest soft drinks company, said yesterday that Muhtar Kent would succeed Neville Isdell as its chief executive in July, under a succession plan that will see Mr Isdell continue as chairman until April 2009.

Mr Isdell said Mr Kent, who holds dual Turkish and American citizenship and who has worked extensively in Asia and Europe, "is a global citizen, and for a global company I think that's very important".

He said Mr Kent, who first worked for Coca-Cola in 1978 and played a leading role in building its business in eastern Europe, had a "very intimate knowledge and understanding of our business". - (Financial Times service)

New CPL board members

Recruitment group CPL Resources has appointed Breffni Byrne, chairman of NCB Stockbrokers, and Oliver Tattan, chief executive of health insurer Vivas, to its board as non-executive directors.

CPL chairman John Hennessy said both men "bring a wealth of business experience and we are confident they will make a significant contribution".

Defaults tipped to rise next year

Defaults by speculative-grade companies will quadruple next year as the era of "easy credit" comes to an end and economic growth slows, Moody's said in a report. The global default rate will rise to 4.2 per cent by November from 1 per cent now, the lowest since 1981, Kenneth Emery of Moody's wrote in the report. - (Bloomberg)

Rabobank bails out ailing SIV

Rabobank yesterday became the third bank in the past two weeks to bail out a troubled structured investment vehicle (SIV), in a further sign of the deteriorating conditions in the financial markets.

The Dutch bank plans to take assets worth €5.2 billion on to its balance sheet to prevent a fire sale of Tango Finance. - (Financial Times service)

Airline groups circle Alitalia

Air France-KLM Group, the world's biggest airline, and Italy's Air One will compete to buy Alitalia, the unprofitable national carrier put up for sale a year ago to save it from bankruptcy. - (Bloomberg)