Paddy Power offered Uruguay and Liverpool striker Luis Suarez €1 million to wear a special branded mouth guard during a World Cup fixture, according to the Sunday Independent.

The idea was the green mouth guard would have been revealed as the cameras were filming the Uruguayan team singing their national anthem prior to a game.

However the plan came to nought when the player was involved in a biting incident with Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini and given a four-month ban.

Cost of living

The National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, which advises the State on whether to fund new drugs or not, has advised against a drug that can extend the lives of women with advanced breast cancer.

Kadcyla, which costs €80,000 per course, can extend the lives of cancer patients by up to six months but was deemed not cost-effective by the centre, according to the Sunday Business Post.

Head of the centre Prof Michael Barry told the paper it was not questioning whether the drug works. “Our only problem is that the pharmaceutical company is charging too much,” he said.

Beaks of vultures

The same newspaper also reported a number of so-called vulture funds have tuned up the pressure on errant Irish borrowers, appointing receivers to dozens of properties and investment assets.

The “purge” comes just a few weeks after a small number of international funds acquired billions of euro in loans from the National Asset Management Agency, the newspaper said.

Private equity company CarVal Investors and Goldman Sachs are believed to be behind most of the receiverships to date, though other funds are expected to follow suit in the coming weeks.

The loans bought by the two entities were thought to be among the most distressed that were up for sale and were bought at sharp discounts, the newspaper said. In many instances, the borrowers had not paid any interest for some time.

Financial sparks

Duff & Phelps, a global valuation and corporate finance advisory firm, is poised to enter the Irish market though the purchase of the restructuring and corporate finance division of RSM Farrell Grant Sparks.

Staff as FGS were briefed at the weekend on the deal, according to the Sunday Times.

The transaction, which is expected to be announced this week, does not affect the firm’s audit, tax or other advisory services. Duff & Phelps is headquartered in the US and has significant operations in Britain.