Vodafone has agreed to acquire Germany’s largest cable operator Kabel Deutschland for more than 8.5bn pounds, The Times reported. The deal, pitched at 7.7bn euros, marks one of the biggest in the telecoms industry since the height of the technology boom.
Rio Tinto has ditched plans to sell or float its precious gems business, the Financial Times said. The Anglo-Australian mining group had considered a number of strategic ownership options for the division but decided the best way to maximise value for shareholders was to retain its diamond assets, said Alan Davides, head of Rio’s diamond and minerals arm.
Chancellor George Osborne has agreed the final details of spending cuts worth £11.5bn for 2015-16, according to The Telegraph. He is set to unveil the plans in an announcement this week as the Treasury reveals a multi-billion, six-year infrastructure investment programme.
The Bank of International Settlement says soaring bond yields across the world threaten trillion of dollars in losses for investors and a fresh financial crisis unless banks are braced for the possibility, The Guardian reported.
An ex-undercover police officer claims he was part of an operation to “smear” the family of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence. Peter Francis said he was told to find “dirt” that could be used against members of the Lawrence family, shortly after the 18-year-old was killed in a racist attack in April 1993, The Guardian reported. He was also asked to target the friend who witnessed the murder and campaigners angry at the failure to bring his killers to justice, the newspaper said.
UK building society, Nationwide, is said to be devising plans to raise at least £1.0bn to plug a hole in its balance sheet, the Daily Mail said. The mutual was one of eight lenders singled out by the Bank of England recently under plans to strengthen the sector’s reserves of buffer capital and prevent future taxpayer bail-outs.
Nelson Mandela’s health has deteriorated and he is now in a critical condition, the South African presidency has said. South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma and ANC Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa visited Mr Mandela in hospital on Sunday evening. They were briefed by Mr Mandela’s medical team and told that the 94-year-old’s condition had “become critical over the past 24 hours”. Sky News
Gold extended last week’s 7-percent drop on Monday, hurt by a stronger dollar, worries over an early end to Federal Reserve stimulus and fears of a cash crunch in China. But the fall in prices failed to revive physical demand as much as when bullion tumbled its most in 30 years in April. Investors also continued to dump holdings in gold exchange-traded funds, despite the metal’s usual appeal as a so-called safe-haven asset. “The market is very bearish at the moment and we continue to see more liquidation,” said a trader in Hong Kong. “We can see some physical buying interest but not enough to support prices.” Spot gold had lost 0.5% to $1,290.65 an ounce by 0253 GMT, not far from a near-three year low touched last week. It rose over 1 percent on Friday but recorded its worst weekly performance since September 2011. Comex gold fell $2 to $1,290.10. Markets were roiled last week after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke laid out a strategy for the U.S. central bank to start scaling back its $85 billion monthly bond-buying programme. Reuters
Mr Zuma said in a statement: “The doctors are doing everything possible to get his condition to improve and are ensuring that Madiba is well-looked after and is comfortable. He is in good hands.”
