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World Business Quick Take

■MEDIA

Fininvest sentenced to pay

The Italian company Fininvest, which is controlled by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, has been sentenced to pay 750 million euros (US$1.09 billion) to its rival media group CIR in a long-running legal dispute, the ANSA news agency reported on Saturday. Milan’s civil court ruled that the CIR holding company of Carlo De Benedetti was entitled to 749.995 million euros in compensation for Fininvest destroying the value of its stake in Mondadori, Italy’s leading publishing house. Marina Berlusconi, the head of Fininvest and the daughter of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, announced the company would appeal the court decision. The case dates from 1990, when Fininvest, then headed by the prime minister, wrestled control of Mondadori from De Benedetti.



■TELECOMS

IPO creates Bangladesh buzz

Thousands of people waited in line outside banks in Bangladesh yesterday as subscription for the country’s largest Initial Public Offering (IPO) opened, an event seen as a key test for the national stock market. The country’s top mobile phone operator, Grameenphone, is raising US$70.4 million through the IPO sale of 69.44 million shares. The company, 62 percent owned by Telenor of Norway, has raised the same amount from institutional investors. It says the money will be spent on network expansion and developing its information technology infrastructure. The face value of the shares has been fixed at 10 taka (US$0.07) with a 60 taka premium on each share. A private investor can buy a maximum lot of 200 shares.



■AVIATION

Tiger adds seventh plane

Tiger Airways PTE, the budget carrier partly owned by Singapore Airlines Ltd, added a seventh plane to its fleet in Australia, the company said on Sunday in a press release. Tiger is also creating 30 jobs at its office in Melbourne, the statement said. The new airplane will allow Tiger to increase service between Sydney and Melbourne to as many as nine round-trips a day, the release said. It plans to increase flights on the ­Sydney-Adelaide route to two round-trips daily, it said.



■FINANCE

DB Holding posts gains

DB Holding Corp said it would post an additional gain in the third quarter of 91 million shekels (US$24.1 million) and a gain of 57 million shekels in the fourth quarter from Koor Industries Ltd sale of shares in Credit Suisse Group AG. IDB made the announcement in a statement to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange today.



■COMPUTERS

New input services coming

A new input device for computer users is on the way from hardware maker Wacom. The company’s latest tablet model from the Bamboo series is the first to allow input with both a stylus and a multi-touch function. With the device, users could open a folder on the computer by simply tapping a finger on the input surface, Wacom said. Other options include spreading thumb and index finger to magnify a photo on the screen. The stylus comes into play when precise input is required. The US$90 Bamboo works with Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7, as well as with Mac OS X (10.4 and higher). The touch functions integrated into Windows 7 are not supported, however. The Bamboo connects to the computer via USB. The standard version is joined by two “fun” versions costing US$100 and US$200 respectively.


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