IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 15 December
15-12-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
AON acquires Insure.ie | Nokia delays E7 launch
The Irish Times reports that Dublin-based food technology company Odenberg is to be sold for up to EUR57.5 million to Norway's Tomra Systems. An initial EUR52 million will be paid in cash for Odenberg, with a further EUR5.5 million payable if certain financial targets are met for 2010 and 2011. Odenberg is owned by ACT Venture Capital in Dublin and members of the Van den Bergh family in Belgium. Odenberg employs 120 people at its base in Citywest, Dublin.
The paper also says that insurance broker AON has acquired Dublin's Insure.ie for an undisclosed sum. AON on Tuesday announced the acquisition of the Mike Murphy Insurance group, which includes online brokerage Insure.ie. The Mike Murphy Insurance group is a family business employing about 80 people in Sandyford, Dublin, and the takeover will bring AON's Irish workforce to more than 600.
The Irish Examiner reports that the latest internet figures show that most Irish households have caught up with the EU average for broadband connections. The number of homes with a broadband connection has gone from 13 percent to 58 percent in the past four years, according to figures from Eurostat, the EU's statistics agency. However, in terms of posting messages to chat sites, blogs and social media sites, Irish users fall well behind the rest of Europe, despite Facebook members in Ireland almost doubling last year to more than 1.5 million people.
According to the Financial Times, France's competition authority has announced that Google has a dominant position in online search advertising that is susceptible to abuse. Following a 10-month investigation into the online ads market, the Autorite de la Concurrence has released a list of potential abuses stemming from Google's dominance and warned the internet group to behave more responsibly. The watchdog's conclusions are non-binding but could lead to further investigations and remedies if abuse is formally identified.
The Wall Street Journal notes that Nokia has delayed the release of its new E7 smartphone to early 2011, meaning it will miss the peak Christmas shopping season. The company has taken the decision to ensure a good user experience, said spokesman Doug Dawson, without elaborating. He declined to comment on how Nokia's sales would be affected by not having the device in stores over the Christmas holiday period.
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