Arnotts & Clerys are in the shop window - the battle for Arnotts is set to intensify over coming weeks - two blocks of 50/50 shareholders are lining up to try to buy the others out.
On one side there is – solicitor/property developer Noel Smith’s company Fitzwilliam which is backed by London & Regional and owned by the billionaire Livingstone brothers
On the other there is the giant US finance house, Apollo Capital, which according to the Sunday Times has just been joined by Blue Gem Capital, owners of the upmarket Liberty department store in London..
Meanwhile Newstalk understands that Arnotts neighbouring store, Clerys of O’ Connell Street may be for sale. According to market sources, the store is being touted for sale by its current owners, Gordon Brothers of Boston, who bought it in 2012.
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Greece sent its latest proposed list of reforms late last week and had talks with lenders over the weekend – including 10 consecutive hours of talks on Saturday.
The Greek list includes 18 specific measures designed to raise more than €3bn in revenues per year including increasing VAT levels on the Greek islands and retention of an unpopular property tax that Syriza had vowed to abolish.
No measures will impact public pay, labour laws or pensions, which Greek PM Alexis Tsipras, has dubbed as red line issues.
Latest reports suggest it could be the week after Easter before final proposals are submitted to eurozone Finance ministers for approval.
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Close to €1m was paid out to Permanent TSB staff in commission payments for hitting sale targets in 2014.
The state owns the majority of the bank - a spokesman says that these were not bonus payments - rather they were commission payments that have been part of staff's salaries since before the banking crash.
Irish Times reports that individual workers were paid up to €4,500 while branch managers received larger payments.
The bank plans to start repaying the €2.7bn that it received from the state by raising €525 million from private investors - and using €400m of this money to pay the state.
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Renewable energy group Gaelectric has become involved in two new projects, one in Kilkenny and another in Tipperary.
It has taken control of the Ballybay Wind Farm in Kilkenny - and a 50 percent interest in Cnoc Wind Farm at Grange, Co Tipperary.
The company aims to generate 320MW of power by 2017 - it's current operations generate close to half that figure.
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Former HP Boss Carly Fiorina is setting her sights on the White House. She told Fox News Sunday that there is a higher than 90 percent chance that she’ll seek the Republican nomination for next year’s presidential elections.
Playing the business card – says she has a “deep understanding of how the economy actually works, having started her career as a secretary and become the Chief Exec of the largest technology company in the world,” and that “as a business woman she had actually accomplished something” unlike Hillary Clinton.
CEO of HP from 1999 to 2005 when she was forced to resign as CEO and Chairperson following difficulties with other directors over the company's future strategy.
