One of the largest hotel operators in the world, the French Accor Hotels Group, announced purchase of the three premium hotel brands - Fairmont, Raffles and Swissotel – worth in total $ 2.9 billion. Experts point out that now hotel chains tend to consolidate as competition from alternative players such as service Airbnb is growing rapidly. Europe's largest hotel chain, French Accor Hotels...

The two largest US chemical manufacturer Dow Chemical and DuPont are in talks about a possible merger. If the deal goes through, the market will get a new player with a market cap of about $ 120 billion. Two of the largest in terms of market capitalization US chemical companies - Dow Chemical and DuPont - are at an advanced stage of negotiations about a possible merger. Against this backdrop,...

Today it became known about a possible merger of the American company Newell Rubbermaid (owner of the brand Parker) with Jarden Corp. (a number of well-known sports brands, including K2, Volkl and Madshus). The deal could be worth $ 13 billion. American companies Newell Rubbermaid and Jarden Corp. are pondering a possibility of merger. Larger Newell Rubbermaid (cap $ 12 billion; annual turnover -...

The European Commission is ready to soften their demands on the share of foreign investors in the European airlines in exchange for tighter controls on state subsidies. This should allow the regulator to check the Arab carriers, which have repeatedly been accused by market participants of violating the rules of fair competition. According to the Financial Times, the European Commission is...

South Korea's financial regulator (Financial Services Commission) opened an investigation into the Samsung Group senior officials on suspicion of insider trading. According to Yonhap, persons involved in the investigation are nine top managers of Samsung. Presumably, they managed to take advantage of non-public information about the merger of the group’s two divisions in order to extract personal...

Pinewood Studios’ operating profit for the first six months of this year increased from 2.5 million to 7 million pounds ($ 3.77 million and $ 10.6 million respectively) compared with the same period in 2014. This is due to use of the studio facilities for shooting "Star Wars. Episode VII: The Force Awakens" and "Spectre" (the last part of the James Bond franchise). At the time, the studio’s...

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has introduced another top 50 most innovative companies in the world. More than half of the companies included in the rating are residents of the United States, 11 Europeans, 10 - Asian. Half of them are not operating in the technology sector. The top five has had a minor reshuffle. Apple and Google have retained the first and second places respectively. It’s...

AB InBev brewing company intends to get rid of its two well-known beer brands - Dutch Grolsch and Italian Peroni. By doing this, AB InBev is going to seek the European regulators’ approval over the merger with the competitor - British brewing company SABMiller (Grolsch and Peroni’s owner). Applicants for these brands are considered Dutch Heineken and Canadian-American Molson Coors. Last weekend...

Millward Brown Optimor published its annual ranking of the most expensive brands in the world. According to analysts, strong brands generate high revenues and profits, as well as create competitive opportunities in various fields. As defined by the American Marketing Association, brand equity is value of a brand. However, there are different definitions of this concept, so there is no single way...