Mario Draghi is new governor of Italy's central bank
Rome: The Italian cabinet yesterday announced the appointment of a London-based banker for Goldman Sachs, Mario Draghi, as the successor to the disgraced Bank of Italy governor Antonio Fazio.

Fazio resigned ten days ago following a banking scandal. As per allegations made by his critics, Fazio unduly favoured Banca Popolare's bid ahead of Dutch rival ABN Amro, thereby tarnishing the credibility of Italy's banking system. Prosecutors are also currently investigating alleged fraud and insider trading in relation to the acquisition of shares in Banca Antonveneta.

The new incumbent, Draghi, will serve a six-year term after Silvio Berlusconi's government changed the law to limit the governor's term of office, from life to six years. Draghi (58) has previously held government office in Rome, having led Italy's privatisation programme as director-general of the Treasury during the 1990s.

The Italian government has now moved to dilute the Bank of Italy's powers in the wake of the Fazio affair after claims that the governor had too much power and was not sufficiently accountable.

As well as changing the governor's term of office, some of the bank's regulatory powers have been transferred to Italy's competition regulator. The appointment is likely to be popular with foreign investors, whose access to Italy's financial markets has been limited.
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Cadbury's Christmas buying and selling is still on
London: Cadbury Schweppes is continuing with its Christmas season buys and sales, announcing two deals yesterday. The company sold another of its non-core business, saying it was offloading its Holland House brand of cooking wines for US$37mn (£21.3million) to Mizkan Americas, specialists in vinegars and condiments.

The deal comes on the back of last week's US$30mn (£17.3million) sale of Cadbury's US-based Grandma's Molasses business, which produces unprocessed sugar cane juice used in cooking. B&G Foods picked up the US-based division.

Early next year Cadbury is also set to dispose of its European soft drinks arm, which includes brands such as Schweppes, Orangina and Oasis in a US$1.85bn (£1.27 billion) deal with private equity firms Blackstone and Lion Capital.

Cadbury intends to use the proceeds from these sales to pay off its debt and power its faster growing confectionery and other beverage businesses.

Cadbury Schweppes is buying Tahincioglu Holdings' 30 per cent stake in Kent, Turkey's second-largest sweet and gum maker, for about £55 million.
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Hilton hotels restore identity after 40-year split
London: The Hilton Group will sell its international hotels division to its US corporate cousin, Hilton Hotel Corporation, for £3.3bn, marking a reunion of the two halves of the 2,700-strong Hilton worldwide hotel network.

The chain founded 86 years ago, has been operated as two separate businesses - a US and an international operation - for four decades.

Hilton Corporation's chief executive, Stephen Bollenbach, said the transaction marked "the final and logical step in a process that began in 1997 with the signing of our strategic alliance". As part of the alliance the two groups developed a shared international reservations system and operated the luxury Conrad hotel brand as a joint venture.

The Hilton empire was founded in San Francisco by Conrad Hilton in 1919. In 1964, the company split in two, with Hilton Group focusing on growth in what have become known as "gateway cities" outside the US. The Hilton international hotel business was acquired in 1987 by a conglomerate then known as Ladbrokes, though the company changed its name six years ago to Hilton Group.

The Hilton family, whose most famous member is the American socialite Paris Hilton, still retains a 5% stake in Hilton Corporation.

With the sale of the hotels the London-listed group will revert to its previous name, Ladbrokes plc, and continue to run 2,000 betting shops and an online business providing poker and casino gaming as well as sports bets.
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