Media Bites

Sunday Independent

A SALE of insurance intermediary Blue Insurance is well advanced, with a subsidiary of Zurich the leading contender.

The ‘Sunday Independent’ reports that the company has attracted interest from a number of parties since commencing a sales process last year. Industry sources believe it could fetch in the region of €50m.

The Observer

GRIDLOCKED motorways, empty restaurants and idle diggers seen across Britain last week could cost the economy £1bn (€1.12bn) a day and could halve GDP growth in the first three months of the year. The extreme weather was likely to have the biggest impact on the construction industry, which experts said could lose up to £2bn over the three worst days.

Sunday Times

RYANAIR and Aer Lingus, once the most bitter of aviation rivals, are set to start selling tickets for each other’s services on their respective websites as part of a new and unique co-operation agreement. The two have signed heads of terms on an agreement that will see Ryanair feed passengers from some of its European routes to Aer Lingus transatlantic services out of Dublin.

Sunday Business Post

IRISH banks are not being forced to sell off non-performing home loans and have tools available to them other than portfolio sales to bring down their levels of senior debt, according to senior regulatory sources cited by ‘The Post’.

While European authorities want Irish banks to bring down non-performing mortgage debt, no diktat was issued that specified sales of portfolios.