Business Briefs: CEO of Ireland’s chambers in N.Y. debate on internet, global trade

By Harry Keaney

Simon Nugent, chief executive officer of the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland, will be in New York on Sept. 13 to participate in a panel discussion on the impact of the internet on global trade.

The featured speaker at the event, which will take place from 1-3 p.m. in the West Terrace dining room of the United Nations, will be Robert Mallett, U.S. deputy secretary of commerce.

After Mallett’s presentation, Davis Goodman, editor in chief of World Trade Magazine, will moderate the panel discussion on current trends affecting global trade.

Joining Nugent in the panel discussion will be a representative of the UN conference on trade and development; Glenn Zagoren, chairman of ProNetLink.com; Stewart Hauser, president New York-New Jersey Foreign Freight Forwarders & Brokers Association, and Kim Marchner, senior director of electronic commerce marketing, United Parcel Service.

Details, call Andrew Silver at (212) 242-9353.

Telecom name change

Telecom Eireann, which recently floated on the New York Stock Exchange, changed its name to eircom on Aug. 30.

Group Chief Executive Alfie Kane said the name change reflected the company’s transition from a state monopoly to a semi-state group and now a quoted public company.

The rebranding will affect most of the group’s operations. Telecom Internet will become eircom.net.

Telecom Phonewatch, the alarm systems monitoring operation, will become eircom Phonewatch, and the company will operate overseas as eircom UK and eircom U.S. The mobile phone operation will continue to operate under the name Eircell.

Telecom Eireann’s ticker on the stock exchange is EIR. It’s share price is quoted weekly in StockWatch in the Echo.

The company is to spend about £6.5 million on rebranding.

Development in Cork

The proposed world trade center in Dublin may have a competitor — in Cork. Property developer Owen O’Callaghan is planning to build an international trade center, part of a £200 million development for the Mahon Point Peninsula in East Cork. O’Callaghan bought a site of more than 100 acres from Cork Corporation for £36 million in a deal which included a commitment to build a £5 million trade center.

Farley steps down

William Farley, 56, has stepped down from his position as CEO of Chicago-headquartered clothing company Fruit of the Loom.

An outside director, Dennis Bookshester, was named acting chief executive.

Farley has been chairman and chief executive since 1985 but now an office of the chairman has been formed, which will include Farley, Bookshester and Sir. Brian Wolfson, another outside director.

Fruit of the Loom, which has been plagued by falling earnings, has extensive operations in Ireland, particularly in Donegal and Derry.

Earlier this year, the company transferred its incorporation from Delaware to the Cayman Island in an effort to reduce its tax burden.

At ‘the Point’

U.S. company SFX Entertainment has agreed a $254 million deal to buy British-based Apollo Leisure. Apollo has a 51 percent stake in Dublin’s Point Theater. SFX subsidiaries includes T&A, one of the world’s largest music promoters. The Point Theater is one of Ireland’s biggest music venues.

McDonough introduces Summers

William McDonough, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, whose parents came from Mayo and Roscommon, will introduce the new U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers at a luncheon meeting of the Economic Club of New York today, Sept. 8, in the grand ballroom of the New York Hilton Hotel, in Manhattan. About 800 members and guests are expected to attend. Summers was sworn in on July 2 as the nation’s 71st secretary of the treasury. He succeeded Robert Rubin.

Revamping Dun Laoghaire

Dun Laoghaire, south of Dublin, is Ireland’s largest ferry port. Now, it is about to undergo its biggest overhaul since the artificial harbor was built there in the early 1800s. Next month, construction will start on two breakwaters costing more than £10 million. After this, a £6 million marina will be built. The marina is scheduled to open in April 2001.

A share of the house

Want to own part of an Irish pub chain? It may become a possibility in the next few years if Fadó Pubs Inc., the Irish pub chain, floats on the stock exchange. Fadó, which has seven Irish bars in the U.S., plans to open 18 more within three years. According to news reports in Ireland, Fadó chief executive Kieran McGill said that if the company continues to grow, it would need capital and the public market was an option. It is not clear, however, whether the company might float on U.S. markets, in London or in both.