Blueface sold to Comcast, Dublin offices for sale, and NI builder’s royal blunder

Business Today: the best news, analysis and comment from The Irish Times business desk

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and his Meghan Markle, pictured at Kensington Palace.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and his Meghan Markle, pictured at Kensington Palace.

Comcast, the US corporate behemoth that owns media networks Sky and NBC, has bought Irish cloud-based telecommunications provider, Blueface, for an undisclosed sum. Mark Paul has the details from the complex transaction.

UK property company Henderson Park Capital is understood to be seeking in excess of ¤400 million from the sale of a portfolio of five prime Dublin offices it acquired as part of its recent €1.34 billion buyout of Green Reit.

A Northern Ireland property developer who used photographs of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex without their permission in an advertisement campaign has apologised to the couple and offered to donate £10,000 to charity. Francess McDonnell reports.

A lack of trust between banks and personal insolvency advisers is blocking attempts to resolve long-term mortgage arrears cases, the State's new insolvency agency chief Michael McNaughton told Simon Carswell.

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A cut in the VAT rate back to 9 per cent tops the Restaurants Association of Ireland's list of 10 "asks" ahead of the general election. Laura Slattery examines its wish list.

In his weekly column, Chris Johns assesses the election manifestos of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. He finds lots of promises to voters but little by way of new strategic thinking.

There was little evidence of the January blues for businesses or consumers as 2020 got under way, according to the latest snapshot of sentiment from Bank of Ireland's Economic Pulse study. Laura Slattery has the details.

When a rude boss keeps you waiting, you should walk out, says Pilita Clark, who was once left waiting in Havana by former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, before he cancelled their meeting at 1.15am.

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Ciarán Hancock

Ciarán Hancock

Ciarán Hancock is Business Editor of The Irish Times