Business briefs

Cabinet postpones discussion on sale of Cesky Telecom; Current account deficit narrowed significantly in September; Irish entrepreneur buys ABN AMRO's Czech asset management business; EU court refers 'Budweiser' dispute back to Finnish courts

Cabinet postpones discussion on sale of Cesky Telecom

The Cabinet on Tuesday put off discussion on the sale of Cesky Telecom by two weeks. Most ministers are reported to be leaning towards selling the telecom via the capital markets, rather than through privatisation, in order to ensure transparency of the sale. The Czech National Bank said the sale could give a further boost to the Czech currency, which this week improved its all-time high to the U.S. dollar by two hellers, closing at 24.16 crowns to the dollar.

Current account deficit narrowed significantly in September

The Czech Republic's current account deficit narrowed to $260 million in September. The figures mark a sharp fall compared with the August current account deficit of $750 million — the markets had been expecting a deficit of around $400 million. A surplus in merchandise trade and a fall in net outflows of profits by foreign companies based in the Czech Republic are the main factors, analysts said. The figures are expected to help underpin the strength of the crown against the euro.

Irish entrepreneur buys Czech asset management business of ABN AMRO

An Irish-born entrepreneur has reportedly bought the Czech asset management business of ABN AMRO. Mr Enda O'Coineen, a Prague-based entrepreneur for over a decade, reportedly made the purchase through his private investment bank, Kilcullen Kapital Partner.

ECJ refers 'Budweiser' dispute back to Finnish courts

The European Union's highest court this week returned questions about whether the name "Budweiser" could be used by two competing brewers back to Finland's national court. The state-owned Czech brewery Budejovicky Budvar and the U.S. brewer Anheuser-Busch have been fighting over the rights to the "Budweiser" name for some 100 years, generally on a country-by-country basis. The European Court of Justice said that if Budvar were using Budweiser as a trade mark or badge of origin, Anheuser could claim the full protection of European law. But the EU court said if it was used as a "trade or company name," Finnish courts needed to decide what protection Anheuser could claim.