08/04/2016 World Business Report


08/04/2016

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Marriott and Starwood look set to tie the

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knot in their mega merger - creating the world's biggest hotel chain.

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Plus a gift in the post for Chinese manufacturers

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as Beijing slaps new taxes on foreign goods bought online.

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Andy tells me I have nine minutes, so there is the deal. That is all I

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ask for, and I will give you a snapshot of all the news in business

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and money. Also coming up: We'll be talking to

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a lawyer who says offshore shell We start in the US,

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where in a few hours' time, shareholders of the Marriott hotel

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chain and luxury rival Starwood Hotels and Resorts are expected to

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vote through a merger to create a Marriott has seen off rival Hyatt,

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which was also trying to buy Starwood,

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as well as Chinese insurance firm Anbang, which threatened to cut

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in on the deal - but it now looks The combined firm will have

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a stock market value of this - It will control over 5,500 hotels

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worldwide, including the Marriott, Sheraton, St Regis and W chains,

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which add up to more than By all those measures,

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it will be the world's biggest hotel firm, leapfrogging

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the current leader Hilton. Will it dominate the industry,

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though? Starwood's boss has described

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the hotel market as "extremely The merger with Marriott will give

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them less than 15% of the US market. The industry is now red-hot with

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merger speculation - with Hyatt, Intercontinental and Carlson,

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which owns the Radisson chain, But what does this one mean

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for you if you are a regular guest at Marriotts or or

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any of the Starwood hotels? With brands like the courtyard,

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Marriot has 4200 hotels worldwide including a convention and resort

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business. It wants to add the luxury and personal service which Starwood

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offers its guests. It has 1300 hotels under prestigious rands such

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as these: Starwood is popular amongst business travellers for its

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preferred guest scheme, which has 21 million members. They are offering

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late checkouts, room upgrades and personal travel ambassadors to make

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their bookings. Marriot has 54 million people in its loyalty

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scheme, however it is not as generous. Starwood's regular

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customers are worried there it was of privileges could be watered down

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following a merger. The proposed tie-up between Marriot and Starwood

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is seen as just the first of several in the pipeline of hotel chains like

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Hyatt also looking for mergers. Let's return to the big story

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of the week - the revelations about the offshore

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financial arrangements of the rich The so-called Panama Papers,

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more than 11 million documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack

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Fonseca, have sent out shockwaves from Argentina to Iceland and Russia

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to China - not to mention here in Britain, where the Prime Minister is

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facing relentless questions But how much will

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they really change? Stephen Arthur is a Barrister

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at Temple Tax Chambers. He used to work for HSBC in Geneva,

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where he used Mossack Fonseca to Great to have you in the studio.

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Thank you for coming at this ungodly hour. Interesting stuff. I believe

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you are about to tell me something we haven't heard from a lot of

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guests and experts this week. You are going to argue the case that

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there is a case for offshore structures like we're talking about.

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Certainly there is. They provide anonymity in a legal way for anyone

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who doesn't want that personal financial affairs to be open to

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public scrutiny. Like journalists. So there is nothing wrong with a

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financial hiding place was Mike to the average layman it sort of

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doesn't leave a good taste in one's now. -- hiding place? All of the

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anti- laundering money legislation that one has to adopt, there are

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very few hiding places if any left. It is a way of providing anonymity

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for your investment activities. Certainly it seems a few politicians

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may be criminals and have cracked the system, but the majority of

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people are acting lawfully. So you are saying not necessarily invading?

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Tax evasion is illegal, tax avoidance is legal. Correct. But you

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don't even necessarily getting to tax avoidance, it is just a question

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of preventing the land Registry in the UK from knowing you personally

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own six properties in Kensington. I wish! I work for the BBC, mate. All

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across the press in Britain today, we have lots of pictures of David

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Cameron saying that he did have money offshore. We have seen the

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fall of the Icelandic Prime Minister. The Argentinian leader

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also under pressure at the moment. They have not done anything wrong,

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you would say? Not at all. I don't see any difference between David

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Cameron having an investment in offshore funds, and a lot of retired

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people buying an apartment also. It is a foreign investment. They have

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to declare the profit when they sell it. Is there any difference between

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Panama and British Virgin Islands, Delaware, Wyoming and Jersey? The

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only difference is that in the US, the regulatory treatment is far

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lighter than in all of those other offshore jurisdictions you

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mentioned. It is far easier in Wyoming, I believe, to get a driving

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licence, to open a company, then to ghetto drug licence. I'm out of

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time. -- then to get a driving licence. Thanks for coming.

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Let's go to China now, where shoppers wanting to buy

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foreign goods online will find them more expensive as of today.

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New policies mean foreign goods bought on e-commerce websites will

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be treated as imports and subject to various tariffs and

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The Chinese government says the changes are intended to put

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foreign and domestic products on an equal footing.

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Some industry experts, though, say they are designed to give

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a boost to "made-in-China" goods as part of a plan to encourage

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Let's talk to our correspondent Robin Brant in Shanghai.

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Good to see you. On the surface of this, and as a layman, you look

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foreign goods will be more expensive? This surely does not put

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them on an even footing as made in China goods, because that is what

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Beijing want you to believe, right? I think the government's defence of

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this is that it has not been a level playing field and they have been

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many companies here in this hugely burgeoning e-commerce sector who

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have made a really competitive edge of selling goods from Japan, Korea

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to Chinese people knowing that the tariff, the duty they will pay on

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those goods, is considerably lower. That is what the Chinese government

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is trying to address. At the same time, I think there is no doubt it

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is trying to produce shimmer is -- consumers here in an economy growing

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to buy more Chinese goods. The issue is quality. The reason people want

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to buy from Japan and Korea is because it tends to be higher and

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stuff. They think those products are better. The change is going to be

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significant. A lot of these goods coming from abroad are subject to

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about 10% parcel tax. That will go out the window. A VAT will now be

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applicable, possibly a slice of consumption tax as well, taking up

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to 17%. That is a near doubling of that 10% tax. It will have a

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significant impact on some of these goods coming from abroad. There are

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some retailers here really concerned and see this as an attack on their

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business model. Others say they are selling luxury goods and this is a

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small rise in tax. There are think it will have much of an impact or

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what the consumer he wants. Thank you. We appreciate your time.

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US telecoms giant Verizon is poised to make a bid for Yahoo - according

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It says the offer for the struggling internet business

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could come next week, and would also involve buying Yahoo's share

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Bloomberg suggests Google is also considering a bid -

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however all three companies have refused to comment.

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Don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the

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I will be back with James to look at some of the papers from around the

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world. See using. -- see you soon.

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