GTech and Ferrero invest abroad – The markets may still be turbulent, but investments in and by Italy were discussed again by the foreign press last week. There were again reports of the positive response to Italian bond sales (Expansion, July 11 – Italia supera las turbulencias y emite deuda al menor coste de la historia), but the international media largely wrote about foreign investments of Italian business groups. GTech (the former Lottomatica) spent 4.7 billion dollars to acquire the slot machine maker IGT (July 11 in the Wall Street Journal – Italy’s GTECH to Buy Casino-Equipment Maker IGT and Reuters – Italy’s GTECH to buy U.S. slot machine maker IGT in $6.4 billion deal; July 16 in the New York Times –Gtech of Italy to Acquire Slot Machine Maker for $4.7 Billion) and Ferrero has taken over a company in Turkey (Reuters, July 16 –Nutella maker Ferrero buys Turkish hazelnut company Oltan).
Another International operation by an Italian business is ENEL’s 6 billion euro asset sale in Eastern European (Bloomberg Businessweek, July 11 – Enel Seeks to Raise $6 Billion in Power Asset Sale).
Food, life and style and tourism – Summertime and the foreign press has been writing about tourism, and Italian life, style and cuisine. Last week, the Financial Times wrote about five of the best places to get a drink when visiting Rome (July 11 – Five of the best bars in Rome) while the travel section of El Pais reported on the capital pleasures – food and other – found in the islands of Venice (July 11 – Placeres capitales en Venecia). The New York Times gave its readers a new version of a recipe for lasagna (July 16 – Green Lasagna with Bolognese Sauce and Bechamel) and the Spanish ABC reported on an initiatives of the first socially responsible restaurant in Italy, promoted by the group Pellegrini (July 11 – Italia abrirá el primer restaurante a un euro*).
In a more history oriented article, the New York Times visited Elba in the shadows of Napoleon (July 14 – Italian Island of Elba Clings to Napoleon’s Legacy).
Finally, there were pieces on Italian design and architecture. The Wall Street Journal tried out the spider Alfa Romeo 4C (July 11 – Alfa Romeo: Old Fashioned Driving Is New Again), While El Mundo described the progect RhOME received the award from Solar Decathlon Europe 2014 for sustainable architecture (15 – –‘RhOME’, un proyecto que aspira a la regeneración urbana de Roma).
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