Cadillac to move headquarters to NYC
DETROIT -- The Cadillac luxury brand will move its headquarters to New York next year to get closer to those living lives of luxury.
The high-end brand, which has lost sales this year as German rivals gain, also will become a separate business unit, giving it more freedom to chase global growth.
"There is no city in the world where the inhabitants are more immersed in a premium lifestyle than in New York," Johann de Nysschen, the brand's new president, said in a statement issued Tuesday announcing the move.
In August, GM hired de Nysschen away from Nissan's Infiniti luxury brand, where sales are up 7 percent in the U.S. so far this year. Cadillac sales have slumped nearly 5 percent this year despite several new vehicles that have received strong reviews.
The sales drop comes as luxury sales and the overall U.S. market are growing. Autodata Corp. says Audi sales are up nearly 15 percent, BMW is up almost 12 percent and Mercedes-Benz is up 9 percent. Toyota's Lexus luxury brand also posted a 16 percent increase.
Cadillac's leaders and its marketing operations will move to Manhattan, but most of its employees will remain in Michigan.
-- The Associated Press
Procter & Gamble selling Iams, Eukanuba
NEW YORK -- The Procter & Gamble Co. is selling its Iams and Eukanuba brands in Europe to Spectrum Brands, shedding the remaining parts of its pet care business.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
The transaction includes 42 markets in Europe. Procter & Gamble said that exiting the pet care business will help it focus on its core businesses. Its brands include Tide detergent and Pampers diapers.
Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc. is a consumer products company whose pet group brands include Tetra, Furminator and Dingo.
In April, Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble said that it was selling 80 percent of its global pet care business -- including North America and Latin America -- to Mars Inc. Europe was not included in that transaction, except for Russia and Turkey.
-- The Associated Press
Greece plans reform but not 3rd bailout
BERLIN -- Greece isn't seeking another financial rescue and will soon set out a new economic reform program to underpin the recovery, the country's prime minister said Tuesday as he visited key creditor Germany.
Since 2010, Greece has relied on two bailout packages totaling $308 billion. Payments from eurozone partners end this year while those from the International Monetary Fund conclude in 2016.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said he told German Chancellor Angela Merkel that "Greece can now stand on its own two feet and that we believe we do not require a new support package."
In return for the bailout money, Greece has had to cut spending and pension payments and enact a wide-ranging economic reform program.
-- The Associated Press
July's home-price gain a tepid 0.1%
U.S. home prices rose less than economists estimated in July as investors pulled back from the property market.
Prices climbed 0.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from June, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said Tuesday. The average economist estimate was for a 0.5 percent increase, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Investors who helped drive up prices are retreating as fewer foreclosures and other discounted homes become available. All-cash purchases in August fell to about 23 percent of the market from the usual 33 percent, the National Association of Realtors reported Monday. Investors accounted for 12 percent, the least since late 2009.
"There are fewer investors because the incentive isn't there any more," said Patrick Newport, an economist with IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Mass. "They buy low and sell high and right now there aren't a lot of properties selling at low prices."
-- Bloomberg News
NetJets to offer private planes in China
NetJets Inc., the aviation arm of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said it will begin providing private aircraft in China after gaining regulatory approval from civil aviation authorities there.
NetJets Business Aviation Ltd., a venture with China's Fung Investments and private equity firm Hony Capital, will initially charter two Hawker 800XPs in a move that expands the NetJets footprint beyond the U.S. and Europe. It will also provide maintenance, crews, catering and storage services.
While NetJets pioneered fractional ownership, offering access to about 750 aircraft including Bombardier Inc.'s Global 5000 and 6000 models, it will delay introducing similar plane shareholding deals to Chinese customers until the market is more mature, Chief Operating Officer Robert Molsbergen said.
The Hawker 800XP, with a 3,200-mile range, is ideal for trips from southern China to Beijing, he said.
-- Bloomberg News
Sotheby makes bid for West Coast's rich
Sotheby's auction house is making a big push for its latest target -- the new wealthy along the West Coast of the U.S. -- by showing off more than $200 million of art.
Armed with highlights from its coming New York sales including canvases by Mark Rothko and Jasper Johns along with Old Master painting and jewelry, Sotheby's starting this month will woo the rich from San Diego to Seattle with exhibitions, wine tastings and dinners in private homes.
"Our focus is on the next generation of collectors, the new buyers who will become futures sellers," Andrea Fiuczynski, Sotheby's chairman of West Coast, said in an interview at the company's Manhattan headquarters.
She listed a younger generation of Hollywood producers and actors in Southern California, venture capital firms and hedge funds in San Francisco, technology executives in Silicon Valley and wealthy Chinese and Indian families along the coast.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 09/24/2014