Cindy Crawford, the supermodel recently dropped by Revlon for being too old, and Christie Brinkley are the new faces of a controversial energy supplement banned in Australia and under suspicion in the UK.
A leader in the healthy lifestyle market, US company Experimental and Applied Sciences said it had hired Ms Crawford and Ms Brinkley to front a sales drive into a multi-billion-dollar market.The campaign begins this month. “EAS is working with me to help deliver the important message of total nutrition and how to achieve and maintain a healthier lifestyle,” said Ms Crawford.”I have a passionate commitment to health and fitness, so EAS is a company I am extremely excited to be associated with.” The models will promote energy bars and health drinks in magazines and on television.But one of EAS’s main supplements is creatine, an energy booster that was banned in Australia after the National Rugby League said it could lead to liver damage and that its long-term health effects were unknown.In Australia, tests have also shown that US exporters are not labelling all their product ingredients and that many supplements contain ingredients which are present in different quantities to those shown on the label.In the UK, where scientists at the University of Nottingham gave a green light to creatine during a £500,000 study, doubt was cast on the results after it was revealed that the grant was given by EAS.Creatine has been used in the UK by the England World Cup squad and Arsenal.. VNU, the Dutch publishing and market research group, has emerged as the front-runner to buy Emap’s business publishing arm, valued at around £750m. VNU, the Dutch publishing and market research group, has emerged as the front-runner to buy Emap’s business publishing arm, valued at around £750m.
Kevin Hand, Emap’s chief executive, hoisted a “for sale” sign over the division late last year in an attempt to focus the business on consumer media. VNU, which is developing a reputation as a highly acquisitive media group, is understood to be interested in the division, which would make it one of the largest trade magazine publishers in the UK.VNU already publishes 18 trade titles including Accountancy Age and Computing. There are few overlaps with the Emap portfolio that includes Retail Week, Construction News and Nursing Times.Emap was expelled from the FTSE100 index in December’s reshuffle, and Mr Hand is keen to propel the group back into the stock market Premier League.But Emap has got debts of around £600m, making large acquisitions difficult. It is understood that once it has disposed of its business publishing division – known internally as Emap Communications – it will focus its attention on overseas acquisitions.Last financial year Emap Communications generated £50m in profits, on revenues of £200m..

John Sulley, the ex-chief executive of Independent Energy Group (IEG), has tabled an audacious bid for the generation and resource assets of the collapsed former stock market darling. John Sulley, the ex-chief executive of Independent Energy Group (IEG), has tabled an audacious bid for the generation and resource assets of the collapsed former stock market darling.
IEG went into receivership last September following customer billing problems and financing difficulties.The move by Mr Sulley, who is one of several co-defendants in two legal cases being brought by disenchanted former shareholders, comes as KPMG, Independent’s receivers, looks to auction off Independent Energy Generation and Independent Energy Resources in a single deal.”We put in a bid at 2pm on Thursday, and we’re quietly confident,” said Mr Sulley, who is being backed by an anonymous investor from outside the energy sector. “I have got together a different team, one that will be able to make these assets work.” Neither Peter Hare, former sales director, Ian Stewart, ex-finance director, nor Burt Keenan, founding director is involved.But Mr Sulley will be up against a number of other potential bidders, thought to include Enron Corporation, Innogy, and the recent stock market entrant Alkane Energy, all of whom are pursuing the 40MW electricity generation capacity. Also being sold, in a deal that could be completed as early as this week, are other oil and gas assets owned by IEG.The group’s electricity and gas customer base was sold to Innogy for £10m last year. But that earlier sale and these latest disposals are unlikely to appease Independent’s creditors, who are owed £260m. Utility analyst Angelos Anastasiou, of investment bank Williams de Broe, estimates the generation assets are worth up to £30m.Mr Sulley and two other directors, Mr Stewart and Robert Jones, operations director, are named in an action being brought in the US by investors who purchased shares in the company between February and September last year.

Another action is being brought against the company’s underwriters, including Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, the US investment bank.Independent’s directors came under attack when they sold shares as part of a £90m fundraising in March last year while the company struggled to sort out its billing and financial problems.The action being brought against Mr Sulley, co-ordinated by US lawyers Rabin & Peckel, alleges that “Independent Energy and certain of its officers and directors… [made] a series of materially false and misleading statements concerning the financial condition of the company and the nature and scope of its billing, accounting and collection problems.”However, Mr Sulley thinks he has a strong case. “I believe that there was enough information for investors, not just in financial documentation that went with the funding, but also in press statements at the time. They will have to prove deliberate misrepresentation.”No date has yet been set for the hearing.. The new business-friendly government elected in Ghana last month is expected to re-open a $1bn (£670m) bidding war for Ashanti Goldfields. The move could bring a windfall for Lonmin, which owns 32 per cent of the troubled gold-mining group. The new business-friendly government elected in Ghana last month is expected to re-open a $1bn (£670m) bidding war for Ashanti Goldfields.

The move could bring a windfall for Lonmin, which owns 32 per cent of the troubled gold-mining group.
Ashanti, purportedly the cheapest deep miner of gold in the world, has long been in the sights of several potential buyers. Although the approaches of Placer Dome, Barrick, AngloGold and Lonmin have all hit the same brick wall. The Ghanaian government retains a golden share in Ashanti, and the previous regime was reluctant to allow its prized asset to fall into foreign hands.But the democratic ousting of President Jerry Rawlings has put an end to a government particularly criticised for its economic policies. John Kufuor, who will be sworn in as president today, attacked his inheritance, saying there was too little to show for the billions of dollars poured into Ghana during 14 years of donor support.Mr Kufuor has made it clear that he sees the private sector as the driving force behind Ghana’s recovery, and that protection would not be his way of doing things.Gold analysts around the world are taking the new president’s comments as a sign that the old barriers to buying Ashanti may be about to fall.”I’m sure the new government is going to be rational about this,” said one, “but it must realise that the comments will have got a lot of big gold companies very interested.