London, England (GenevaLunch) - The British newspaper The Guardian reports that Kraft is planning to transfer some of its operations to a Zurich-based holding company in a move that could cost the British government up to £200 million in lost tax revenues. Kraft took control of the British chocolate maker Cadbury in 2010 after a £11bn hostile takeover that was partially financed by a loan from RBS, a bank that is 85 percent owned by the British government. The takeover met strong opposition in the UK, partly because of Cadbury’s history as a socially aware employer. In the nineteenth century George Cadbury created the model village of Bournville as housing for workers. The village had no pubs, in keeping with his Quaker beliefs. The firm merged with Schweppes in 1969 but split in 2008.
Kraft already operates a part of its business using a Swiss base. There were no details in the British weekend media articles on the likely impact on employment.
Links to other sites: The Guardian, The Daily Mail
Geneva's Mont Blanc McDonald's sports the new look
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The latest company to leave the UK and move to Switzerland is fast food giant McDonald’s, which will shift its European head office to Geneva later in 2009, the Tribune de Geneve reported late Friday. European president Denis Hennequin and a small team of possibly a dozen people will make the move. The Tribune says the company will be housed in the former offices of Bank Mirabaud on Boulevard du Théâtre, but the company has said only that details will be announced closer to the date of the move.
The UK’s Telegraph newspaper links the move to a change in the UK’s “taxation of foreign profits linked to intellectual property rights such as patents and trademarks” but it notes that the company stresses its tax rate will remain virtually unchanged.
Rolle, Vaud, Switzerland (Le Matin, Fre) – Chiquita, the food company based in Cincinnati, Ohio in the US, will open a new European head office in Rolle, becoming the 15th international company to open shop in the town since 2003. The company registered in Vaud in December 2007, the deadline to take advantage of fiscal incentives that were made possible by a Swiss federal programme to build up disadvantaged industrial zones. The company reportedly plans to have some 100 employees at the new A-One Business Center complex, according to Le Matin. Other newcomers include Cadbury-Schweppes and Yahoo, neither of which has yet moved into the town, and Bank Pictet and Cisco, already established.
