PRESS DIGEST - British business - June 18

The Times

L&G DEMANDS INVESTORS HAVE THE MUSCLE TO FORCE CHANGE

Legal & General (LGEN.L) has launched its biggest call yet for boardroom reform, calling for the chairman, senior independent director, and heads of committees at listed companies to face re-election each year, as part of a five point plan to overhaul company practices. The influential investor said that aggrieved investors should be able to join forces and lobby for change, and in time, every director should be approved by shareholders each year.

VODAFONE AND ORANGE AGREE MOBILE USE IN AIRCRAFT

Vodafone (VOD.L) and Orange have agreed to open their networks, by giving roaming permission to OnAir, which provides mobile services to carriers such as Ryanair (RYA.I). The operators had originally blocked the plan amid fear that customers would be caught out by high charges, but will now join operators O2 and T-Mobile in allowing customers to use the OnAir system. Onboard mobile services are still new and only a few aircraft in Europe have the technology, but numbers are likely to grow.

BAT HOPES TO STRIKE LUCKY IN INDONESIA AS IT PAYS 300 MILLION.

British American Tobacco BATS.L is to buy a controlling 85 per cent stake in Bentoel Internasional Investama for 494 million dollars. BAT said it would be seeking to take full control of Indonesia's fourth-biggest tobacco firm, giving the cigarette maker its first taste of kretek, a kind of cigarette made with tobacco and cloves. About a third of Indonesia's 248 million people smoke, making it the world's fifth biggest tobacco market by volume and among the ten most profitable.

TEMPUS

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The Daily Telegraph

FAVOURITE FOR ITV HOT SEAT ACCEPTS BOARD ROLE AT BT

Former BSkyB(BSY.L) CEO Tony Ball has accepted a place on the board of BT(BT.L) as a non-executive director. Ball is an executive at German pay-TV company Kabel Deutschland and is the preferred choice to fill Michael Grade's place as chief executive for many of ITV's(ITV.L) investors. This new appointment, however, does not rule Mr Ball out from the ITV job. BT has also announced the departure of BT Vision CEO Dan Marks, just weeks before an expected update from Ofcom on its review into the pay-TV market. Mr Ball's German interest has also given him experience in the expanding broadband market.

FIVE CHIEF ATTACKS DIGITAL BRITAIN REPORT FOR 'FUDGING' CHANNEL 4.

Dawn Airey, the chief executive of broadcaster Five, is dismayed at Lord Carter of Barnes' Digital Britain report which recommended a tie-up between Channel 4 and BBC Worldwide, discounting the merger with Five. In comments on the report, Airey called the suggestions "a political fudge" and said the financial backing that Five, which is owned by RTL(AUDKt.BR), would have brought to a tie-up with Channel 4 would have been "titanium plated" and produced annual synergies of 150 million pounds. Airey added that "the transparency, accountability, competition and state issues that it raises will be closely monitored by the industry."