Kraft Foods Inc (NYSE:KFT) said on Friday the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had given its consent to the tax-free spin-off of its North American grocery business to shareholders.

After the separation, announced last August, the North American grocery business will operate as an independent, publicly traded firm under the name Kraft Foods Group Inc.

Dave Brearton, Kraft’s CFO and executive vice president, welcomed the IRS ruling saying the group is on track to launch the two new companies before the end of this year.

The remaining global snacks business, which makes the other publicly traded company, generates annual revenues of some USD32bn (EUR25.2bn), while the North American grocery unit has sales of around USD16bn, Kraft has said, adding that the break-up would allow each of the businesses to pursue their growth freely.

The group views the planned split as the next logical step in its development, expected to enhance performance and generate increased long-term shareholder value, Kraft Foods said in August 2011.

The spin-off is still subject to a number of conditions, including the execution of related inter-company agreements and the final approval from the board of Kraft Foods Inc, the company said today.

With a portfolio of snacks including biscuits, confectionery, beverages, cheese, grocery products and convenient meals, sold in around 170 countries globally, Kraft Foods Inc made revenues of USD54.4bn last year.

The co-founder of social networking giant Facebook, Eduardo Saverin, has decided to give up his US citizenship, a move which could save him millions of dollars in taxes.

Facebook has been in the process of floating its shares, valuing the firm at over USD100bn. The company’s profits are in the region of USD1bn.

Saverin, who currently resides in Singapore, ownes about a 4% stake in Facebook but was forced out of the company in 2005. Singapore does not levy a capital gains tax on its residents.

“Eduardo recently found it more practical to become a resident of Singapore since he plans to live there for an indefinite period of time,” Tom Goodman, a spokesman for Saverin told news agency Bloomberg.

Bloomberg has calculated that Saverin will save USD67m in taxes

“The calculations and assumptions are not only erroneous, they also further perpetuate the false impression that tax was the reason behind Eduardo’s decision,” Goodman told Bloomberg.

“His motive had nothing to do with tax and everything to do with his desire to live and work in Singapore.”

Saverin’s decision could result in him being prevented for ever residing in the US again, and possibly he could be barred from re-entering the country if it is believed that his reasons were to avoid paying taxes.

Saverin was played by actor Andrew Garfield in the 2010 movie The Social Network, also starring Justin Timberlake and Jessie Eisenberg.

Social network Facebook is will offer 25% more shares to investors than previously planned, according to a Reuters report. Facebook has not confirmed the news, first reported by CNBC.

The company, which made a profit of USD1bn last year and has about 900m users, yesterday revealed it had increased the price range for its initial public offering to USD34-38 from USD28-35, because of strong demand from investors, pushing the value of the firm above USD100bn.

News of US automotive giant General Motors’ decision to pull its USD10m Facebook campaign has not seemed to dent demand for the shares.

The increased IPO is the third largest in US history after Visa and General Motors and the lifted share price of Facebook will mean that its market value rivals US corporate titans Disney, Kraft Foods and Ford.

Danish Neurosearch A/S (CPH:NEUR) said today that Swiss bank UBS AG (VTX:UBSN), one of its major shareholders, has sold all of its shares in the company.

Additional details were not available. Last week, the biopharmaceutical company said that UBS has raised its stake in the firm to 5.74% of the share capital and the voting rights. The bank held 1.4m shares of a par DKK1 (USD0.173/EUR0.134).

The other major shareholders in the Danish firm include US investors Luxor Capital Group LP and Porter Orlin LLC, each holding more than 10% of the shares in the company. Denmark-based pension fund ATP and Glaxo Group Ltd, part of British pharmaceutical group GlaxoSmithKline (LON:GSK), each hold more than 5% of the company’s shares.

NeuroSearch focuses on central nervous system (CNS) diseases. Its product pipeline includes Huntexil for the treatment of motor symptoms in patients with Huntington’s disease and ordopidine and seridopidine, which have both completed Phase I development.

Huntexil is currently in Phase III development. The company’s aim is to create a profitable, specialty pharma firm building on the platform the company will achieve from a successful development and marketing of Huntexil. The company also has a portfolio of assets for outlicensing or divestment.

Stock markets in Greece and France opened lower this morning, reacting to anti-austerity elections in Greece and France over the weekend.

In Greece, the parties pushing through what many Greeks see as German-led austerity measures in exchange for bailout funds failed to hold on to power.

The trend continued in France, with socialist Francois Hollande winning the French presidential elections, ending Nicolas Sarkozy’s reign, and promising to deliver growth through increased government spending.

“The election results at the weekend are not helpful to calming the worries already in the market after disappointing (U.S.) payrolls report on Friday,” Gerhard Schwarz, head of equity strategy at Baader Bank, told Reuters.

“The political uncertainty is increasing and over time the euro zone political landscape looks less predictable,” he added.

The blue chip index in the euro zone fell by 1.1% on the opening to its lowest level since December last year. The French CAC 40 index dropped by 1.7% and the euro suffered against other major world currencies.

In Greece, shares fell by almost 8% in early trading to 636.7 points, while the banking index was off 19%.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) will invest USD300m (EUR227m) in a new digital subsidiary of US book retailer Barnes & Noble Inc (NYSE:BKS) in exchange for a 17.6% stake, as part of a strategic partnership aimed at stepping up the transition to e-reading, the pair said on Monday.

Microsoft’s investment in the new unit gives the firm a post-money valuation of USD1.7bn, with Barnes & Noble holding the other 82.4% in it. The new subsidiary, which will combine Barnes & Noble’s digital and college businesses, will have an ongoing relationship with the retailer’s stores, it said.

Barnes & Noble still has to decide on a name for the new firm to which it is referring for now as Newco. Through this unit, the company’s NOOK study software will be available to students and educators, offering them a top technology platform for the distribution and management of digital education materials in the market.

The partnership with Microsoft reflects the book retailer’s strategy to take advantage of the fast growth registered by its NOOK business, as a means to enhance its top position in the fast-developing market for digital content for consumer and education, Barnes & Noble’s CEO, William Lynch, said.

The partnership gives Barnes & Noble and Newco a royalty-bearing licence under Microsoft’s patents for the NOOK eReader and tablet products.

Microsoft’s president, Andy Lees, said the two partners’ complementary assets will step up e-reading innovation for a wide range of Windows devices.

After announcing on 5 January that it was seeking strategic options to separate its digital business in order to boost shareholder value, Barnes & Noble said it was actively working to set up Newco and it would look into all alternatives available. At this time, a strategic separation, or the creation of a public, stand-alone unit is not certain. The group has set no calendar for the review, it said, adding it would provide more details once the decision is made.

Barnes & Noble runs 691 bookstores in 50 US states, while its fully-owned unit Barnes & Noble College Booksellers LLC operates 641 college bookstores across the country.

Business groups in the UK have been responding this week to a government consultation on enhanced shareholder voting rights regarding executive pay.

The Institute of Directors (IoD) gave its backing to government proposals to give shareholders a greater say on executive pay policy and expressed concern about the levels of executive pay at some of the biggest UK listed firms, which it claimed are “detrimental to the reputation and legitimacy of the UK business community”. The IoD is in favour of a binding shareholder vote on executive pay policy and exit payments in excess of one year’s salary, but disagrees with proposals to increase the approval threshold of the binding vote beyond a simple majority.

Meanwhile the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said that it supports the publication of a single figure for directors’ pay and will also support measures that strengthen remuneration committees and underpin their independence. However the CBI believes that the government’s proposals “unhelpfully confuse the roles of shareholders and management” which could lead to slower and less effective decision making.

“Reforms on executive pay should focus on greater transparency, stronger links to performance, bolstering the role of remuneration committees, and giving shareholders the right information and powers to hold boards to account,” said CBI chief policy director Katja Hall.

The consultation, which ends today, was launched by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in March with the purpose of seeking evidence on the impact, costs, benefits and likely behavioural effects of proposals on a new model for shareholder voting, including: an annual binding vote on future remuneration policy; increasing the level of support required on votes on future remuneration policy; an annual advisory vote on how remuneration policy has been implemented in the previous year; and a binding vote on exit payments over one year’s salary.

British stock exchange operator Plus Markets Group plc (LON:PMK) said on Tuesday it has received several indicative offers from unnamed parties.

Plus Markets is now considering all proposals and has provided the potential bidders with access to additional data, the stock exchange operator said. The company’s board expects to give further details regarding the process in the coming weeks.

In early February, Plus Markets said it had launched a formal sale process with the aim for finding possible partners or major strategic investors that would help it pursue opportunities emerging from the significant changes in the regulatory and technological environment.

The interested parties had time until 30 March 2012 to submit their indicative proposals. The suitors were required to contact the group’s advisor Wyvern Partners and sign a non-disclosure agreement in order to participate in the process.

Plus Markets noted it reserved its right to cancel the sale process, turn down any offer or terminate talks with any party whenever it decides to do so.

The London-based group is the holding company for the Plus stock exchange, which offers cash trading and listing services, as well as for the Plus derivatives exchange, which provides derivatives trading services.

French financial services group Fimalac SA (EPA:FIM) on Thursday said it had disposed of 10% in US credit rating services provider Fitch Group to US media and information group Hearst Corporation, after securing clearances from regulators and administrative authorities.

The agreement, announced in February, resulted in Fimalac and Hearst each holding a 50% stake in Fitch Group, the vendor said.

Fimalac pocketed USD177m (EUR135m) from the sale of the stake, it said, adding it would account for its remaining 50% in Fitch Group by the equity method in its consolidated financial statements to show an estimated net capital gain of over EUR80m.

Frank A. Bennack Jr, the chief executive of Hearst Corporation, said in February when announcing the deal, that the acquisition of the further stake in Fitch Group reflected the group’s confidence in Fitch’s potential for future growth.

Fitch comprises Fitch Ratings, providing timely and prospective credit opinions to the global credit markets, and Fitch Solutions acting as a distribution channel for the products of Fitch Ratings, as well as a provider of data, analytics, and related services.

Apart from financial services, Fimalac invests in real estate, luxury hotels, leisure and entertainment.

Hearst Corp has a portfolio including magazines, newspapers and business publishing, cable networks, television and radio broadcasting, Internet businesses and real estate.

Cormark Securities Inc has been mandated to lead a syndicate of agents arranging a best efforts private placement of common stock of ePals Corporation, the US education technology company said on Tuesday.

The syndicate consists of National Bank Financial Inc and Canaccord Genuity Corp. As part of the agreement between the company and the syndicate, the agents will receive a cash commission representing 6% of the gross proceeds of the issue, subject to reduction as to certain subscribers.

The shares, which may be sold in one or more tranches, will be priced at CAD0.41 (USD0.41/EUR0.31) apiece, with gross proceeds from the offering expected to be in the range of CAD8m-10m. The stock sold as part of the offering will be subject to resale restrictions within four months of the closing date of the issue. The company will use the net proceeds of the issue for working capital and general corporate purposes.

The first tranche of the offering is expected to close on or about 19 April, subject to regulatory approvals, including a clearance by the TSX Venture Exchange. The issue has not been registered under the US Securities Act of 1933 and the shares may not be offered or sold in the US unless registered under the Act or unless an exemption from registration is available.

ePals Corporation is education media company and the leading provider of safe social learning networks based in Herndon, Virginia.