NOW a peace of sorts seems to have broken out between BP and its Russian partners, the talk has turned in Moscow to which Western business partner might next fall foul of the combined business-state machine.

One name that has leapt into the reckoning is Rupert Murdoch's — the authorities have suddenly shown an interest in investigating his company in the Russian capital.

A probe is reportedly under way into News Outdoor, an advertising company that is part of the Murdoch global media empire. It centres on alleged non-payment of rent for advertising hoardings to Moscow City Council from 2002, and is being run by Russia's general prosecutor's office — it is unclear whether the secret service is also involved.

The disputed sum amounts to about £5 million, but there are fears Murdoch has angered the Kremlin — possibly through his criticism of the investment climate in Russia. He was quoted as telling a Beijing press conference last month: “The more I read about investment in Russia, the less I like the feel of it.”

The investigation — there are reports of company offices being searched — ostensibly relates to misuse of sites intended for “social” advertising, which had been rented out by the council at discounted rates. Prosecutors say the hoardings were instead used for commercial advertising.

New Outdoor is the largest outdoor ads operator in Moscow, as it is in Russia and the whole of eastern Europe. It has 40,000 sites in 98 Russian towns and cities, and also advertises on the Moscow metro.

* IS this a record? Knight Frank's corporate finance arm is closing, just three months after it opened for business. The six-strong Rutley Corporate Finance team was told it was being wound down after a summer business review.

What's baffling is that while the new practice was launching and being sold to the industry— the group was set up only in May — others in the organisation were questioning its worth.
Among those going are the boss, Penelope Bridges, brought in from Kaupthing (where she headed corporate finance), ex-Slaughter and May and Kaupthing lawyer Sebastian Monk and James Coppin, who joined from Bank of America. They were hired as the credit crunch was in full swing, yet Knight Frank still went ahead.

But no sooner have they got their feet under the table than they're off — due, the firm says, to “current economic market and financial conditions”. Eh?

Now gamekeeper turns poacher as Tiner joins Resolution

JOHN Tiner's recruitment as chief executive of Clive Cowdery's Resolution ahead of its flotation must count as one of the greatest examples of gamekeeper turned poacher ever seen in the City.
Tiner was chief executive of the Financial Services Authority for four years until he left last summer. There, his task was to maintain confidence in, and stability of, the financial system. Now at Resolution his intention is to restructure the financial services sector — not strictly conflicting concepts but certainly
ones which Resolution's potential takeover targets might at the very least find at odds
with each other.

* TINER first met Cowdery in 2003 when he wandered into the FSA to outline his plans for the so-called “zombie” or closed life funds.
As Tiner puts it: “It was a meeting of minds even if we had different objectives for a sector which wasn't working.” So how much did Tiner assist Cowdery in creating the £5 billion Resolution, which was eventually sold to Hugh Osmond's Pearl?
The watchdog had to approve every deal which Resolution did, because its role as the insurance industry regulator is probably one of its most taxing briefs.
At every step and turn of ownership changes,
it is the FSA that has to ensure existing policyholders are not being ripped off. Naturally, Tiner's fingerprints do not appear on any of those decisions...

I just don't think your formula's right, Max…

OH to have been a fly on the wall when Bernie Ecclestone was trying to get Max Mosley to step down as as president of FIA, the Formula One parent, following the revelations about his penchant for sado-masochistic sex.
Ecclestone tells Management Today: “It would have been nicer if he had stepped down. Anyway, he didn't, because Max is Max, and although I did everything to make sure he did, I knew he wouldn't...” What does he mean, “I did everything to make sure he did”?

* BERNIE also says he was once offered a CBE but turned it down. Why?

* ANIMAL madness. Wall Street is agog that among the bad loans that have turned up on Lehman's books is one for $1 million to a US university fraternity house. The bank provided the mortgage to Beta Theta Pi at DePauw University in Indiana. The frat house has now defaulted and sought Chapter 11 protection.

* IT'S a fine distinction but an important one. Asked if he supports Gordon Brown, Business Secretary John Hutton says that he supports the work of Gordon Brown.

It wasn't fresh and it isn't easy

PACO Underhill is not a name known to many people, but in shopping he is God. He's a “retail anthropologist” and founder of New York consultancy Envirosell.

The author of Why We Buy: The Science Of Shopping, he advises retailers on how to lay out their stores, how to sell better. In an interview in The Grocer, he turns on Tesco, accusing the chain of having made a fundamental mistake with its US Fresh & Easy launch in California. “If I had been Tesco, I wouldn't have gone into one of the most competitive reatil markets in the US, a market already over-serviced by convenience stores,” he says.

“I talked to them some years ago and they were so sure they were going to have a hit. I have a great deal of respect for them but they are a good example of a retailer who came in with blinkers on.”

* YOU can't import a culture, says Underhill — pointing as well to Whole Foods Market's difficulties here. But there might be a sub-text. He's irritated Tesco did not seek his advice — and his fee. “We are one of the principal testing agencies for convenience stores in the world and I've never had anyone from Tesco knock on our door to ask for a little help.”