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LATAM Airlines Group SA aims to launch a capital increase at the end of the third quarter and its controllers intend to subscribe their respective proportional stakes in the operation, the company said during a conference call on Wednesday. Latin America's largest carrier will ask shareholders on June 11 to approve the $1 billion increase aimed at helping to finance its spending plans over the coming years and regain its investment grade. "Regarding the timing for the capital increase, we would target at this point definitely towards the end of the third quarter... it would be probably September-October this year," said Gisela Escobar, LATAM's head of investor relations. The company is the fruit of Chilean airline LAN's takeover of Brazil's TAM in June. Following the takeover, Fitch Ratings lowered LATAM's ratings on global debt to "BB plus" from "BBB," citing the carrier's high debt levels and constrained cash holdings follow

Four British hackers who took part in 2011 cyber-attacks on targets ranging from the CIA to Sony were audacious, arrogant men whose motivation was "anarchic self-amusement", a court heard on Wednesday. The men, who have pleaded guilty to a variety of offences, were members of the hacking collective LulzSec, which caused millions of dollars of damage to corporate and government computer networks during an online crime spree that they boasted about on Twitter. "They are at the cutting edge of a contemporary, emerging species of international criminal offending known as cyber crime," prosecutor Sandip Patel told a London court at the start of the men's sentencing hearing. Among other attacks, the men hacked into Pentagon computers, crashed the CIA's website, stole millions of items of private individuals' data such as passwords and user names from companies including Fox and Sony and posted them online on sites such as Pirate Bay. "LulzSec saw th

Qatar Airways has no interest in buying a 12 percent stake in British Airways parent International Airlines Group from Spanish bank Bankia, the chief executive of Qatar Air said on Wednesday. _0"> In an interview, Akbar Al Baker said reports of interest by the Qatar government in the stake were "nonsense."

Seeking a place to work out of the office that is quieter than a bustling coffee shop and provides drinks, printers, Wi-Fi and even petrol? _0"> Regus, a provider of ready-to-use office space, thinks it has the answer. It has teamed up with Shell Germany to open up workplace hubs and lounges in 70 petrol stations in and around Berlin that will provide Wi-Fi hotspots, scanners, printers, phone charging and even meeting rooms, depending on the space available. "You already see people working in Starbucks, hotel lobbies. They want facilities they're not getting there though, such as printers, phone charging, the ability to sit somewhere quiet and make a phone call," Phil Kemp, global managing director for Regus Third Place told Reuters. The hubs are what Regus terms the 'third place' for workers, the first and second being the office and the home. Working in this way is a trend that is being driven by the explosion in tablet computers and smartphones.

Industrial production fell by more than expected in April, reflecting a broad decline in factory output and a weather-related decrease in demand for utilities. _0"> Industrial production dropped by 0.5 percent last month after a revised 0.3 percent increase in March, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday. Economists polled by Reuters had expected output to decline 0.2 percent in April. Factory production decreased by 0.4 percent, compared with a forecast for a 0.1 percent rise. The decline was broad-based, with the production of durable goods down 0.6 percent, partly due to a 1.3 percent fall in motor vehicles and parts. Utilities output sank 3.7 percent last month, the Fed said, as heating demand fell back to a more typical seasonal level after jumping in March due to unusually cold weather Industry capacity utilization, a measure of how fully firms are deploying their resources, dropped sharply to 77.8 percent from 78.3 percent in March, reducing it to 2.4 percentage p

Amazon.com's main UK unit paid $3.7 million of taxes on its 2012 income, it said on Wednesday, despite group UK sales of $6.5 billion (4 billion pounds), prompting criticism from lawmakers and competitors. Amazon.co.uk Ltd added in its accounts, published through the UK companies register, that it received 2.5 million pounds in government grants during 2012 - just ahead of the 2.4 million it paid in corporation tax, the UK form of corporate income tax. Corporate tax avoidance has risen to the top of the political agenda in Europe following revelations in the past couple of years about how little big names like Apple Inc., Starbucks, Google and Microsoft pay in tax in markets where they reap billions of dollars in sales. The companies say they follow the rules but UK Prime Minister David Cameron has called for international action on the shifting of profits, which can help firms cut tax bills. Amazon.co.uk reported a small corporate income tax bill because all sales to Britis

The Swiss National Bank said it is investigating whether Bloomberg journalists accessed usage data from Bloomberg Terminals at the central bank. _0"> "We are in contact with other central banks in this matter," SNB spokesman Walter Meier said in an emailed statement. A number of central banks have said they were examining Bloomberg's use of data including the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan , the Bank of Canada, Germany's Bundesbank and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. (Reporting By Katharina Bart)