Bloomberg Switzerland’s Lindt & Spruengli AG plans $200 million US investment offensive to further challenge Hershey Co. and Mars in that market. The maker of Lindor chocolate balls is expanding a plant in Stratham, New Hampshire, over the next four years, constructing high-tech production lines for premium chocolate, the company said. The site will eventually have more than 1 million ...

Bloomberg Toys ‘R’ Us’s fired workers last week won the right to negotiate for severance money in bankruptcy court, in an unusual victory. They may end up getting nothing. Before much money can be paid to the retailer’s 33,000 former employees, senior lenders need to collect about $1 billion. For now, the staffers can try to tap a pool of ...

Bloomberg UBS Group AG has no plans to follow other banks and raise the $2 million threshold for access to its private banking services, the Swiss bank’s China head of global wealth management said. “This is not under discussion,” said Marina Lui in an interview in Hong Kong, asked about moves by other banks to raise the minimums required from ...

Bloomberg The biggest Nordic bank is considering taking on the European Union’s (EU) top markets regulator after being handed a fine for providing credit ratings without a license. Nordea Bank AB, together with four other major Nordic banks, was called out by the European Securities and Markets Authority for selling so-called shadow ratings to corporate clients without permission. Each firm ...

Bloomberg Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD), building on its deal for money manager Greystone Capital Management Inc. earlier this month, plans to hire 200 advisers in Canada this year to boost profit at its wealth-management division as much as 10 percent. The additions are part of Toronto-Dominion’s push to expand in a division that includes online investing, advice and asset management to ...

Bloomberg Japan’s debt market saw yields surge on media reports of possible changes to the nation’s ultra-loose monetary policy, spurring the central bank to offer to buy an unlimited amount of bonds. The yield on 10-year government securities soared as much as six basis points to 0.09 percent, its biggest increase in almost two years, pulling the yen higher and ...

Bloomberg Analysts are taking note of the struggles in China’s banking industry, which is being battered by an official deleveraging drive. At least five smaller lenders have been downgraded by credit-rating companies this year, a record pace for the sector. Spikes in the volume of non-performing loans and an increase in loans overdue are among the reasons. One of the ...

Bloomberg The UAE’s carrier Emirates ruled out investing in South Af-rican Airways (SAA) narrowing number of potential saviours of the loss-making state airline. While Emirates and SAA are working closely to enhance their code-sharing agreement, there are no plans to invest, an Emirates spokesperson said in an emailed statement on Monday. The Dubai-based company commented after Joha- nnesburg-based newspaper City ...

Bloomberg Brent crude rose as tensions between the US and OPEC member Iran escalated, stoking concern that the spat will lead to supply disruptions. The global benchmark climbed as much as 2 percent as US President Donald Trump said there will be unspecified “consequences” if the Islamic Republic threatens the US, after President Hassan Rouhani warned Trump not to block ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The United Arab Emirates (UAE) welcomes the decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on July 23 in regards to Qatar’s request for Provisional Measures under the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination. The ICJ refused to grant any of the Provisional Measures specifically requested by Qatar. By a very ...