Bloomberg BP Plc agreed to sell its entire business in Alaska to closely held Hilcorp Energy Co. for $5.6 billion, ending a six-decade presence in the state as oil production there declines. The deal includes BP’s operating stake in Prudhoe Bay, the largest-producing oil field in US history, as well as all its Alaskan pipelines. It makes Hilcorp, the oil ...
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German locomotive takeover gives China low-cost route into Europe
Bloomberg China’s world-leading train maker CRRC has gained control of one-quarter of the European diesel-locomotive market in a single purchase costing less than 10 million euros. The acquisition of the Vossloh AG business provides China Railway Rolling Stock Corp. with a major toehold in a region where rail travel is ousting cars and planes faster than anywhere else. CRRC’s Zhuzhou ...
Read More »Switzerland boosts CO2 reduction target
Bloomberg The Swiss government aims to make the country climate neutral by 2050, stepping up its efforts to cut carbon emissions to fight global warming. Switzerland now plans to reduce its net carbon emissions to zero by 2050 to meet the target of limiting global warming to a maximum of 1.5 degrees Celsius, according to a statement on Wednesday. The ...
Read More »China mulling car-purchase curbs to boost consumption
Bloomberg China rolled out a series of guidelines to encourage consumption, led by support for the flagging auto market. The measures include exploring ways to gradually loosen or remove car-purchase limits and support new-energy vehicle purchases in some areas, the State Council, or cabinet, said on its website. Other steps include incentives to build more gas stations in rural areas ...
Read More »Vietnam prefers its mobile networks to be free of Huawei
Bloomberg Vietnam is intent on being the first Asean nation to provide a 5G network — without China’s tech powerhouse Huawei Technologies Inc. Viettel Group, Vietnam’s largest mobile carrier owned by the Defense Ministry, will deploy Ericsson AB’s equipment in Hanoi and Nokia Oyj’s technology in Ho Chi Minh City, said Viettel Chief Executive Officer Le Dang Dung. It will ...
Read More »Thailand sees scope for fiscal support
Bloomberg Thailand’s government is ready to take further action to support an economy growing at its slowest pace in nearly five years, and sees room for further interest-rate cuts, the finance minister said. Weeks after passing a stimulus program worth more than $10 billion, the government still has the fiscal space to do more, Finance Minister Uttama Savanayana said on ...
Read More »Steel consumption in India set for slowest growth in 3 years
Bloomberg Demand for steel in India could grow at the slowest pace in three years as an economic slowdown in the global industry’s bright spot deepens. Steel consumption in India is likely to increase by less than 6% this fiscal year, according to ICRA Ltd., the local arm of Moody’s Investors Service. That would make it the slowest pace since ...
Read More »India’s $24bn bonus from RBI gives it options on budget
Bloomberg The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) record 1.76 trillion-rupee ($24.4 billion) payout to the government will give authorities more fiscal options, including possibly reducing its borrowing or boosting spending to spur economic growth. The RBI’s board approved the transfer on August 26, which includes a dividend of 1.23 trillion rupees and 526.4bn rupees from its surplus capital. The dividend ...
Read More »Germany’s shrinking economy on edge of recession, DIW says
Bloomberg German output will probably shrink by 0.2% in the third quarter, putting Europe’s largest economy into recession, according to the DIW economic institute. A DIW gauge of activity fell to 89 points in August, the lowest since late 2012, pointing to another contraction after GDP declined 0.1% in the April-to-June period, the institute said. “Manufacturing is in a crisis ...
Read More »Amgen buys Celgene’s Otezla in $13.4bn deal
Bloomberg Amgen Inc. will pay $13.4 billion for a blockbuster psoriasis drug from Celgene Corp., which is shedding the asset in order to win antitrust regulators’ sign-off for its $74 billion merger with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. The all-cash deal will give Amgen a growing product at a time when the blockbuster biotechnology drugs it made its name on are beginning ...
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