International News

  Bloomberg German business sentiment rose to the strongest level in almost six years in a sign that the momentum in Europe’s largest economy is set to continue. The Munich-based Ifo institute’s business climate index increased to 112.9 in April from a revised 112.4 in March. That compares with a median estimate of 112.4 in a Bloomberg survey of economists. ...

  Bloomberg Wall Street is betting Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile US Inc. will soon revive talks on a blockbuster merger, but a recent surge in demand for wireless assets has Sprint exploring other ways to unleash value. Sprint’s parent SoftBank Group Corp. believes the company’s vast trove of wireless spectrum, which can be used for faster 5G services, has been ...

  Bloomberg Royal Philips NV said a strong order book and resilient performance in markets including China and India would allow the Dutch health-care equipment provider meet sales targets, even as uncertainty surrounding US policy led hospitals there to delay spending. The company reiterated a full-year revenue growth target of between 4 percent and 6 percent for its health technology ...

  Bloomberg Akzo Nobel NV said it would consider PPG Industries Inc.’s new unsolicited 26.9 billion euros ($28.8 billion) takeover bid, which the US rival extended with “one last invitation” for Europe’s largest coatings company to negotiate a deal. Akzo Nobel will “carefully review and consider” the proposal, the Amsterdam-based company said in a statement on Monday. PPG earlier offered ...

  Bloomberg SLM Solutions AG has hired Lazard Ltd. to help it explore strategic options six months after General Electric Co. withdrew a 680 million-euro ($737 million) offer for the 3-D printing company, according to people familiar with the matter. The review could lead to the sale of a stake in the Luebeck, Germany-based company or even a complete takeover, ...

  Bloomberg Samsung BioLogics Co., an arm of South Korea’s biggest conglomerate, said it is in negotiations to manufacture drugs for more than 15 international pharmaceutical companies as it tries to expand in the growing industry for complex biologic medicines. The talks mostly involve US and European firms, Chief Executive Officer Kim Tae-han said in an April 19 interview at ...

  Bloomberg China should open up its services sector to ease trade tensions with the US and bolster global trade, according to a senior official from the International Monetary Fund. The medical, health, legal and financial services sectors are among areas that could be liberalized, Changyong Rhee, the Asia-Pacific director at the IMF, said in an interview at a gathering ...

  Bloomberg US President Donald Trump’s plan to upgrade the nation’s roads, ports and bridges will drive demand for steel and support iron ore prices, Australia’s Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said. “The US and the Trump administration has put out a very ambitious infrastructure investment program” and the steel will have to come from somewhere, Cormann said in an interview ...

  Bloomberg After almost three years of booming health-care dealmaking in the US, 2017 is off to a slow start. Pharmaceutical and biotech acquisitions totaled $44 billion last quarter, down 13 percent from a year earlier, and 35 percent below the first quarter of 2015, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. And exchange-traded funds, a good indicator of investors’ appetite ...

  Bloomberg Central and eastern Europe has long been considered a relatively cheap manufacturing hub to make sophisticated products like cars and electronics goods at a fraction of what it would cost in the West. Accelerating salary growth may now be changing that perception. Average nominal wages rose 10.7 percent in Hungary in February from a year ago, the most ...