International News

  Bloomberg BMW AG said it’s reviewing its factories in the UK ahead of Brexit and that it has the flexibility to move production elsewhere if necessary. The Munich-based manufacturer, which makes vehicles for its Mini brand in Oxford, Rolls-Royces in Goodwood and engines in Hams Hall, is preparing for “different scenarios” once the UK leaves the European Union, BMW ...

  Bloomberg Canada wants to avoid a Brexit cliff-edge too. The government is pushing for its trade deal with Europe to be ratified by Britain before it leaves the European Union to secure the crucial agreement. It also has its eye on deeper relations with the UK once Brexit is complete. Canada wants to preserve any preferential access that businesses ...

  Bloomberg The success of an exchange-traded fund backed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government may help boost the acceptance of such products in the world’s second-fastest growing ETF market. Investors poured 92 billion rupees ($1.4 billion), or 3.7 times the targeted amount, into a fund of the top 10 state-run companies, according to Reliance Mutual Fund, which manages the ...

  Bloomberg Global steel mills shouldn’t fret about the chances of Chinese exports torpedoing prices this year in a rerun of 2015, according to the managing director of Japan’s biggest producer of recycled steel. Strong domestic demand in China and cuts in production capacity are leading to a more balanced market, said Kiyoshi Imamura from Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co. The ...

  Bloomberg Australia’s central bank highlighted threats in the property market and an acceleration of domestic household debt even as it lent credence to the global reflation story. “Data continued to suggest that there had been a build-up of risks associated with the housing market,” the Reserve Bank of Australia said in minutes released on Tuesday of this month’s meeting ...

  Bloomberg Chinese acquirers are seeing a large number of cross-border deals blocked at home and abroad as a sharp increase in volume makes regulators on both sides of transactions more cautious, Linklaters LLP said in a report. Of the $220 billion deals announced by Chinese acquirers, $40 billion to $75 billion — or as much as a third of ...

  Bloomberg China UCF Group Co., the conglomerate led by businessman Zhang Zhenxin, is backing the acquisition of Hong Kong Life Insurance Ltd. in a deal valuing the insurer at HK$7.1 billion ($914 million). Hong Kong Life’s owners, including Chong Hing Bank Ltd. and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., agreed to sell their holdings to an investment firm called First Origin International ...

  Bloomberg Downer EDI Ltd., the Australian engineering and infrastructure management company, offered to buy Spotless Group Holdings Ltd. in a cash deal valuing the company at A$1.26 billion ($974 million) as it continues to diversify from resources following the mining-investment boom. Downer offered A$1.15 per share for the Melbourne-based cleaning and catering services firm, according to a statement on ...

  Bloomberg TPG, the US alternative-investment firm that oversees more than $74 billion, sees opportunities in health care and microlending in Asia to meet untapped demand in some of the world’s fastest-growing economies. The region is short of quality health-care infrastructure, Jim Coulter, TPG’s co-founder and co-chief executive officer, told a Bloomberg private equity forum in Mumbai. In India, industries ...

  Bloomberg PPG Industries Inc. is preparing a renewed takeover bid for Akzo Nobel NV, according to people familiar with the matter, taking a second run at Europe’s largest coatings company after a previous offer was rejected. Exact details of the new proposal couldn’t immediately be learned. Akzo rebuffed PPG’s unsolicited 20.9 billion-euro ($22.4 billion) takeover bid on March 9, ...