International News

Bloomberg A stock swap offer to help shareholders of billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s unlisted retail business monetise their investment has valued the unit at $34 billion. Share owners in Reliance Retail Ltd can exchange four shares for one of its listed parent Reliance Industries Ltd, according to a so-called scheme of arrangement posted on the group’s website. With Reliance’s market capitalization ...

Bloomberg China’s top legislature approved changes to the nation’s Securities Law, including formalising registration-based initial public offerings after years of reviews, as it eased listing rules and stiffened penalties for violations in the country’s $21 trillion capital markets. The revisions are effective from March 1, according to a report from a government website citing decisions made by the National People’s ...

Bloomberg Japan’s financial regulator ordered a three-month suspension of insurance sales by two units of Japan Post Holdings Co as punishment for improper sales practices. The Financial Services Agency said it found examples of Japan Post customers being sold unduly expensive policies, without proper explanation of what they were buying. The penalty applies to the group’s mail and insurance subsidiaries, ...

Bloomberg Australia is in the grip of another heatwave with temperatures forecast to soar over the weekend, exacerbating deadly wildfires that have ravaged the nation for months. Severe heat will spread across the southeast of the country over the next few days, building to “extreme” conditions in some areas, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Parts of western Sydney are ...

Bloomberg Typhoon Phanfone continues to bring destructive winds and intense rainfall over parts of central Philippines on Wednesday, a day after forcing hundreds of people to evacuate and stranding thousands of holiday travelers in Asia’s largest Catholic nation. Locally called Ursula, it packed maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometers (87 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 195 kph, ...

Bloomberg India’s economy showed nascent signs it may be turning a corner after six straight months of anemic activity. Two of the eight high-frequency indicators compiled by Bloomberg News came in stronger in November based on a three-month weighted average reading, although that wasn’t enough to move the needle on a gauge measuring overall activity. The dashboard measures “animal spirits,” ...

Bloomberg NMC Health Plc shares gained after the company said it plans an independent review of assertions from “certain third parties,” partly recovering from a slump that followed allegations by short seller Muddy Waters Capital LLC recently. The company has been under siege since Carson Block’s Muddy Waters said its financial statements hint at potential overpayment for assets, inflated cash ...

Bloomberg The presidents of three Japan Post Group companies will step down on Friday amid a scandal involving insurance sales, local broadcaster JNN reported. The report said that the executives would step down at a press briefing on Friday, amid the ongoing scandal involving Japan Post insurance sales. Japan Post said that it is unaware of any plans by the ...

Bloomberg Nissan Motor Co’s third-highest-ranked executive is planning to leave the company to join a leading electric-motor company, an abrupt move that deals yet another blow to the scandal-plagued Japanese carmaker. The shares fell to their lowest in 8 years. Jun Seki, the vice chief operating officer in charge of Nissan’s performance recovery, plans to join Japanese manufacturer Nidec Corp ...

Bloomberg The operator of China’s high-speed rail line between Beijing and Shanghai kicked off its initial public offering, which will for the first time allow investors to buy shares in what is the world’s largest such network. Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway Co, a unit of state-owned China Railway Corp, plans to sell as many as 6.3 billion new shares, or 12.8% ...