International News

Bloomberg Surging steel prices and a new Indian insolvency law have set the stage for an industry-defining battle between tycoons and producers for more than $26 billion of the sector’s most-coveted assets. Creditors are seeking the approval of India’s new bankruptcy court to sell assets of as many as 40 firms, including steel producers. That’s spurred Lakshmi Mittal, head of …

Bloomberg Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin vowed to quadruple the size of his shopping-mall empire, betting that retailers will thwart the advance of e-commerce competitors by adding entertaining experiences in stores and mini-theme parks. The Dalian Wanda Group Co. chairman plans to have 1,000 shopping malls covering more than 90 percent of China’s cities within a decade, according to remarks he …

Bloomberg Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. is set to become the third stock in an equity index of the nation’s top 50 companies to cross the 10,000-rupee mark, thanks to this year’s record-setting rally. Shares of the carmaker, which accounts for about half of all cars sold in India, rose as high as 10,000 rupees for the first time on Wednesday. …

Bloomberg Bondholders of Reliance Communications Ltd., the embattled Indian mobile phone operator controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, have hired advisers after the company defaulted on its dollar-denominated notes in November. Certain investors holding a significant percentage of the securities have formed a committee, which has appointed PJT Partners Inc. as its financial adviser and Kirkland & Ellis LLP as its …

Bloomberg Didi Chuxing, the ride-hailing giant that vanquished Uber Technologies Inc. in China, is turning to franchising in Taiwan as it expands its business beyond the mainland. Didi plans to only operate as a taxi hailing platform in Taiwan and is seeking to work with existing drivers that it’s recruiting through its Facebook page. The recruitment is being done by …

Bloomberg Ride-hailing startup Ola is buying Foodpanda’s Indian operations and will invest $200 million in the business, taking its battle with Uber Technologies Inc. into meals-on-demand. ANI Technologies Pvt’s Ola will acquire Delivery Hero AG’s local Foodpanda business in return for Ola stock, it said in a statement. The move coincides with the aggressive expansion of UberEATS in the country, …

Bloomberg Tata Steel Ltd. plans to raise as much as $2 billion in a rights offer to help add capacity in India, where demand for the alloy is forecast to triple in over a decade. The money will be used to build and buy mills as well as to repay debt, the company said an exchange filing on Tuesday. The …

Bloomberg SoftBank Group Corp. is betting that technology can overhaul the home insurance industry by leading a $120 million round in Lemonade Inc. The New York-based startup, which uses artificial intelligence and bots to minimise paperwork and speed up the claims process for renters and homeowners, had raised $60 million before the announcement. Previous backers included General Catalyst, Alphabet Inc.’s …

Bloomberg Uber Technologies Inc. is set to reach the end of the road in a legal battle over a question that’s reached the European Union’s top court—is the world’s most valuable startup a taxi company or not? Uber has argued that it’s a technology platform connecting passengers with independent drivers, not a transportation company subject to the same rules as …

Bloomberg British labour-cost pressures appear to be building, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics. The cost of employing someone for an hour of work rose 3 percent in the third quarter compared with a year earlier, the fastest pace since the April-June period in 2016, the ONS said on Tuesday. From the previous quarter, labor …