International News

Bloomberg Asahi Kasei Corp is buying Denmark’s Veloxis Pharmaceuticals A/S for 143.2 billion yen ($1.3 billion), the companies said, in the latest of a series of deals by Japanese drugmakers. Asahi Kasei is offering to buy the ordinary shares and warrants of Veloxis for 6 kroner per share in a tender starting next month, they said in a statement. That’s ...

Bloomberg HP Inc rejected Xerox Holdings Corp’s request to open its financial books after turning down its unsolicited merger offer last week, saying that the smaller suitor hasn’t proven it’s healthy enough to raise the funding or complete such a transaction. “Your proposal does not constitute a basis for due diligence or negotiation,” Chief Executive Officer Enrique Lores and Chairman ...

Bloomberg Novartis AG agreed to buy Medicines Co and its promising heart drug for $9.7 billion, the latest move in the Swiss drugmaker’s push to amass novel treatments for complex conditions. Medicines Co’s experimental treatment inclisiran uses a new approach to lower bad cholesterol in especially hard-to-treat patients. Novartis Chief Executive Officer Vas Narasimhan was willing to foot the bill, ...

Bloomberg Economy minister Peter Altmaier defended the German government’s decision not to exclude China’s Huawei Technologies Co over security concerns, citing a similar decision years earlier in the wake of US espionage. Germany didn’t boycott US companies when it surfaced in 2014 that the NSA spied on institutions and individuals in Europe’s biggest economy, Altmaier said on broadcaster ARD. “The ...

Bloomberg China is planning a record sale of sovereign bonds in dollars, with a potential $6 billion offering, according to people familiar with the discussions. The ministry of finance is considering tenors of three years, five years, 10 years and 20 years, according to the people, who asked not to be named as the talks aren’t public. The ministry didn’t ...

Bloomberg China’s imports of US soybeans contracted to the lowest level in three months in October as the world’s biggest buyer delayed unloading of American soybeans at its ports. China’s inbound shipments from the US slumped to 1.15 million tons from 1.73 million tons in September, but were well above the 66,955 tons in October last year, customs data show. ...

Bloomberg Malaysia will return 42 containers of illegal plastic waste to the UK, which has agreed to take them back, as the Southeast Asian nation continues its fight against becoming the world’s dumping ground for trash. The containers, which arrived at Penang Port between March 2018 and March 2019, were classified as illegal because they failed to comply with the ...

Bloomberg India’s digital payments pioneer Paytm announced new funding from existing shareholders like SoftBank Group Corp’s Vision Fund and new investors, as competition in the country’s finance sector heats up. Though the company did not disclose details, it raised $1 billion in equity at a $16 billion valuation, according to a person familiar with the matter. It is in talks ...

Bloomberg China Mengniu Dairy Co agreed to buy Kirin Holdings Co’s Australian beverage unit Lion Dairy & Drinks for about 45.6 billion yen ($419 million), the Chinese dairy giant’s latest foray into the continent. Mengniu will pick up Lion’s milk, yogurt and juice products, the companies said in a statemen. The deal is expected to close in the first half ...

Bloomberg Southeast Asian payments platform 2C2P Pte, which helps airlines, travel companies and online shopping malls handle payments from customers in the region, has raised $52 million from investors including the World Bank’s International Finance Corp, Cento Ventures and Arbor Ventures to fund expansion. The new funding round will bolster the company’s position in Southeast Asia’s burgeoning digital payments market ...