International News

Bloomberg BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s biggest miner, forecasts reforms in China’s steel sector will continue to hand an advantage to suppliers of higher-quality iron ore and coking coal as consumption of the alloy keeps growing well into the next decade. Steel mills are likely to retain about two-thirds of the improvements in margins seen since a push began in ...

Bloomberg China tried to strike a positive tone after Donald Trump’s trade negotiators left Beijing with no public sign of an agreement, reiterating that the US shouldn’t make unreasonable demands. State media over the weekend offered a somewhat positive assessment of the US trade talks, urging more negotiations while saying the Americans should be “rational and pragmatic.” And in a ...

Bloomberg Not long after US authorities filed sealed charges against Volkswagen AG’s old chief executive officer, they granted the new CEO a rare safe-passage deal. The Justice Department agreement allows Herbert Diess, promoted last month to lead the German automaker, to travel the world freely without fear of being arrested in connection with the US’s diesel-rigging investigation, according to two ...

Bloomberg Once again, the pound’s fortunes lie with the Bank of England. Traders will scrutinise the central bank’s policy decision on Thursday for any signs that an interest-rate hike this year is still in the cards. A lot of bad news has already been baked into the UK currency and a “relatively hawkish hold” from the BOE could push it ...

Bloomberg German factory orders unexpectedly dropped in March and February was revised lower, confirming a weak start to the year in Europe’s largest economy and raising concern over the strength of the euro-area growth. Orders slid 0.9 percent, compared with a median estimate for a 0.5 percent increase in a Bloomberg survey. With February’s figure revised to minus 0.2 percent ...

Bloomberg Warren Buffett boosting his stake in Apple Inc. has pundits predicting it is poised to hit $1 trillion in market value. But the iPhone maker isn’t the first to tread that lofty path. PetroChina Co. crossed the milestone back in November 2007, when its mainland shares almost tripled in value in their Shanghai trading debut. But the state-controlled energy ...

Bloomberg Angelo Gordon & Co. has raised $843 million for its second Europe-focussed real estate fund, surpassing its $750 million target. AG Europe Realty Fund II will seek out complex, off-market opportunities in the UK and elsewhere in Western Europe, regions that are “still experiencing substantial levels of distress and dislocation,” said Anuj Mittal, co-portfolio manager of European real estate ...

Bloomberg A plan to replace the chief executive officer of Xerox Corp. and several directors fell apart over a technicality, setting the stage for a proxy fight in which activist shareholders will seek to improve the terms of a deal to cede control of the iconic US printer company to Japan’s Fujifilm Holdings Corp., or scrap it entirely. In a ...

Bloomberg Fortis Healthcare Ltd. received a revised takeover offer from its first suitor, an Indian company backed by private equity firm TPG, ahead of a board meeting to decide a winner in the bidding war for the country’s second-largest hospital chain. Manipal Health Enterprises Pvt. has proposed merging with Fortis in a deal that will value the latter at 83.58 ...

Bloomberg Thailand’s PTT Exploration & Production Pcl is ready to shell out as much as $1 billion on an overseas petroleum asset this year, and possibly more, as it tries to prop up growth amid falling reserves. The upstream unit of state-controlled PTT Pcl is in talks to purchase a stake in oil, natural gas or liquefied natural gas assets ...