International News

Bloomberg The recovery in India’s rural economy is likely to curb bad loans and boost profit at financial companies that specialise in credit to the country’s villages, according to one of the biggest such lenders. Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd., which offers loans for equipment and vehicles in 330,000 of India’s roughly 600,000 villages, is seeing business growing and ...

Bloomberg Toys ‘R’ Us Inc.’s creditors are pushing for a better deal for the Asian business. The unprofitable company, currently aiming to wind down its US operations, has asked for non-binding bids for its growing Asian unit by early April, according to people familiar with the matter. Toys ‘R’ Us is working with Lazard Ltd. on the sale process, seeking ...

Bloomberg Swire Properties Ltd. has signed an agreement with WeWork Cos. to lease four floors providing about 55,000 square feet in a commercial tower in Taikoo Shing, the first deal between the co-working space provider and a major listed Hong Kong developer. Swire didn’t disclose the rent to be paid by WeWork, but said it would pay the going market ...

Bloomberg Bangkok’s famed love affair with food is spilling over to meal-delivery apps, a fledgling sector that Delivery Hero AG’s Foodpanda projects will surge in 2018 as competition intensifies. Foodpanda, Line Corp.’s Line Man and Uber Technologies Inc.’s Uber Eats are using promotions, such as free delivery or discounts, to woo customers in a sector they see as underdeveloped compared ...

Bloomberg Billionaire Quek Leng Chan’s GuocoLand Ltd. and its joint venture partners are buying Pacific Mansion near Singapore’s business district for S$980 million ($743 million), the biggest purchase of a residential site for redevelopment in more than a decade. The price is also the highest in the current so-called en-bloc cycle, and only surpassed by the S$1.3 billion sale of ...

Bloomberg Government officials in the US and Europe are demanding answers from Facebook Inc. after reports that Cambridge Analytica, the advertising-data firm that helped Donald Trump win the US presidency, retained information on tens of millions of Facebook users without their consent. Entreaties for the social-media giant to take responsibility evolved into calls for CEO Mark Zuckerberg to appear in ...

Bloomberg GKN Plc’s rival suitors offered additional sweeteners to win over the UK aerospace supplier’s shareholders, who are set to decide next week which side to support. Dana Inc. pledged to trade its stock in London following the US company’s planned takeover of GKN’s automotive unit, it said. Melrose said separately that it would bolster GKN’s pension plan, while easing ...

Bloomberg Samsonite International SA, the world’s biggest luggage maker, has its eyes on adding a handbag brand and is open to a deal that could rival its $1.8 billion purchase of Tumi, according to Chairman Timothy Charles Parker. Handbags would help Samsonite fill a gap as the company focuses on boosting sales of office gear and non-travel products to women, ...

Bloomberg China’s crackdown on financial risks and trade tensions with the US threaten to undermine a stronger-than-expected start to the year for the world’s second-largest economy. Factory output and investment in fixed assets exceeded economists’ expectations in the first two months of this year, climbing 7.2 percent and 7.9 percent respectively from a year earlier as Chinese exports surged. Retail ...

Bloomberg An investor group backed by Bain Capital won the support of Binani Cement Ltd.’s lenders as it seeks to take over the insolvent Indian company. A committee of Binani Cement creditors approved the resolution plan from a consortium led by Dalmia Bharat Ltd., which was competing with billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla’s UltraTech Cement Ltd., according to an exchange filing. ...