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Bloomberg Hong Kong could have a hard time attracting blank check companies after it proposed a high threshold to list in the city. In a consultation paper, Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd proposed that special purpose acquisition companies would need to raise at least HK$1 billion ($128 million) when listing and that retail investors would be barred from participating. ...

Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said unprecedented surge in natural gas prices is a “temporary” problem caused by the global economy bouncing back after the pandemic, arguing a “phenomenal demand for gas” in Asia has affected UK supplies. “I want to give a general reassurance that the problems we’re seeing are temporary,” Johnson told reporters travelling with him to ...

Bloomberg Merck KGaA plans to invest more than 3 billion euros ($3.5 billion) through 2025 in its electronics business to capitalise on rising demand for semiconductor and display panel materials. The German company will expand production capacity, bolster research and development spending and is also considering bolt-on acquisitions, it said on Monday in a statement. Merck makes materials and technologies ...

Bloomberg Employment declined in 19 states and the District of Columbia in August, while the majority of other states posted modest increases, elucidating the abrupt stepdown in US hiring seen last month. North Carolina, Iowa and Hawaii posted largest declines in employment over the month, according to Labour Department figures on state employment. Meantime, California, Texas and New York — ...

Bloomberg The amount of corporate bonds investors can trade in Europe is shrinking for the first time since 2005. Despite a rush in deals by high-grade non-financial firms, there’s effectively a 21 billion-euro ($25 billion) drop in the investable pool of euro bonds because of calls, buybacks, upcoming redemptions and European Central Bank (ECB) debt purchases, according to Bloomberg calculations. ...

Bloomberg OVH Groupe SAS kicked off an initial public offering in Paris, looking to raise as much as $469 million that will give the cloud-storage provider funding to finance its competition with Amazon.com Inc. and accelerate its international expansion. Existing holders will also sell shares in the IPO, the company said in a statement on Monday. OVHcloud was valued at ...

Bloomberg Facebook Inc pushed back on reports that the company was aware of the negative impact of its products, claiming that the allegations don’t tell the whole picture. The issues of content moderation, mental health risks and misinformation are complex and defy simple policy solutions, according to a statement from Nick Clegg, Facebook’s head of global affairs. He said the ...

MORONI / WAM The Emirates Red Crescent (ERC) inaugurated several development projects to support the victims of Tropical Cyclone Kenneth that struck the Comoros Islands three years ago. Some 280,000 people will benefit from the projects, which aim to support the health and education sectors by reinforcing their capacities and improving their services. The projects include the construction and maintenance ...

Dubai / WAM Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower) announced that it has made a new deal with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Thermal Systems to take advantage of Mitsubishi’s revolutionary air-conditioning and heating systems, leading to a qualitative leap in Empower’s environmentally friendly district cooling operations. Under the new deal, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Thermal Systems will supply Empower with advanced water-cooled ...

Sharjah / WAM Sharjah Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Management Team (SECDMT) approved updating the precautionary and preventive measures for home gatherings and social events in the emirate, stating that the number of attendees shall not exceed 50 people at home and 100 people in halls of the Districts and Villages Affairs Department with 4 meters to be kept as a ...