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BEIJING / Reuters Top officials from China’s two largest oil and gas producers have urged the government to offer tax breaks for the building of gas storage facilities and importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) to help avoid another gas crunch in the winter ahead. Sinopec Vice President Ma Yongsheng said the central government should subsidise the construction of underground gas ...

Bloomberg China’s efforts to revive Silk Road trading routes are proving to be a boon for a slightly less ancient mode of transportation: freight trains. The value of cargo sent between between China and Europe by rail surged more than 140 percent in the first six months of 2017, according to a new report from the Center for Strategic and ...

Bloomberg Essar Steel India Ltd.’s sale is facing a fresh delay, after creditors of the insolvent firm pushed back a decision on bids from ArcelorMittal and a consortium backed by VTB Group, people with knowledge of the matter said. A committee of Essar Steel creditors, originally slated to convene earlier this week, has postponed a meeting to discuss the offers, ...

Bloomberg Kia Motors Corp. will take a plunge into India’s crowded small car market. The affiliate of South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Corp. plans to make three or more models in the compact hatchback and sport-utility vehicle segments within three years of starting production in 2019, Manohar Bhat, head, marketing and sales at Kia’s local unit said in an interview. Hatchbacks ...

Bloomberg China said a bill for a property tax is being drafted, moving a step closer to a levy that could help tame runaway home prices. Officials are working on the measure, Vice Finance Minister Shi Yaobin said in a briefing in Beijing during the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress. Former Finance Minister Lou Jiwei told reporters that ...

Bloomberg The international jewellery business that’s part of the empire controlled by Nirav Modi, the billionaire accused of masterminding India’s biggest bank fraud, was driven towards US bankruptcy protection after Indian authorities began seizing and freezing assets. The company’s attorney outlined that background at a Manhattan federal bankruptcy court hearing. Modi, the chief executive officer of the parent company of ...

Bloomberg The world’s biggest labour market will soon get its first regularly updated monthly jobless rate similar to closely-watched gauges in other major economies like the US and Europe. Monthly updates of China’s survey-based urban unemployment rate will be released from April, the country’s National Bureau of Statistics said. Until now, the only regular official unemployment rate has been a ...

Bloomberg PE firms including Warburg Pincus are vying with suitors across Asia for control of a TPG-backed Indonesian consumer finance company, people with knowledge of the matter said. Taiwan’s Cathay Financial Holding Co. and South Korea’s Shinhan Financial Group Co. are among first-round bidders for a stake in PT BFI Finance Indonesia, said the people, who asked not to be ...

Bloomberg CVS Health Corp. completed the third-largest corporate bond sale on record to fund its acquisition of Aetna Inc., testing the appetite of a market that’s off to its worst annual start in decades. The pharmacy giant issued $40 billion of investment-grade debt in a nine-part offering, people with knowledge of the matter said. That’s surpassed only by Verizon Communication ...

Bloomberg The European Union voiced mounting concern over US President Donald Trump’s plan to impose punitive import tariffs, as Germany signalled alarm over the resignation of pro-trade Trump adviser Gary Cohn in an emerging trans-Atlantic dispute over protectionism. “We hope that eventually this initiative from the US side will not be followed through,” European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said ...