Bloomberg ArcelorMittal and Russia’s state-controlled VTB Group have hit a fresh snag in their pursuit of Essar Steel India Ltd., an insolvent producer that could fetch at least $6 billion. Advisers evaluating the offers for Essar Steel are recommending that all the bids be disqualified, according to people with knowledge of the matter. A committee of Essar Steel lenders will ...
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Toyota halves rare earth use for cheaper electric motor
Bloomberg Toyota Motor Corp. is readying electric motors that include as much as 50 percent less in rare earths amid concern of a supply crunch as automakers race to expand their electric-vehicle lineups. Asia’s biggest carmaker has developed a magnet for the motors that as much as halves the use of a rare earth called neodymium and eliminates the use ...
Read More »India’s IT firms expect continued growth
Bloomberg India’s software services industry expects growth of as much as 9 percent in fiscal 2019 as Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. and its peers strengthen automation and adapt to the rapid onset of digital technologies. Sales will rise 7 to 9 percent in constant currency terms in the fiscal year ending in March 2019, the National Association of Software and ...
Read More »â€˜Singapore home tax hike not a market cooling move’
Bloomberg Singapore’s tax increase on home purchases exceeding S$1 million ($758,960) is aimed at making duties more equitable rather than imposing an additional property curb, said S. Iswaran, minister of trade and industry. Stamp duty on the portion of a property’s price above S$1 million will be raised starting from Tuesday to 4 percent from 3 percent, the government said ...
Read More »Indonesia is forgoing billions of dollars in investment: US
Bloomberg Indonesia is foregoing billions of dollars on offer from American companies eager to invest in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, US Ambassador to Indonesia Joseph Donovan said. As the US tries to arrest a deteriorating trade balance with Indonesia, which in 2017 found itself in President Donald Trump’s cross-hairs, Donovan has also rejected complaints of increasing American protectionism. Indonesia had ...
Read More »UK to EU: No Brexit bill without good trade deal
Bloomberg The UK has warned that its promise to pay the Brexit bill depends on getting good trade terms from the European Union, as Theresa May’s team draws up plans to hold back money if the bloc backslides on a deal. Senior British officials have privately discussed the idea of halting payments to Brussels as a fall-back option that could ...
Read More »UK factories rein in price expectations as pound gains
Bloomberg UK manufacturers scaled back their expectations of output prices in February as the pound gained. Expected prices, production and export orders are still well above long-term averages, though have slipped from the highs seen at the end of 2017, the Confederation of British Industry reported on Tuesday. The measure of average prices seen in the next three months fell ...
Read More »Britain sells former flagship HMS Ocean to Brazil for $117 million
Bloomberg The UK has sold Royal Navy flagship HMS Ocean to Brazil for about 84 million pounds ($117 million) as new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth prepares to take over as leader of the fleet. HMS Ocean will be modified by BAE Systems Plc and Babcock International Group Plc, with the work funded by Brazil, before the 21,500 metric-ton ship ...
Read More »Reckitt Benckiser sees pricing squeeze after worst year ever
Bloomberg After a cyberattack and a botched product launch spoiled Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc’s 2017, a pricing squeeze threatens to make this year almost as tough. The Slough, England-based maker of Nurofen painkillers said comparable sales will rise by only 2 percent to 3 percent in 2018, and profitability will be curtailed by deflationary conditions in the consumer-goods business. That ...
Read More »Trump plan to swap ‘cash payments’ for food faces skeptical Congress
Bloomberg A Trump administration plan to replace food-stamp spending with boxes of “100 percent American grown food’’ landed on Congress’s doorstep with a thud. But the public attention heaped on the Agriculture Department’s plan to deliver “Harvest Boxes†to poor families also obscured the administration’s other efforts to cut the number of people eligible for the nation’s biggest food-aid programme. ...
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