News

  Bloomberg State-backed Shanghai Electric Power Co. agreed to pay buyout firm Abraaj Group $1.77 billion for a controlling shareholding in Pakistani utility K-Electric, gaining access to 2.5 million customers in the south Asian country’s most populous city. Abraaj is selling its 66.4 percent stake in K-Electric through its KES Power unit, according to a statement posted on its website, ...

  BEIJING / AP A senior US official urged China to work with the US to close a loophole on North Korean coal imports that Washington believes has been critical to propping up the isolated country’s finances. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Beijing ahead of talks with Chinese officials that Chinese coal imports from North Korea contributed ...

  Wellington / AFP Peter Jackson’s “Lord Of The Rings” and “Hobbit” series have proved to be as precious to New Zealand’s economy as any magical ring as millions flock to the country for a glimpse of Middle Earth, making tourism the main driver of growth. For years, coffers have been supplemented mainly by booming sales of dairy products from ...

  Brussels / AFP Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and European Union leaders on Sunday finally signed a landmark trade deal seven years in the making, after it was nearly being torpedoed by a small region of Belgium. The ceremony in Brussels had been pushed back from Thursday after French-speaking Wallonia, with just 3.6 million people, initially vetoed an agreement ...

  Bloomberg UK Business Secretary Greg Clark wrote to Nissan Motor Co. setting out four key assurances, including a pledge to seek tariff-free access to the European Union market in a post-Brexit deal, to persuade the company to make a new investment at a plant in northeast England. “What I said is that our objective would be to ensure that ...

  AP United States companies are cutting merger deals at a record pace even though antitrust regulators have moved to oppose several recent high-profile combinations. So far this month, companies have agreed to mergers and acquisitions valued at more than $251 billion, financial-information provider Dealogic said. That surpasses the previous record of $240 billion in July 2015. Last week alone ...

  Bloomberg French growth rebounded in the third quarter as part of a start-stop expansion that leaves Europe’s second-largest economy lagging its neighbors such as Spain. Gross domestic product in France expanded 0.2 percent in the three months through September after shrinking 0.1 percent in the previous period, national statistics office Insee said. That compares with a 0.3 percent increase ...

  Bloomberg General Electric Co. has no intention of letting its 3-D printing ambitions die. A day after shareholder resistance derailed an acquisition in that market, GE said it would buy a 75 percent stake in closely held Concept Laser GmbH for $599 million. At the same time, GE bumped up the offer for Swedish 3D printing company Arcam AB ...

  Reuters Container shipping firm Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) expects to have regained by the middle of next year the business lost while Iran was subject to international sanctions, its chairman said. International sanctions were lifted in January following an agreement with world powers on Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme. “Step by step the problems have been resolved ...

  Bloomberg Egypt has reached a $2.7 billion currency swap agreement with China, moving closer to mustering the outside financing needed to win final approval of a $12 billion International Monetary Fund loan. The agreement is being processed by the Chinese authorities, an Egyptian central bank official said Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official didn’t provide additional details ...