News

  Frankfurt am Main / AFP German industrial gases maker Linde and US competitor Praxair are set to announce a $65-billion merger to create a global leader in the sector in the coming days, the Financial Times reported on Monday. Linde and Praxair’s previous attempt at a tie-up failed in September, but they are now expected to reveal preliminary merger terms ...

  Bloomberg Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. agreed to buy insurer Allied World Assurance Co. for $4.9 billion in cash and stock in Chief Executive Officer Prem Watsa’s largest purchase. Fairfax will pay $54 per share, which is 18 percent higher than Allied World’s closing price on Friday. For every share, Allied investors will receive about $10 in cash — half ...

  Bloomberg Svenska Cellulosa AB will acquire BSN Medical for 2.74 billion euros ($2.9 billion) as the Swedish maker of Velvet tissues expands into wound care and orthopedics ahead of a planned split from forestry products. The purchase of the dressings-and-bandage maker from private equity firm EQT Partners AB, to be funded through debt, is expected to generate annual synergies ...

  Bloomberg Pakistan’s drive to sell stakes in its loss-making state-owned entities has been all but abandoned, as the government bows to threats of widespread protests over potential job losses. Former IBM executive Mohammad Zubair, the minister of state for privatization, has found his work increasingly sidelined, even as annual losses from state companies rack up at 600 billion rupees ...

  Bloomberg Nintendo Co. plummeted in Tokyo after the debut of Super Mario Run was met by lukewarm reviews. The stock slid 7.1 percent on Monday, bringing its losses since the game’s debut last week to more than 11 percent. Nintendo’s partner DeNA Co., which helped with the game’s development, dropped 14 percent in the same period. Super Mario Run ...

  Bloomberg Ousted Tata Sons Ltd. Chairman Cyrus Mistry resigned as director of group companies as the units prepared to host shareholder meetings to remove him from the boards in a brawl for control of the $100 billion group. Mistry stepped down as a director in Tata Steel Ltd. and Indian Hotels Co., and as chairman of Tata Motors Ltd., ...

  Bloomberg Japan posted a trade surplus for a third straight month in November as imports continued to fall faster than exports. Export values declined at the slowest pace since September 2015, with exports to China rising for first time since February. Exports fell 0.4 percent in November from a year earlier (forecast -2.3%), after declining 10 percent in October, ...

  Bloomberg China’s overheated property market continued to cool in November as authorities rolled out renewed home-buying curbs to deflate a housing bubble. New-home prices, excluding government-subsidized housing, gained from the previous month in 55 of the 70 cities tracked by the government, compared with 62 in October, the National Bureau of Statistics said Monday. Prices dropped in 11 cities, ...

  DUBAI / WAM The 31st edition of the International Autumn Trade Fair 2016 (IATF 16) concluded at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre with excellent results. It was announced at the three-day show — which attracted thousands of visitors — that the UAE is ranked among the world’s top 20 exporters, according to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM The United Arab Emirates, represented by the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) signed an open skies agreement in its final form with the Kingdom of Sweden. Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Director-General of the GCAA, and Jan Thesleff, Ambassador of Sweden to the UAE, signed the agreement. The signing ceremony took place in the Sheikh Zayed ...