News

  Bloomberg AEP Investment Management Pte, which invests in commercial real estate in Asia Pacific, is considering listing some of its assets through a Singapore initial public offering, people with knowledge of the matter said. AEP has held talks with investment banks about potential exit options, including a real estate investment trust IPO comprising properties held by funds it manages, ...

  Bloomberg Singapore, on track to post its worst economic performance since the 2009 global financial crisis this year, is bracing for more uncertainty as rising protectionism poses risks for the export-dependent nation. While the government is forecasting economic growth of as much as 3 percent in 2017 — double the maximum it sees for this year — the city-state ...

  Bloomberg Granola and oatmeal lovers in the US may need to prepare for some sticker shock. Oat production in Canada, the world’s biggest exporter, is set to plunge after rain and snow delayed harvests across the Prairie Provinces. Because the crop spent too much time in wet fields, grain quality declined, which means more will end up as livestock ...

  Geneva / AP Like other countries after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, Switzerland pledged to abandon nuclear power in coming years. But anti-nuclear advocacy groups say the Swiss government’s timetable isn’t fast enough, and have pushed for a referendum this weekend that would hasten the planned exit. Swiss voters cast ballots on an initiative championed by environmentalists and nuclear foes ...

  LONDON / AP Since Britain voted to leave the European Union, UK officials have had one message: Brexit means Brexit. Now they have EU leaders’ reply: And it’s going to hurt. The prime minister of Malta, whose country is about to assume the EU presidency, is the latest leader to dash Britain’s hopes of an easy divorce, signaling that ...

  Bloomberg Actelion Ltd. said that Johnson & Johnson has approached it about a potential takeover of the $17 billion Swiss drugmaker, as the US health-care giant works to expand its pharmaceutical lineup. Actelion confirmed the approach in a statement and said it’s not certain that a deal will happen. Actelion is working with an adviser to explore options, and ...

  Beijing / AFP China will be handed the opportunity to reshape the rules for global trade and profit from a more isolated US if President-elect Donald Trump carries out his pledge to abandon the landmark TPP pact, observers say. The likely demise of the Trans-Pacific Partnership has been welcomed by state media in China, where the deal had been criticised ...

  Manila AFP The head of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Thursday urged US President-elect Donald Trump to continue with a landmark trans-pacific trade deal, but said the region would press on with key accords regardless of his decision. The US-led Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership (TPP), promoted by outgoing US President Barack Obama as part of his Asia pivot, liberalises inter-regional ...

  Bangkok / AFP Thai prosecutors have charged a string of tour operators with ripping off Chinese tourists, police said on Thursday, as the kingdom cracks down on scams targeting their most lucrative visitors. China sends more people to Thailand than any other nation and tourism remains one of the few bright spots in the kingdom’s otherwise bleak economy. But complaints ...

  Istanbul / AFP The Turkish central bank on Thursday announced it was hiking its main interest rate by 50 basis points, in a bid to counter a drastic fall in the value of the lira. The monetary policy committee of the bank said the one-week repurchasing rate was being lifted to 8.0 percent from 7.5 percent, the first rate hike ...