Bloomberg Hong Kong’s securities regulator is investigating whether realtors selling overseas properties are illegally marketing investment plans, according to a lawmaker helping investors who lost money on such deals. Buyers argued that developments promoting guaranteed rental income are so-called collective investment schemes, which need approval from the Securities and Futures Commission, said James To Kun-sun, a member of the …

  Bloomberg Anil Agarwal, an Indian mining billionaire, plans to buy as much as 2 billion pounds ($2.4 billion) of Anglo American Plc shares in the market after a merger proposal failed last year. The full stake would equate to about 13 percent of Anglo’s stock, making Agarwal the second-largest shareholder after South Africa’s Public Investment Corp. It will give …

  AP As spring crocus blooms approach, some growers have visions of a fall-flowering crocus that produces saffron, the world’s most valuable spice. University of Vermont researchers have been raising the exotic spice now grown primarily in Iran and are encouraging growers to tap into what they hope will be a cash crop. It’s not a hard sell, particularly in …