Bloomberg CDC Group Plc is seeking to purchase a 10.68 percent stake in I&M Holdings Ltd. of Kenya through a private share transfer, the lender said. The UK-based development finance institution entered into a conditional agreement to buy shares held by Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft and Proparco, which have 6.25 percent and 4.43 percent respectively, according to a statement ...
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Draghi putting ECB stimulus back on agenda
BLOOMBERG No sooner will Mario Draghi return from his summer vacation than he’ll be looking to boost euro-area stimulus yet again, economists predict. Despite unprecedented measures by the European Central Bank (ECB) president so far, a survey of 47 analysts who cover the institution showed more than 60 percent think he isn’t yet done. The most likely date for fresh ...
Read More »China home-price gains spread as demand spur
Bloomberg China’s home-price gains accelerated last month as the nation’s economic hubs such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen continued to lead the way amid surging liquidity that underpinned demand. New-home prices excluding government-subsidized housing climbed in 62 cities, compared with 47 in February, among the 70 cities tracked by the government, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday. ...
Read More »Chinese developers prudent on 2016 sales
Bloomberg Chinese developers set conservative goals for sales in 2016, indicating that they expect property growth to slow after a period of credit-fueled expansion. Twenty-two major Chinese developers set a combined contracted sales goal at 1.3 trillion yuan ($201 billion) this year, representing an 8.8 percent gain from the sales value they reached in 2015, according to data compiled ...
Read More »London quarterly home sales drop 33% as tax rises
Bloomberg Demand for London homes under construction slumped by 33 percent in the first quarter as a new tax on overseas buyers and high values damped demand. The number of homes sold prior to completion in the U.K. capital fell to 5,947 from a record high of 8,927 a year earlier, according to data compiled by Molior London that ...
Read More »UK house prices up as land lords spark chain reaction
Bloomberg U.K. house prices climbed to a record in April as demand from landlords in the previous month created knock-on effects through the property market, according to Rightmove Plc. Average asking prices rose 1.3 percent from March to 307,033 pounds ($437,000), the property website operator said in a report published Monday. It left values 7.3 percent higher than a ...
Read More »Immofinanz, CA Immo to merge after bids fail
Bloomberg Immofinanz AG and CA Immobilien Anlagen AG plan to merge in a transaction that would create the biggest commercial property group in central and eastern Europe, following a hostile takeover battle that ended without a deal last year. Immofinanz agreed to buy a 26 percent stake in CA Immo from Russian billionaire Boris Mints’s O1 Group Ltd. in ...
Read More »Confidence high as Canadians keep faith in housing
Bloomberg Canadians are looking past signs of damage from low energy prices and predicting the housing surge will continue. According to weekly polling by Nanos Research, the share of respondents expecting higher real estate prices reached the most since December 2014 last week, or 38.7%. That pushed the Bloomberg Nanos Consumer Confidence Index to 54.7 last week, the highest ...
Read More »Qantas plunges as it slashes domestic expansion plans
Bloomberg Qantas Airways Ltd. fell the most in more than two years after Australia’s largest carrier cut its planned domestic capacity expansion as the prospect of a federal election and a drop in consumer confidence weigh on demand. The shares fell as much as 14 percent and were trading 11.6 percent lower at A$3.59 in Sydney, the biggest intraday ...
Read More »Corn-Fed crocodiles make better handbags
Bloomberg Padenga Holdings Ltd., the world’s largest supplier of Nile crocodile skins for luxury handbags and shoes, is seeking to boost profitability by feeding the aquatic reptiles a corn-rich diet and allowing them more space to grow. The company’s biggest market for hides is Italy, the home of luxury goods makers including Prada Spa, which sells a crocodile and ...
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