Bloomberg Fortis Healthcare Ltd.’s board passed over bids backed by US private-equity giants TPG and KKR & Co. in favour of local tycoons in the contentious battle for control of India’s second-largest hospital chain. The drawn-out takeover fight moved a step closer to a conclusion after the Fortis board chose a joint proposal from two Indian business families. The rejected ...
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Fosun Pharma to vie for $2bn Novartis portfolio
Bloomberg Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co. is among shortlisted bidders for a portfolio of Novartis AG assets, including its US dermatology business, that could fetch as much as $2 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said. Apollo Global Management LLC, CVC Capital Partners and Indian drugmaker Aurobindo Pharma Ltd. have also been picked to make final offers, the people ...
Read More »$19bn fund favours contrarian bet in India poll season
Bloomberg It’s hard to predict whether India will re-elect a majority government next year. But one fund manager has advice for investors: go against the crowd. If stocks start to rise on expectations of a stable administration, investors must book profit and re-enter should the results confirm the outcome, said Nilesh Shah, who oversees $19 billion as chief executive officer ...
Read More »India factory output growth eases to five-month low
Bloomberg India’s factory output expanded at the slowest pace in five months, underlining the need for Asia’s third-largest economy to boost investments and consumer spending for faster growth. Growth in output from factories was 4.4 percent in March from a year earlier, the statistics ministry said in a statement in New Delhi. The median of 35 estimates in a Bloomberg ...
Read More »Toyota ally Mazda names new CEO to lead revival with US focus
Bloomberg Mazda Motor Corp. named Akira Marumoto its next chief executive officer to lead a revival in earnings growth in the face of a slowing US market. Marumoto, an executive vice president who heads operations in the US, will replace Masamichi Kogai after the change is ratified at an annual shareholder meeting on June 26, Mazda said. Kogai will become ...
Read More »Drug industry dodges worst fears in Trump’s US price plan
Bloomberg President Donald Trump’s plan to lower US drug prices avoids some of the harshest steps that the pharmaceutical industry and the network of companies that distribute its products feared. Calling his proposal the most sweeping attempt in US history to lower drug prices, Trump wants to increase competition for medicines, cut list prices and reduce patients’ out-of-pocket costs. Yet ...
Read More »US consumer prices rise less than forecast as autos, airfares drop
Bloomberg US consumer prices rose by less than forecast in April as costs for automobiles and airfares declined, reducing chances that inflation will run significantly above the Federal Reserve’s target in coming months. The consumer-price index advanced 0.2 percent from the prior month after a March decline of 0.1 percent, a Labor Department report showed, compared with the Bloomberg survey ...
Read More »Axa IPO flop shows investor dismay at firm’s strategy
Bloomberg Investors gave a resounding thumbs-down to the partial spinoff of Axa SA’s US business, dealing a blow to boss Thomas Buberl’s strategy for the French insurer. The sale of part of its US operations raised almost $1 billion less than the company had hoped for, and comes amid concern among shareholders at the $15.3 billion takeover of XL Group ...
Read More »UK house-price gauge drops
Bloomberg A gauge of UK house prices dipped to its lowest in more than five years last month, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, with the slowdown most acute in London and the southeast. RICS’s gauge of prices dropped to minus 8, the lowest since November 2012, the organization said in a report. The descent into negative territory ...
Read More »Fox results weaken as focus shifts to Disney-Comcast tussle
Bloomberg 21st Century Fox Inc., Rupert Murdoch’s film and TV company, reported weaker earnings in its latest quarter, even as a looming deal to offload most of its entertainment assets took the focus off the results. Excluding some items, profit amounted to 51 cents a share last quarter, New York-based Fox said. That missed the average of analysts’ estimates of ...
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