RIYADH / Reuters Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) has combined its chemicals and polymers businesses and will spin off its steel unit as part of its restructuring efforts to counter the depressed oil market and weak product prices. Chief Executive Yousef Abdullah al-Benyan was speaking after the firm, one of the world’s largest petrochemicals groups, on Wednesday reported a ...

  Bloomberg Middle Eastern TV giant BeIN Media Group, owned by Al Jazeera, has signed a multi-year deal with Warner Bros. International Television Distribution securing content from the Hollywood major. Starting this year, under the deal, BeIN will have access to such hit series as Arrow, Gotham and Originals and will also get the exclusive second pay window rights to ...

  CAIRO / Reuters A draft of a new investment law will be sent to the Egyptian cabinet next month, Investment Minister Dalia Khorshid said in a talk show on the local television channel CBC late on Tuesday. The new law will focus on the diversification of incentives and guarantees for investors, Khorshid said. It has been in the works ...

  Reuters Egypt is unlikely to see a jump in inflation from measures to ease a foreign-exchange shortage because import prices already reflect the black market rate, a senior International Monetary Fund official said. Egyptian officials are widely expected to devalue the pound and cut energy subsidies to secure a $12 billion IMF loan, needed to fund an economic overhaul ...

  AFP Chinese growth stabilised in the third quarter, data showed on Wednesday, as ample credit and hot property markets propped up the world’s second-largest economy. But while the forecast-beating reading was in line with state targets, it came as experts warned that authorities have relied too much on easy credit, which has in turn increased financial risks. The economy ...

  Bloomberg Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA Chairman Carlos Ghosn is set to add that title at Mitsubishi Motors Corp., according to people with knowledge of the matter, putting him on track to become the first executive to head three different automakers at the same time. Nissan is acquiring a 34 percent stake in Mitsubishi Motors, which sought a ...

  AFP The United Nations has urged Bangladesh to halt construction of a huge coal-fired power plant near the Sundarbans, warning of a serious threat to the delicate ecosystem of the world’s largest mangrove forest. The UN’s culture and science agency UNESCO said there was a high chance pollution from the plant would “irreversibly damage” the Sundarbans, which straddles the ...

  Bloomberg Liberty House Group is among bidders to have submitted an offer for the steel and iron ore assets of Australia’s Arrium Ltd., according to people with knowledge of the process. The London-based steelmaker and metals trader made a non-binding proposal, the people said, requesting anonymity as the details are private. Liberty House faces competition, including from private equity ...

  AFP Canadian food exporters at a major trade fair in Paris fear a last minute dispute will spoil a free trade deal between Canada and the European Union. Having taken years to negotiate, some producers voiced impatience for the deal to now be finally sealed; others simply fail to see why anyone would reject it. Barring a few sensitive ...

  Bloomberg Long is the new deep. Just ask SM Energy Co., which on Tuesday spent $1.6 billion to expand its acreage in America’s most prodigious oil patch, the Permian Basin. The unique geologic makeup of the Permian, consisting of multiple layers of oil- and gas-trapping shale that span hundreds of miles, is well suited for a technique that’s allowing ...