Bloomberg Zimbabwe’s Rio Energy Ltd, a unit of RioZim Ltd, will build a 2,100 megawatt thermal power plant with China Gezhouba Group Corp (CGGC) in northern Zimbabwe at a projected cost of $3 billion, Rio Energy said. “CGGC will develop the project and assist with the fund raising,” Caleb Dengu, chairman of Rio Energy Ltd said last week. The power ...

Bloomberg You can add coal to the list of global commodities struggling during the pandemic. Prices haven’t yet turned negative (like oil), but coronavirus is accelerating the demise of the dirtiest fossil fuel. Social distancing measures mean energy demand has fallen across the board. Some of the smallest declines, however, are in the electricity sector. That should have been good ...

Bloomberg South Korea has run out of oil storage space that can be leased to third-party companies, according to people with knowledge of the matter, as a global glut spurs a scramble for places to store crude. State-run Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC) currently rents out about 30 million barrels of onshore tank space to third parties including international traders ...

Bloomberg Startup Amply Power has raised $13.2 million from investors including Soros Fund Management to advance the company’s electric-vehicle charging service for commercial fleets. The Mountain View, California-based company helps commercial vehicle operators go electric by providing charging infrastructure and fixed prices to charge their vehicles. Other investors in the round included Siemens Financial Services and existing seed-round investors such ...

Bloomberg The euro-area economy’s expansion has come to a dramatic halt, pummeled by a pandemic that’s killed thousands and destroyed businesses and livelihoods. First-quarter GDP data due on Thursday will show a 3.7% contraction, the first since 2013, capturing the early hit to the economy from shutdowns to contain the coronavirus. The current quarter is likely to be even worse, ...

Bloomberg More than seven weeks after Italy imposed one of Europe’s most rigorous lockdowns, money is finally trickling down to companies hurt by the ensuing economic paralysis. Ironically, the aid is starting to arrive just as Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced easing of some of the curbs from May 4. But the delay in getting money to companies and households ...

Bloomberg Wirecard AG said an independent audit by KPMG uncovered no need to restate earnings, but added all data needed to confirm past revenues could not be obtained. Wirecard hired the accounting firm in October, which has been looking into the payment processor’s third-party partner business, as well as business activities in India and Singapore. In a statement on Tuesday, ...

Bloomberg Learning new skills is taking on greater significance at manufacturer Zero Point 8 in the UK’s industrial heartland. For workers, it’s about staying employed and healthy. For the company, it’s about keeping afloat. Social distancing rules that dictate production can only continue safely if workers are two meters apart means splitting them into two shifts. Some staff at the ...

Bloomberg Bayer AG’s Werner Baumann has a return engagement with shareholders after an unprecedented rebuke last year. Though an avalanche of Roundup litigation has grown, the chief executive officer appears to be on firmer footing this time around. While Baumann has failed to settle claims with more than 50,000 US plaintiffs who say the weedkiller caused cancer, he has drawn ...

Bloomberg The German government has brought in SAP SE and Deutsche Telekom AG to help develop an app to trace Covid-19 infections as European governments look to national champions to help build solutions to the pandemic. “Deutsche Telekom and SAP will play their part in Germany and throughout Europe to ensure that European digital technologies are a central component in ...