Bloomberg Add AltaGas Ltd. to the list of Canadian companies that can’t seem to get enough of America’s energy assets. The Calgary power and gas supplier agreed to buy WGL Holdings Inc. — owner of the Washington utility that supplies natural gas to the White House — for $4.6 billion. The takeover will expand its reach in the US, …

    ALGIERS / Reuters An Algerian company has signed a deal with a US group to set up agricultural projects worth $300 million in the North African country as it seeks to reduce dependence on imports, Algeria’s agriculture ministry said. Under the deal, privately-owned Algerian dairy company Tifralait and the American International Agriculture Group (AIAG) will set up a …

  Bloomberg EON SE and RWE AG delayed the refueling of some reactors to this winter to avoid paying a tax that has cost them billions of euros in the past, damping supply just as cold weather increases demand. As a result, the nation’s nuclear production is at the lowest since 2011 and is expected to remain subdued through next …

  Bloomberg Executives atop India’s mobile-phone industry foresee a consolidation that could knock Bharti Airtel Ltd. out of first place in the $26 billion market. The catalyst: free calls and industry debt that has ratcheted up to more than double revenue. Billionaire Mukesh Ambani escalated a price war in September, vowing to reorder the market and luring tens of millions …

  Bloomberg Gold exports to China soared in the run-up to the start of the Lunar New Year, with volumes increasing in December from major suppliers Switzerland and Hong Kong. More gold was sent from Swiss refiners to the world’s top consumer than in any month since at least January 2014, according to data on the website of the Swiss …

  Bloomberg Consumer prices in Japan dropped for a 10th straight month, though the pace of decline eased as oil costs rose, supporting expectations for a return to inflation later this year. Consumer prices excluding fresh food, the Bank of Japan’s core inflation gauge, fell 0.2 percent in December from a year earlier (forecast -0.3 percent). Overall consumer prices rose …

  Bloomberg Keppel Corp., the world’s biggest oil rig builder that eliminated more than 10,000 jobs last year, said even a doubling of crude prices is failing to offer relief to an industry slammed by overcapacity as it braced for a prolonged slowdown. While OPEC’s recent decision to cut output renewed optimism, with spending by some oil majors expected to …

  Bloomberg Air Products & Chemicals Inc. has hit a bump as it attempts the largest US takeover of a Chinese firm in more than a decade, stymied by an extended boardroom battle at Yingde Gases Group Co. A divided board of the Hong Kong-listed firm failed to agree on a panel needed to review the offer, but has asked …

  Bloomberg SK Hynix Inc., a supplier of memory chips to Apple Inc., posted fourth-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates as semiconductor prices surged on robust demand for bigger storage in mobile devices and computers. Operating profit rose 55 percent to 1.54 trillion won ($1.3 billion) in the three months ended December, the Icheon, South Korea-based company said in a …

  Bloomberg Germany will step into global markets the US abandons and take on a bigger role on the international stage if the administration of President Donald Trump continues its shift toward protectionism, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said. Speaking on his first day in his new post in Berlin, Gabriel said Germany’s “arms will remain outstretched” to the US to …