Bloomberg A decade after joining the European Union, Bulgaria is stepping up its lobbying efforts to switch to the euro, part of an expansion by the bloc that could help stabilize the volatile Balkan region. The former communist country will ask euro-area politicians to back its bid to join the ERM-2 exchange-rate mechanism, the precursor to adopting the common currency, ...

Bloomberg Ryanair Holdings Plc plans to accelerate its European expansion to take advantage of financial woes at regional competitors and reduce its reliance on an uncertain UK market. Europe’s biggest discount carrier is in talks with Boeing Co. to add two or three more 737 jets to its existing delivery schedule while extending leases on 10 other planes through 2019, ...

Bloomberg Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is actively considering a proposal to privatize state-run Air India Ltd., possibly asking the buyer to absorb loans of about 200 billion rupees ($3.1 billion) linked to aircraft purchases, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said. The deliberations follow recommendations by a government panel for the sale of the money-losing carrier that ...

Emirates Business SriLankan Airlines, the National Carrier of Sri Lanka and a member of the prestigious oneworld alliance, will be establishing its presence in Australia with daily non-stop services to Melbourne commencing October 29 this year. Australia is home to one of the largest Sri Lankan expatriate communities, many of whom reside in and around Melbourne, the capital of Australia’s ...

Fujairah / Emirates Business City Centre Fujairah, owned and operated by Majid Al Futtaim, the leading shopping mall, communities, retail and leisure pioneer across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, has added four big-brand stores. Adidas and Toys ‘R’ Us are among the latest shops to have opened. Womenswear chains Monsoon and Annabelle have also launched branches in the mall. ...

Bloomberg VietJet Aviation Joint Stock Co. is in talks to become the first company in Vietnam to list its shares on a stock exchange overseas as the carrier, which controls more than 40 percent of the domestic airline market, seeks more funds after plans for billions of dollars in aircraft purchases. “We’ve been approached by some foreign stock exchanges including ...

Bloomberg India’s introduction of a single nationwide goods and services tax may have an unexpected consequence: prompting more companies to sell shares to the public. That’s the view of Ashishkumar Chauhan, chief executive officer of BSE Ltd., the operator of the Bombay Stock Exchange. He says smaller firms that become tax-compliant due to the levy, scheduled for implementation on July ...

Bloomberg China’s official manufacturing gauge held up in May, buoyed by an improving global outlook. Manufacturing purchasing managers index remained at 51.2 for a second straight month in May, compared with a median estimate of 51 in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Non-manufacturing PMI rose to 54.5 Numbers higher than 50 indicate improving conditions. While some early indicators for May ...

Bloomberg Three former Nomura Holdings Inc. mortgage-bond traders accused of cheating their customers called no witnesses in their defense against fraud charges, betting that prosecutors’ evidence is too weak to convict them. Lawyers for the three traders — Ross Shapiro, Michael Gramins, and Tyler Peters — have said they will tell jurors that the prosecution failed to prove its case ...

Bloomberg Japan’s industrial output rebounded in April, hitting the highest level since 2008, as overseas demand continued to support the nation’s economic recovery. Industrial production increased 4.0 percent (forecast +4.2 percent) in April from March, when it fell 1.9 percent. Industrial production index rose to 103.8 in April, the highest level since October 2008. Output is forecast to fall 2.5 ...