Dubai / Reuters Saudi Aramco is paying a significant premium to the government and to its previous borrowing in its first sale of Islamic bonds, reflecting uncertainty over oil prices and an upcoming sale of the state-owned oil giant’s shares. Aramco is offering 7-year, riyal-denominated sukuk at 25 basis points (bps) over the six-month Saudi Arabian Interbank Offered Rate ...

  Bloomberg The closure of one of Australia’s biggest power plants may spark a new bout of electricity price volatility, potentially worsening the country’s energy crisis. The final two units of the 1,600-megawatt coal-fired Hazelwood plant in the state of Victoria will be shut Wednesday by owners Engie SA and Mitsui & Co. After operating for 50 years, the closure ...

  Bloomberg Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) expects double-digit growth in its project finance business in the Middle East in 2017, driven partly by Saudi Arabia’s efforts to reduce its dependence on oil, the bank’s co-head in the region Elyas Algaseer said. Saudi Arabia’s push to diversify its economy under its National Transformation Plan provides a big opportunity for international ...

  Bloomberg Toshiba Corp. projected its annual loss could more than double to a record 1.01 trillion yen ($9.1 billion) as its US nuclear unit Westinghouse Electric filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The collapse of Westinghouse, once the linchpin of Toshiba’s plans to diversify away from consumer electronics, caps a disastrous run for the Japanese conglomerate as project delays crippled ...

  Bloomberg China Evergrande Group, the nation’s most indebted property developer, advanced in Hong Kong trading after announcing a plan to introduce as much as 20 billion yuan ($2.9 billion) from strategic investors ahead of a back-door listing on the mainland. Shares of the Guangzhou-based developer surged 8.9 percent higher to close at HK$6.95 in Hong Kong. The plan came ...

    Bloomberg UK industry groups renewed calls for a trade-friendly Brexit settlement as Prime Minister Theresa May opened two years of negotiations on leaving the European Union after alarming some business leaders by signaling a clean break. The Confederation of British Industry urged the government to guarantee the rights of EU workers already in the UK while negotiating the ...

  Reuters Don’t return Sweden to the high taxes of the 1970s and 1980s. That warning comes from Sweden’s state-funded economic think tank as the Social Democratic-led government has been raising taxes on workers, while planning to cut levies on pensioners and those collecting benefits. “There are big negative effects, at least in the longer term, of higher state income ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG is finding that there just isn’t enough soured US mortgage debt anymore. The German bank needs the stuff, after agreeing to provide $4.1 billion of relief to borrowers as part of a larger legal settlement with the US. It’s already been planning to finance fund managers that would in turn buy underwater mortgages and ease their ...

  Bloomberg The $12 billion fund that manages the wealth of the billionaire family behind Lego A/S wants to add more UK real estate to its portfolio, reflecting a bet that Britain’s departure from the European Union might make the London property market more accessible. “We need to keep finding targets for investments and we feel that Brexit can give ...

  Bloomberg France pledged $2.6 billion in investments for Indonesia and affirmed deepening ties with Southeast Asia’s biggest economy during a visit on Wednesday by President Francois Hollande. Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo welcomed the new commitment by French investors to increase their involvement in the energy, infrastructure and retail industries. Jokowi and Hollande witnessed the signing of five memorandums ...