Bloomberg KFC’s partnership with an Alibaba affiliate puts the pressure on the Golden Arches in China more than ever. By allying with a backer of the country’s top food delivery website, KFC owner Yum Brands has taken a step toward solving the dilemma of slowing growth in its biggest market outside the US. It’s a deal that McDonald’s, which ...

  Bloomberg Julius Baer Group Ltd., DBS Group Holdings Ltd. and LGT Bank are considering bids for ABN Amro Group NV’s private-banking business in Asia, people with knowledge of the matter said. The banks have expressed interest in the ABN Amro unit and will study more detailed information on its business, according to the people, who asked not to be ...

  Bloomberg Swedbank AB’s profit jumped 23 percent in the third quarter, exceeding analysts’ expectations, as Sweden’s biggest mortgage lender generated more revenue while keeping impairments in check. Net income in the three months through September reached 4.82 billion kronor ($541 million), compared with 3.93 billion kronor a year earlier, the Stockholm-based bank said on Tuesday. That was well above ...

  MILAN / AP Troubled Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena unveiled on Tuesday a restructuring plan that will include new management, thousands of job cuts, hundreds of branch closings and the disposal of soured loans in a bid to entice investors to inject up to 5 billion euros ($5.5 billion) in new capital. CEO Marco Morelli said the ...

  Bloomberg Long-term sterling bonds suggest investors are quickly losing confidence in the Bank of England’s (BOE) ability to support debt markets through the UK’s departure from the European Union. Holders have lost about 10 percent in as little as seven weeks on long-dated notes issued by Vodafone Group Plc, British American Tobacco Plc and WPP Plc. The bond sales ...

  Bloomberg Bahrain-based alternative investor Investcorp Bank BSC agreed to buy the debt management arm of 3i Group Plc, more than doubling its assets under management. Investcorp has agreed to pay $271 million for the business, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. The 3i unit will add $12 billion to the firm’s assets under management, bringing Investcorp’s total ...

  Bloomberg Egypt has been facing a shortage of sugar for weeks as a currency crunch and rising global prices curbed imports. Authorities have accused traders of hoarding, and seized stocks from companies including Edita Food Industries — one of Egypt’s largest producers. With inflation at a seven-year high, the sugar crisis is making it harder for the government to ...

  Reuters Oil climbed with OPEC’s secretary-general set to visit Baghdad on Tuesday for talks aimed at resolving a deal on output after Iraq said it should be exempt from planned cuts. Futures rose as much as 0.8 percent in New York after falling 0.7 percent Monday. Mohammed Barkindo will meet with Iraq’s prime minister and oil minister, according to ...

  Singapore / AFP Under current conditions, the IEA expects global output to exceed demand until the second half of 2017, Fatih Birol told journalists on the sidelines of an energy conference in Singapore. “But we know that the producers are thinking of intervening in the markets. The OPEC and non-OPEC producers, if they intervene in the markets, this rebalance ...

  Bloomberg Renewable energy reached an important turning point last year with record new installations of emissions-free power surpassing sources that burn fossil fuel, according the International Energy Agency. New installations of renewable energy overtook conventional power for the first time in 2015, the Paris-based agency said on Tuesday in its Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report. Global green power rose ...