February, 2016

• 20 February

  Sainsbury faces slippery slope in Home Retail bid war

  Bloomberg Sainsbury’s takeover of Home Retail was already of questionable logic. Getting into a bidding war for the struggling company would be even less sensible. Steinhoff International Holdings — a furniture chain once based in South Africa that’s seeking to expand in Europe — made an offer of about $2 billion for Home Retail that threatens to derail Sainsbury’s agreement ...

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• 20 February

  Lotte chief’s brother mounts bid to capture Korea arm

  

  TOKYO / Bloomberg Japan-based older brother of Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong Bin wants to install himself and their father at the top of the family business’s lucrative South Korean units, in the latest salvo of a year-long battle for control over the retail conglomerate. Shin Dong Joo has proposed a plan to form a new board of directors for ...

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• 20 February

  China removes Xiao after stock meltdown

  

  BEIJING / Bloomberg The head of China’s securities regulator has been removed from his post after last year’s $5 trillion stock- market bust, an unprecedented government rescue and a renewed crisis as plunging Chinese equities last month reverberated around the world. Xiao Gang, 57, a former head of Bank of China Ltd., had been chairman of the China Securities Regulatory ...

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• 20 February

  Citibank to drop consumer banks in struggling South America

  

  BOGOTA / AP Citibank is planning to sell the consumer banking operations it has operated for a century in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia as South America’s three biggest economies suffer a major downturn. The New York-based bank said Friday in a statement that its decision was prompted by a desire to allocate resources where it can generate the best returns. ...

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• 20 February

  SL interest rates rise, seeking IMF bailout

  

  Colombo / AFP Sri Lanka’s central bank raised benchmark interest rates for the first time in nearly four years by 50 basis points ahead of a possible IMF bailout. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka raised its lending rate from 7.5 to 8.0 percent, saying that relatively cheap money had the potential to fuel demand-driven inflation that could undermine the ...

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• 20 February

  Economists forecast decline in consumer prices

  

  Frankfurt / Bloomberg With German government bonds on their longest winning streak in more than a year, investors are set to scour inflation data next week for clues as to whether the European Central Bank will provide more stimulus next month. A measure of euro-region inflation expectations stayed near a record low this week even as the central bank pledged ...

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• 20 February

  IMF gives Lagarde second term as MD

  

  WASHINGTON / AP The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it is giving managing director Christine Lagarde a second five-year term. Lagarde, the first woman to hold the post, was the only candidate nominated. Her new term starts July 5. Lagarde, 60, was named the IMF’s 11th managing director in 2011. She has led the multinational lending agency through the European ...

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• 20 February

  Le Pen Party taps Russian banks to fund 2017 election campaign

  MOSCOW / Bloomberg Marine Le Pen’s National Front party is reaching out to Russian banks for the 25 million euros ($27.7 million) it needs to bankroll its 2017 presidential campaign, the party’s treasurer Wallerand de Saint Just said. “I will look for funds where I know I might get them,” Saint Just said in a telephone interview. “I found some ...

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• 20 February

  BofA’s Thompson to remain at bank, Vice Chairman

  Bloomberg Bank of America Corp.’s Bruce Thompson, who stepped down as chief financial officer last year, will stick with the company in a role dealing with the lender’s biggest corporate clients. Thompson, 51, was set to pursue opportunities at another firm after Paul Donofrio, 55, was named CFO in July, people with knowledge of the situation said at the time. ...

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• 20 February

  Vintage decors woo Emirates

  

  Sunaina Rana / EMIRATES BUSINESS With a dream to set up a public space dedicated to art decorative in UAE, like what Le Louvre museum has done in Paris or what Design Museum has done in Milano, world-famous art collector Guillaume Cuiry is contributing remarkably in enhancing the art scene of the Emirates. He is undoubtedly one of the main ...

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