February, 2023

• 13 February

  Heathrow staff plans to ballot for strikes

    Bloomberg Heathrow Airport’s security, engineering and firefighting staff represented by the Unite Union will next week begin balloting for strikes, adding pressure to UK’s transport network which has been hit by a wave of industrial action. More than 3,000 members of UK’s Unite Union will start voting on February 17, with the ballot closing on March 17. These workers ...

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• 13 February

  Rising India rates to upset PM Modi’s math on small savings

  

  Bloomberg India proposed a lower-than-expected market borrowing program, as part of a plan that sought to bridge its budget deficit by boosting reliance on the nation’s small savings pool. The decision triggered the biggest drop in the benchmark 10-year bond yields in over two months. Bonds have since pared their gains, with the budget math increasingly looking daunting as commercial ...

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• 13 February

  Bangkok-listed telecom firm weighs options for $3 billion tower assets

  

    Bloomberg Advanced Info Service Pcl (AIS), Thailand’s biggest telecommunications group, is considering options for its tower business including a stake sale, according to people familiar with the matter. The Bangkok-listed company has held talks with potential advisers for a strategic review for the assets, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. Another option ...

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• 13 February

  UK expects India free trade deal in 2023, says official

    Bloomberg The UK expects to reach a free trade deal with India and to enter the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement in 2023, Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said. Badenoch visited India in December in an effort to move forward with the deal, which aims to cut tariffs and open opportunities for UK services to operate in India. The UK ...

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• 13 February

  Moody’s cuts outlook for four Adani firms after market slump

  

    Bloomberg Moody’s Investors Service cut its outlook for Adani Green Energy Ltd and three other companies backed by Indian tycoon Gautam Adani, citing the plunge in the conglomerate’s stock market value in the wake of criticisms in a short-seller report. Referring to factors such as concern over the impact of any big jump in funding costs, the agency lowered ...

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• 13 February

  SoftBank mulls stake sale in M&A adviser Raine Group

  

    Bloomberg SoftBank Group Corp is considering selling its stake in the holding company of Raine Group, the merchant bank that’s advised on some of the Japanese company’s biggest deals, people familiar with the matter said. The potential stake sale would fit into SoftBank’s retrenchment from a deal-hungry technology conglomerate to one more focused on smaller investments, according to the ...

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• 12 February

  Macron’s Meloni snub lays bare strain on France-Italy ties

  

  Bloomberg Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni didn’t paper over her contempt for the French President this past week — and Emmanuel Macron made clear that the feeling was mutual. The spat took place after Volodymyr Zelenskiy met Macron and German chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Ukrainian leader’s request for dinner at the presidential Elysée Palace. Meloni, who was not informed ...

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• 12 February

  Nigeria’s cash crisis proves to be boon for mobile-money startups

  

    Bloomberg Nigeria’s move to outlaw high-value notes is the best thing that’s happened to mobile-money operators in Africa’s biggest economy. In the two months since October, when the Central Bank of Nigeria said it will replace 200-, 500- and 1,000-naira notes with new ones, the value of mobile-money transactions has jumped by a quarter to 2.5 trillion naira ($5.4 ...

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• 12 February

  PayPal pauses work on stablecoin amid regulatory scrutiny

  

    Bloomberg PayPal Holdings Inc is pausing work on its stablecoin as regulators increase scrutiny of cryptocurrencies and a key partner in the project faces a probe by the New York State Department of Financial Services. PayPal had hoped to debut the stablecoin, which will be backed one for one by the US dollar, in the coming weeks, but will ...

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• 12 February

  SoftBank next robot target is Berkshire Grey

  

  Bloomberg SoftBank Group Corp. offered to buy all shares in robot maker Berkshire Grey Inc. it doesn’t already own in a $218 million deal, in a foray into logistics automation after halting almost all investment activity for months. The global tech investor has sent a non-binding letter of interest, offering to buy Berkshire shares for $1.30 a piece, according to ...

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