January, 2020

• 5 January

  ADIB finances $80mn facility to Oman Shipping Company

  

  Abu Dhabi / WAM The Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), a leading financial institution, signed an agreement to provide an $80 million Shariah-compliant Ijara facility to the Oman Shipping Company SAOC (OSC), a member of the ASYAD Group, for the financing of two VLCC (Very Large Crude Carriers) tankers within the OSC group. The transaction represents the OSC’s first Sharia-based …

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• 5 January

  Wave of oil pipeline projects late to Permian boom

  

  Bloomberg It’s gone from a dearth to a glut of oil pipeline projects competing to serve slowing production growth in the Permian Basin. Five new oil pipelines are set to open in the Permian Basin through 2021, expanding a gap between production and takeaway capacity that’s already forcing companies to cut fees and could mean lower profits and cutthroat competition …

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• 5 January

  South Africa’s Eskom resumes power cuts

  

  Bloomberg South African power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd, which generates about 95% of the country’s electricity, extended power cuts that started on January 4 until Monday after a conveyor belt failure at its Medupi plant — just as Andre de Ruyter officially takes over as head of the cash-strapped company. Eskom extended stage 2 load-shedding, the local term for …

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• 5 January

  High-beta stocks that saved 2019 serve notice of its risks

  

  Bloomberg High-beta stocks, occupants of the market’s frenetic edge, were the names everyone wanted to own in the fourth quarter, when they rallied on signs of peace. Saviours of active funds, the high-beta group — defined as companies that do a little better or a little worse than standard benchmarks — annihilated all comers over the last three months of …

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• 5 January

  Dollar’s losses may just be getting started

  

  Bloomberg The dollar had an awful December and things may only get worse. That’s the view of a growing number of fund managers and strategists including those at M&G Investments Ltd, Brandywine Global Investment Management and ABN Amro Bank NV. A truce in the US-China trade war, improving global growth and a shrinking yield premium on US Treasuries will undermine …

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• 5 January

  Bitcoin begins year negative after 2019’s eye-catching surge

  Bloomberg Bitcoin’s not yet having a happy new year. A sell-off in the largest digital token pushed the price below $7,000 on January 2. Bitcoin dropped as much as 4% to fall to its lowest level since mid-December, according to Bloomberg data. Bitcoin is coming off an eye-catching 2019, which saw it gain close to 95% despite repeated bouts of …

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• 5 January

  Minority shareholders win as Hudson’s Bay head raises offer

  

  Bloomberg Hudson’s Bay Co chairman Richard Baker raised his offer to take the struggling retailer private, handing a victory to minority shareholders including Catalyst Capital Group Inc that fought to derail the original bid. Hudson’s Bay said in a statement it agreed to a new bid by Baker and a group of allies, who together control the company. The offer …

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• 5 January

  Nintendo’s flagship store in Tokyo not big enough for its fan base

  

  Bloomberg Just before Christmas last year, a trip to Nintendo Co’s flagship store in Tokyo would have required an hour’s wait just to get in and buy a plush Mario toy or a set of chopsticks bearing Luigi’s face. Opened in November on the sixth floor of the renovated Shibuya Parco shopping mall, the constantly packed 300-square-metre showcase exhibits the …

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• 5 January

  Most of 2019’s jet accidents occurred in North America

  

  Bloomberg The number of fatal aviation accidents in 2019 rose above the five-year average to 20, with more than half occurring in North America, the Aviation Safety Network said. The 20 crashes killed 283 people, with the bulk of the deaths coming from the Ethiopian Airlines disaster in March, when a Boeing Co 737 Max jet plunged into the ground …

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• 5 January

  Inspectors skipped ‘checks’ for Ghosn jet

  Bloomberg Inspectors at a Japanese airport didn’t conduct X-ray checks on large cases before they were loaded onto a private jet that’s thought to have carried Carlos Ghosn as the former Nissan Motor Co chief executive officer escaped to Turkey, NHK reported on Sunday. Kansai International Airport inspectors didn’t examine the cases as they were too big to fit into …

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