January, 2021

• 3 January

  How delusions about WWII fed Brexit mania

  

  Four days ago, Britain completed the process of quitting the European Union, a major act of foreign policy that most of the world finds bewildering, and considers ill-advised. It brought to mind comments at an Anglo-German conference some 15 years ago made by the then-chairman of Mercedes-Benz: “I want to tell our British friends how much we hope they will ...

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• 3 January

  Is Texas the next Silicon Valley?

  

  Texas is making another bid to become America’s technology hub. It will be an uphill battle, to put it mildly. But one seemingly small policy tweak could give the state a big boost in its quest to lure the tech industry: banning the enforcement of noncompete agreements. In the 1970s, Austin established itself as a technology cluster but never attained ...

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• 3 January

  LatAm’s top corporate crime gets worthy epic

  As much as pouring cement and building towers, Brazilian construction dynasty Odebrecht was famed for its political panache. “I get down in the mud with the pigs but come out the other side clean in my white suit,” Norberto Odebrecht, founder of the legacy contractor, liked to boast back in the 1970s and 1980s. The catchphrase was shorthand for what ...

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• 3 January

  Fed is powerful, except in ‘wealth inequality’

  When Jamie Dimon, the head of America’s largest bank, says the US economy is in jeopardy, Federal Reserve policy makers and elected officials ought to take notice. This detail was tucked away in a Wall Street Journal profile of JPMorgan Chase & Co’s chief executive officer published near Christmas. The article began with his near-death experience in early March just ...

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• 3 January

  India gives nod to emergency use of Astra-Oxford Covid shot

  

  Bloomberg India has followed the UK and granted emergency approval for the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca Plc and the University of Oxford, the first step in its plan to inoculate citizens in the country that’s home to the world’s second-largest Covid-19 outbreak. Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javdekar said the AstraZeneca shot being produced locally by the Serum Institute ...

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• 3 January

  Mukesh Ambani to pay $5.5m fine: Sebi

  

  Bloomberg India’s market regulator ordered billionaire Mukesh Ambani and his conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd to pay a combined penalty of 400 million rupees ($5.5 million) for allegedly violating share-trading rules about 13 years ago. In its order, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said Reliance and its agents operated to allegedly earn undue profits from the sale of ...

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• 3 January

  Mahindra talks to investor to sell stake in Ssangyong

  Bloomberg Mahindra & Mahindra is in discussions with an investor for selling a majority stake in Ssangyong Motor as India’s largest SUV maker reassesses its investments amid pandemic. Mahindra will hold 30% or less in Ssangyong if the deal goes through and will also do a 25% capital reduction, Pawan Goenka, managing director of the Indian automaker said. It expects ...

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• 3 January

  China’s strong recovery shows signs of peaking as PMIs ease

  

  Bloomberg China’s economic recovery could be past its peak and beginning to stabilise as the year draws to a close, with a key manufacturing gauge moderating in December after an export-fueled boost to production. The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 51.9 from a three-year high of 52.1 in November, the National Bureau of Statistics said, lower than ...

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• 3 January

  Vedanta to issue $400m notes to Oaktree

  Bloomberg A unit of Vedanta Resources will issue $400 million in notes to an entity under Oaktree Capital Group, as the mining conglomerate looks to meet liquidity needs. The notes will be partly secured by shares in Mumbai-listed unit Vedanta Ltd, according to separate exchange filings from Vedanta and the US hedge fund. India’s macroeconomic troubles have attracted a wave ...

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• 3 January

  Singapore, Malaysia terminate high speed rail project

  

  Bloomberg A multi-billion-dollar high-speed rail link between Singapore and Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur has been terminated. The two countries were unable to reach an agreement on the project after Malaysia sought changes because of the pandemic’s economic impact, according to a joint statement. Malaysia will have to compensate Singapore for costs already incurred, the city-state’s transport ministry said in a ...

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