March, 2018

• 12 March

  Nigeria state oil company hasn’t explained missing billions

  

  Bloomberg An agency tasked with cleaning up Nigeria’s murky oil industry says even though financial accountability has improved the state oil company still hasn’t explained billions of dollars of missing revenue. While energy producers have cooperated and complied with requirements to publish payments, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative has struggled with the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., Waziri Adio, …

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• 12 March

  Iraq to cut oil products imports by 25 percent

  BAGHDAD / Reuters Iraq’s oil ministry on Monday said the nation would reduce its petroleum products imports by 25 percent as crude oil refiner­ies are being rehabilitated following fighting with IS militants. Iraq is also producing more oil products by processing natural gas liquids, Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi said in a statement, without indicating a specific timeframe for the import …

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• 12 March

  Saudi WEC invites bids for Jubail water, power project

  DUBAI / Reuters Saudi’s Water & Electricity Co (WEC) invited proposals to develop Jubail Phase 3, an integrated water desalination and power plant in the country’s Eastern Province, according to a tender posted on its website. The project, which an industry source estimated to be worth about $5bn, is expected to generate 1.17mn cubic metres of water per day and …

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• 12 March

  Hong Kong housing in hot demand as Wheelock apartments sell out

  

  Bloomberg Demand in Hong Kong’s red-hot housing market shows no signs of abating, with Wheelock & Co. selling all 750 apartments offered at its new Kowloon project. Based on buyers’ enthusiasm for the project, where 9,800 applications were made for the 750 units, Wheelock is likely to announce the launch of a further 300 to 400 apartments on Tuesday, said …

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• 12 March

  London house prices drop at fastest pace since 2009

  

  Bloomberg London house prices are falling at the fastest pace since the depths of the recession almost a decade ago, with the capital’s most expensive areas seeing the biggest declines. Average prices fell to 593,396 pounds ($820,000) in January, an annual decline of 2.6 percent, according to a report published by Acadata on Monday. That’s the most since August 2009. …

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• 12 March

  Deutsche Bank to raise up to $2.2 billion in DWS unit IPO

  

  Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG plans to raise as much as 1.8 billion euros ($2.2 billion) in an initial public offering of its asset-management unit, a key pillar of the German lender’s turnaround strategy. The offering values the asset manager at as much as 7.2 billion euros, a valuation that would align it with its bigger peer Amundi SA. Nippon Life …

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• 12 March

  S Africa’s VBS Mutual Bank fails amid ‘liquidity crisis’

  

  Bloomberg VBS Mutual Bank, one of South Africa’s smallest lenders, has been put into administration after it was unable to repay money owed to municipalities, according to the country’s central bank. The management team has been relieved of its duties and a curator from the auditing firm SizweNtsalubaGobodo put in place following a “severe liquidity crisis,” Lesetja Kganyago, governor of …

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• 12 March

  AgBank aims to raise $15.8 billion in China’s biggest follow-on share offering

  

  Bloomberg Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. said it aims to raise as much as 100 billion yuan ($15.8 billion) in what would be the biggest-ever follow-on share offering by a Chinese company as it moves to replenish capital. China’s third-largest lender will sell up to 27.5 billion shares to seven state-linked entities including the country’s Finance Ministry, Central Huijin Investment …

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• 12 March

  Egypt picks four European banks to manage bond sale

  

  Bloomberg Egypt selected four European banks to manage its first euro-denominated bond sale, taking advantage of lower borrowing costs in Europe as it looks to secure funding to plug the budget deficit. The government picked BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered and Intesa Sanpaolo for the issuance worth between 1 billion and 1.5 billion euros that’s slated to be held …

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• 12 March

  Even doves turn jittery as lines blur on Polish central bank

  

  Bloomberg The Polish central bank could yet waver on its commitment to keep interest rates stable. While three of Poland’s biggest lenders said Governor Adam Glapinski last week delivered the most dovish briefing of his tenure, its message was still so nuanced that some in the market are having second thoughts. The zloty, after a brief decline, has settled down …

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