May, 2017

• 30 May

  Saudi’s Alawwal Bank picks JPMorgan to advise on merger

  DUBAI / Reuters Saudi Arabian lender Alawwal Bank, 40 percent owned by Royal Bank of Scotland, has picked JPMorgan to advise it on a proposed merger with Saudi British Bank (SABB), sources familiar with the matter said. Senior management of SABB and Alawwal held talks with advisers to discuss the principle of the merger and timeframe for its completion, one …

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• 30 May

  Commerzbank offers early retirement to 3,000 officials

  Bloomberg Commerzbank AG has sent out early retirement offers to about 3,000 employees, a first key step in the German lender’s move towards cutting 9,600 jobs over four years, two people with knowledge of the matter said. The offer entitles eligible employees born before 1962 to a 30,000-euro ($34,000) sweetener, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing internal …

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• 30 May

  Mauritian banks seen as haven as politics, oil roil peers

  

  Bloomberg Mauritian banks are becoming beacons of growth and stability in sub-Saharan Africa. Unscathed by the vagaries of the oil price and unhindered by the political battles that have roiled some of their continental peers, the Indian Ocean island’s lenders have been bolstered by an economy growing faster than many of the mainland countries. The central bank expects the Mauritian …

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• 30 May

  Akzo’s court win against Elliott shifts focus to PPG’s next move

  

  Bloomberg Akzo Nobel NV’s court victory against activist shareholder Elliott Management Corp. has strengthened the Dutch paintmaker’s hand in resisting a takeover approach from suitor PPG Industries Inc. and put pressure on the US rival to take its offer directly to investors. The Commercial Court of the Netherlands ruled late on Monday that Akzo Nobel is under no obligation to …

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• 30 May

  Denmark cuts $1bn off funding need as outlook improves

  

  Bloomberg Denmark’s center-right government raised its forecast for economic growth this year and predicted it will borrow less via bond markets as the public deficit shrinks. The minority coalition of Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen expects gross domestic product to expand 1.7 percent this year, faster than the 1.5 percent it forecast just last month, according to Economy Ministry documents …

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• 30 May

  Swedish growth slows at start of 2017 as exporters struggle

  

  Bloomberg Sweden’s economy slowed at the start of the year as exports struggled to maintain momentum, dulling a housing-fueled investment and consumption boom in the largest Nordic economy. Gross domestic product grew 0.4 percent in the first quarter and expanded an annual 2.2 percent, Statistics Sweden said on Tuesday. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg estimated growth of 0.9 percent and 2.9 …

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• 30 May

  Turkey applies to sell $8bn in debt abroad

  Bloomberg Turkey may sell as much as $8 billion in debt, according to a US regulatory filing, a sign the government may be preparing to ramp up borrowing as it seeks to plug a widening budget deficit. Turkey may offer the securities from “time to time in one or more offerings” and will use the proceeds for general financing purposes, …

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• 30 May

  How to restore American self-reliance

  

  When in the Senate chamber, Ben Sasse, a Nebraska Republican, sits by choice at the desk used by the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan. New York’s scholar-senator would have recognized that Sasse has published a book of political philosophy in the form of a guide to parenting. Moynihan understood that politics is downstream from culture, which flows through families. Sasse, a …

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• 30 May

  Hong Kong and Moody’s are both wrong on China contagion risk

  

  After China, it’s Hong Kong’s turn to take Moody’s Investors Service to task. The city’s financial secretary wrote a blog post on Sunday to express his displeasure with the recent one-notch cut in Hong Kong’s sovereign rating to Aa2. More than the downgrade, what seems to have really irked Paul Chan are the 16 references to “links” and “linkages;” four …

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• 30 May

  Exposing the obvious about GOP health-care bill

  The gory details of the Congressional Budget Office’s report on the House legislation to “repeal and replace” Obamacare are, in many ways, superfluous. The bill’s flaws, substantive and otherwise, have long been evident. Less clearly understood, though equally disturbing, is the larger political context. That’s not to say the particulars of the CBO report, released Wednesday, are irrelevant: far from …

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