December, 2019

• 28 December

  Billionaire Ambani’s retail unit valued at $34b in share swap

  

  Bloomberg A stock swap offer to help shareholders of billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s unlisted retail business monetise their investment has valued the unit at $34 billion. Share owners in Reliance Retail Ltd can exchange four shares for one of its listed parent Reliance Industries Ltd, according to a so-called scheme of arrangement posted on the group’s website. With Reliance’s market capitalization ...

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• 28 December

  China revises law on IPO, hikes penalties for fraud

  

  Bloomberg China’s top legislature approved changes to the nation’s Securities Law, including formalising registration-based initial public offerings after years of reviews, as it eased listing rules and stiffened penalties for violations in the country’s $21 trillion capital markets. The revisions are effective from March 1, according to a report from a government website citing decisions made by the National People’s ...

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• 28 December

  Regulators halt Japan Post insurance sales

  

  Bloomberg Japan’s financial regulator ordered a three-month suspension of insurance sales by two units of Japan Post Holdings Co as punishment for improper sales practices. The Financial Services Agency said it found examples of Japan Post customers being sold unduly expensive policies, without proper explanation of what they were buying. The penalty applies to the group’s mail and insurance subsidiaries, ...

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• 28 December

  Australia hit by heatwave, raising wildfire threat

  Bloomberg Australia is in the grip of another heatwave with temperatures forecast to soar over the weekend, exacerbating deadly wildfires that have ravaged the nation for months. Severe heat will spread across the southeast of the country over the next few days, building to “extreme” conditions in some areas, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Parts of western Sydney are ...

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• 28 December

  CEO of top US power market under fire before he starts

  Bloomberg The incoming head of the largest US power market is under pressure even before he begins his new job. A consumer watchdog has accused Manu Asthana — who starts as chief executive officer of PJM Interconnection LLC on January 1 — of mismanagement at his previous company. That risks casting a shadow over his new role, in which he ...

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• 28 December

  Nigeria LNG is planning to boost output by 35%

  Bloomberg Nigeria LNG Ltd decided to proceed with the construction of the country’s seventh liquefied natural gas production train, which will boost the company’s output by 35%. Train 7 will increase the company’s competitiveness in the global LNG market, state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp, said in a statement on its Twitter account. “We are going to put in place a ...

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• 28 December

  Trump’s trade wars expose an abiding truth

  

  As the year ends, a partial and brief ceasefire seems imminent in Donald Trump’s trade war on the world. The United States and China may sign a deal as early as next month. But make no mistake: The protectionist impulse behind the trade war remains as ineradicable as ever. Nor should it be forgotten that economic nationalism has guided the ...

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• 28 December

  Buffett’s 2020 New Year’s resolution

  

  He’s making a list and checking it twice, but can’t find a takeover target that’s nice. Warren Buffett is the jolly man of the stock market. However, the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has also been a bit of a Scrooge this year, as he continues to pass up acquisitions and instead hoard his money. The billionaire has ...

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• 28 December

  China finally takes a risk on GenZ’s love affair with debt

  China has a mounting debt problem. Not just over-leveraged companies, but a rapid build-up on household balance sheets that is hitting records. You can blame youth for a borrowing binge that, if left unchecked, could be China’s next credit bubble. Household debt hit levels of 57% of gross domestic product in the third quarter, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Matthew ...

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• 28 December

  Bailing out bankers is all the rage again

  After the financial crisis, Europe’s political leaders put together a complex set of rules to make it harder for future governments to bail out banks. That system is looking so full of holes that one wonders what the point of it is. Two episodes in a fortnight show that taxpayers are still very much on the hook for the financial ...

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