July, 2019

• 28 July

  China bank courts investors over bonds

  

  Bloomberg Bank of Jinzhou Co said it is in talks to introduce strategic investors after a report that China’s financial regulators are seeking to resolve its liquidity problems pushed down the lender’s dollar-denominated debt. Officials including those from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission recently held a meeting with financial institutions in Bank ...

  Read More »
• 28 July

  Lagarde’s future ECB colleagues are not all convinced on her

  

  Bloomberg When Christine Lagarde chairs her first meeting as European Central Bank (ECB) president in November, she might wonder which of her colleagues don’t really want her there. As the Governing Council signed off on the decision by governments to appoint the former International Monetary Fund chief, not all of the 21 voting members backed her, according to two euro-zone central ...

  Read More »
• 28 July

  HK’s new monetary authority head vows to maintain stability

  

  Bloomberg Hong Kong has appointed a veteran central banker as the next chief executive of its monetary authority, signalling continuity remains the priority as the city faces ongoing political turmoil. While the social unrest over the government’s botched extradition bill won’t be Eddie Yue’s responsibility, and may even have dissipated by the time he takes office in October, maintaining the ...

  Read More »
• 28 July

  Jack Ma’s $290b MYbank changing China banking

  

  Bloomberg Jack Ma’s online bank is leading a quiet revolution in the way China lends to small businesses, taking aim at a credit bottleneck that has held back Asia’s largest economy for decades. Using real-time payments data and a risk-management system that analyses more than 3,000 variables, Ma’s four-year-old MYbank has lent 2 trillion yuan ($290 billion) to nearly 16 ...

  Read More »
• 28 July

  Hong Kong’s protests affected economy, says finance secretary

  

  Bloomberg Social unrest gripping Hong Kong has affected the city’s economy and businesses, and the unemployment rate is likely to rise from current levels, financial secretary Paul Chan said. In the Chinese-language post on his website, Chan said many local retail and catering businesses had experienced a “sharp decline” in business, and he warned that the longer the historic protests ...

  Read More »
• 28 July

  Tencent, GIC raise stakes in Weimob

  Bloomberg Tencent Holdings Ltd, Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte and BlackRock Inc increased their stakes in Weimob Inc through a share sale that’s said to have netted $180 million. Weimob, which has a market value of about $1.2 billion, will use the proceeds to bankroll technology development, it said in an emailed statement. The six-year-old company, which went public ...

  Read More »
• 28 July

  Agarwal’s Anglo deal ends with a whimper

  

  Bloomberg It once looked like Anil Agarwal could shake up the mining industry by amassing the biggest stake in Anglo American Plc. But in the end the Indian tycoon’s lack of financial firepower forced him to unwind his investment. For two years, Agarwal kept insiders and Anglo executives guessing about why the billionaire decided to take a position in the ...

  Read More »
• 28 July

  Anil Ambani’s RCom unit seeks bond extension

  Bloomberg A unit of Reliance Communications (RCom) Ltd, tycoon Anil Ambani’s distressed telecom firm, is seeking an extension from holders of its dollar-denominated bonds maturing on August 1, the company’s spokesman said. Global Cloud Xchange is in discussions with holders of its 7 percent $350 million notes for a deal that would provide the issuer more time to discuss options ...

  Read More »
• 28 July

  Pfizer nears deal to merge drug business with Mylan

  

  Bloomberg Pfizer Inc plans to combine its off-patent business, which includes Lipitor cholesterol pills and male-impotence drug Viagra, with Mylan NV and form a generic drug giant, according to people familiar with the matter. The deal, if completed, could be announced as early as Monday, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are private. Under ...

  Read More »
• 28 July

  US soybean supplies to China slump in H1

  

  Bloomberg US soybean supplies to China, the world’s biggest market, slumped in the first half of 2019 to the lowest level in more than a decade as little progress was made on ending a trade war between the two countries. China imported 614,806 tons of soybeans from the US in June, according to customs data. That brought the total inbound ...

  Read More »