April, 2019

• 15 April

  Estonia blocks $1.9b wind park at sea on security concerns

  

  Bloomberg The Estonian government has decided not to proceed with an application for a 600-megawatt wind farm by developer Saare Wind Energy OU, citing security concerns. The company had been drawing up plans for four years and had applied for a 50-year building permit for 100 six-megawatt turbines off the island of Saaremaa. The cost of the project was estimated ...

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• 15 April

  Mass production of iPhones to start in India

  

  Bloomberg Foxconn Technology Group Chairman Terry Gou said the iPhone will go into mass production in India this year, a shift for the largest assembler of Apple Inc’s handsets that has long concentrated production in China. Gou said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited him to India as his Taiwanese company plans its expansion in the country. Apple has ...

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• 15 April

  Singapore home sales surge as developers market new projects

  

  Bloomberg Private-home sales in Singapore soared in March as developers marketed more projects after a typically slower February that included the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday. Developers sold 1,054 units last month, more than double the 455 in February, the Urban Redevelopment Authority said in a statement. Residential home prices decreased for a second straight quarter in the three months ...

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• 15 April

  India seen getting near-normal monsoon as El Nino risk looms

  Bloomberg India’s southwest monsoon, which waters more than half of the country’s farmland and is crucial for economic growth, is expected to be ’near-normal’ this year as the risk of an El Nino weather pattern looms. Annual rainfall during the June-September rainy season is likely to be 96 percent of a long-term average, the India Meteorological Department said. The forecast ...

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• 15 April

  Huawei escaping European ban, but not 5G regulations

  

  Bloomberg Huawei Technologies Co’s ability to make inroads into Europe’s future telecom infrastructure may be more about regulatory hurdles than outright bans. The US has been engaged in a vocal campaign to keep Chinese tech companies out of advanced 5G networks that promise faster connections, enabling uses such as autonomous vehicles and remote surgery. US President Donald Trump’s administration has ...

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• 15 April

  Volkswagen plots major China push as trouble looms at home

  

  Bloomberg A year into his tenure, Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess is entering critical months as he seeks to expand the carmaker’s sprawling Chinese operations while containing tensions at home in Germany. The Chinese market is leading a global shift towards electric vehicles and will take on a bigger role for the German automaker as both a production hub and a ...

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• 15 April

  Rusal to invest $200m in new US aluminum mill as sanctions lifted

  

  Bloomberg Just months after being freed from US sanctions, Russia’s largest aluminum maker plans to invest in a new aluminum rolling mill in Kentucky. United Co Rusal, controlled by billionaire Oleg Deripaska until the US Treasury forced him to reduce his stake earlier this year, intends to invest up to $200 million in the plant being built by closely held ...

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• 15 April

  London finance job openings halve in 2 years on Brexit jitters

  

  Bloomberg Job vacancies in London’s finance industry have halved in two years as uncertainty over Brexit knocks business confidence, a survey by recruiter Morgan McKinley has found. The number of jobs available in the city’s financial services industry and the number of finance professionals seeking new jobs have each fallen by more than half in the past two years, the ...

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• 15 April

  EU takes closer look at Google’s tax arrangement in Ireland

  

  Bloomberg The European Union has taken a closer look at how Google uses operations in Ireland to help reduce its corporate tax obligations within the trade bloc, two people familiar with the matter said. Officials from the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, held in-depth talks with Irish authorities late last year about whether the Internet-search unit of Alphabet Inc. ...

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• 15 April

  Trafigura to take control of Europe’s biggest zinc smelter

  

  Bloomberg Trafigura Group Ltd. will take control of Nyrstar NV, Europe’s biggest zinc smelter, as part of a deal to restructure the struggling company’s debt and steer it away from bankruptcy. Under the agreement, Trafigura — Nyrstar’s main shareholder as well as a top supplier, customer and financier — offered a package of its own debt securities to Nyrstar’s creditors ...

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