October, 2018

• 24 October

  Suicides surge as hopeless Venezuelans surrender to crisis

  

  Bloomberg The patients arrive by night or in broad daylight, alive and sometimes dead. A record surge of suicides in troubled Venezuela is wearing down doctors who work at the university hospital in the Andean state of Merida. People who have tried to kill themselves arrive at an uncertain rhythm that breeds dread in the professionals who receive them. “We ...

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• 24 October

  Linde, Praxair win US antitrust approval to create gas giant

  

  Bloomberg Linde AG and Praxair Inc. won approval from the US antitrust enforcers for their $46 billion merger, paving the way for the companies’ two-year bid to create the world’s largest supplier of industrial gases. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said it approved the deal on the condition that Linde and Praxair sell assets to resolve concerns that the combination ...

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• 24 October

  Former coal plant to become $4.6 billion oasis on Lake Ontario

  

  Bloomberg Move over Google. There’s a new urban oasis coming to the shores of Lake Ontario. A former 177-acre (72-hectare) coal power plant site will be transformed into a mixed-use community in Mississauga, a city west of Toronto that could be worth as much as C$6 billion ($4.6 billion) once complete, according to Fabio Mazzocco, president of Lakeview Community Partners ...

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• 24 October

  Venezuela prepares bond payment amid defaults

  

  Bloomberg Venezuela’s state-run oil company is preparing to make a $949 million bond payment that’s due October 29, according to reports. Petroleos de Venezuela SA’s (PDVSA) plan to make the coupon and partial principal repayment on the 2020 notes would mark a rare exception for Nicolas Maduro’s government, which has racked up nearly $7 billion in defaulted debt to investors. ...

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• 24 October

  Exxon Mobil returns to favoured pick in search for Ghana partner

  

  Bloomberg Exxon Mobil Corp. resumed talks with Ghana Oil Co. as the oil supermajor nears a deadline to find a local partner for the exploration of crude at an offshore field, according to people familiar with the matter. Talks between Exxon and the Accra-based gas station operator, known as Goil, for a 5 percent stake in the Deepwater Cape Three ...

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• 24 October

  Pakistan secures $6bn aid package from Saudi Arabia

  

  Bloomberg Pakistan has said that Saudi Arabia agreed to a $6 billion support package to bolster Islamabad’s dwindling finances following a second visit by Prime Minister Imran Khan to Riyadh seeking aid. Saudi Arabia will deposit $3 billion directly with Pakistan “as balance of payment support,” while another one-year deferred payment facility of up to $3 billion for oil imports ...

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• 24 October

  India plans trade deal talks to boost exports to China

  

  Bloomberg India is devising a plan to boost shipments of around 200 products to China and narrow the deficit with its biggest trading partner, a person with knowledge of the matter said. The plan includes seeking duty waiver on a raft of products under the Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (Apta), the person said, asking not to be identified as the ...

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• 24 October

  Thailand bags $2bn through IPOs in October

  

  Bloomberg Investors are snapping up first-time share sales in Thailand despite the rout in global equity markets. In October alone, Thai firms and the country’s government raised $1.95 billion through initial public offerings (IPOs), the most for a single month since 2013, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s even as the equity rout derails listings around the world, from ...

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• 24 October

  China’s firm Innovent raises $421mn in Hong Kong IPO

  

  Bloomberg Innovent Biologics Inc., a Chinese biotech firm backed by Temasek Holdings Pte, raised HK$3.3 billion ($421 million) after pricing its Hong Kong initial public offering near the top of a marketed range, people with knowledge of that matter said. The Suzhou-based company priced it sale of 236.35 million shares at HK$13.98 apiece, the people said, asking not to be ...

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• 24 October

  ‘Australia faces weaker house prices if government changes’

  

  Bloomberg Australia is likely to see weaker property prices and diminished productivity under policy proposals by the opposition Labor party that’s on track to win government, says Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). House prices could fall 15 percent under plans to curb property investment tax breaks, while proposed changes to other investor perks could shave up to 0.2 percent from ...

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