August, 2018

• 11 August

  Greek lenders face higher costs post-bailout as ECB ends waiver

  

  Bloomberg Greek lenders face higher financing costs after the European Central Bank said it will stop accepting the country’s government debt as collateral from August 21, the day after the nation’s bailout programme ends. The ECB will remove a waiver exempting Greek bonds from a rule that all collateral must be investment grade. The exemption was conditional on Greece being ...

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• 11 August

  Deutsche Bank cuts again. Not even fruit bowls are safe

  

  Bloomberg The list of perks at Deutsche Bank AG is shrinking fast. Investment bankers at Germany’s largest lender have been told to travel coach class on trains; fewer are able to attend conferences and some former employees said severance pay was less generous than previous handouts. Even small treats like the daily fruit bowls are disappearing. The frugal ethos described ...

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• 11 August

  OnePlus shows how to become India’s top smartphone seller

  

  Bloomberg India is arguably the world’s toughest smartphone market — just ask Apple. Yet Chinese manufacturer OnePlus has found a path to success in the country of 1.3 billion. As Pete Lau, OnePlus’s co-founder and chief executive officer, describes it, OnePlus targeted younger users with stylish and affordable Android-based phones. Rather than plastering shops with ads, student ambassadors promote the ...

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• 11 August

  Qualcomm receives Taiwan reprieve amid global antitrust battle

  

  Bloomberg Qualcomm Inc., the smartphone chipmaker fighting regulatory actions and lawsuits threatening its most profitable business, has reached a settlement with Taiwan’s antitrust regulators that reverses most of a $773 million fine. As part of an agreement announced by the Fair Trade Commission, the company will invest $700 million over the next five years and boost research activities in Taiwan, ...

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• 11 August

  Asia’s $184 billion debt wall to spark buybacks, bond swaps

  

  Bloomberg Asian borrowers faced with rising refinancing needs are expected to actively engage bondholders ahead of debt maturities as they look to stave off default risks. That means getting investors to agree to discounted buybacks and maturity extensions, so-called liability management deals that can help firms cut funding costs. More issuers are in talks with their legal advisers to reassess ...

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• 11 August

  Nissan to use ultrastrong steel in new cars

  DUBAI / Emirates Business Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. will build more models using a new type of steel that combines high tensile strength with a previously unachievable degree of formability, resulting in lighter vehicles that can help lower emissions while protecting occupants. Nissan is the world’s first carmaker to use the high-formability steel, with a tensile strength of 980 megapascals, ...

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• 11 August

  World’s biggest IPO in 2 years avoids repeat of Xiaomi flop

  

  Bloomberg China Tower Corp., the company behind the world’s largest initial public offering in two years, averted a repeat of smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp.’s disappointing coming-out party last month and eased concerns about future IPO prospects. Shares of the state-run company, which operates almost all of China’s mobile-phone towers, closed unchanged from its IPO price of HK$1.26 in Hong Kong. ...

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• 11 August

  Tesla seeking a wide investor pool for its take-private plan

  

  Bloomberg Tesla Inc Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk and advisers are seeking a wide pool of investors to back a potential take-private of the automaker to avoid concentrating ownership among a few new large holders, according to people familiar with the matter. Tesla is holding early discussions with banks about the feasibility and structure of a possible deal, the people ...

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• 11 August

  Oracle Corp accused of defrauding investors on cloud sales growth

  

  Bloomberg Oracle Corp is named in a lawsuit alleging the company’s executives lied to shareholders when they explained why cloud sales were growing. The investor leading the case, the City of Sunrise Firefighters’ Pension Fund, claimed Oracle engaged in coercion and threats to sell its cloud-computing products, creating an unsustainable model that fell apart, according to the suit seeking class-action ...

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• 11 August

  Pound hits one-year low amid ‘Brexit’

  Bloomberg The pound stayed close to a more than one-year low against the dollar after data showing accelerating economic growth were offset by concerns about a no-deal Brexit. Sterling was set for its fifth week of declines — its longest losing streak since January 2015 — amid continued fears that the divorce negotiations between the UK and the European Union ...

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