May, 2018

• 27 May

  Leverage in Asia buyout loans inches to 2007 levels

  Bloomberg Leverage on buyout loans in Asia is climbing close to levels last seen before the global financial crisis as the region’s lenders stomach higher risk in their pursuit of yield. While the typical senior leverage ratio for Asian LBO loans was 3.5 to 4 times earnings, multiples of 4.5 to 5.5 are becoming more common, said Adnan Meraj, Hong ...

  Read More »
• 27 May

  Malaysia’s Najib takes to social media to defend record

  Bloomberg Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is taking to social media to defend his economic record, denying his administration manipulated national debt levels and warning the new government against spooking the markets. “The ‘spade’ had always been called a spade,” Najib said on Facebook, hitting back against Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng who said new leaders will tell the ...

  Read More »
• 27 May

  Easy-money curbs bring Australia’s long housing boom to an end

  Bloomberg Tougher credit rules, increased supply and subdued wage growth are combining to put an end to Australia’s long housing boom. The downturn is most obvious in Sydney, where average home prices were down 3.4 percent in April from a year earlier. The city was previously the epicenter of the boom — as recently as a year ago, Sydney prices ...

  Read More »
• 27 May

  US launches criminal probe into Bitcoin manipulation

  

  Bloomberg The Justice Department has opened a criminal probe into whether traders are manipulating the price of Bitcoin and other digital currencies, dramatically ratcheting up US scrutiny of red-hot markets that critics say are rife with misconduct, according to four people familiar with the matter. The investigation is focussed on illegal practices that can influence prices — such as spoofing, ...

  Read More »
• 27 May

  Bayer set to win US antitrust nod for Monsanto takeover

  

  Bloomberg Bayer AG is set to win US antitrust approval for its $66 billion takeover of Monsanto Co. by next week, according to a person familiar with the matter, removing the last major regulatory hurdle to forming the world’s biggest seed and agricultural-chemicals company. The companies and the Justice Department have negotiated a complex agreement that would resolve government’s concerns ...

  Read More »
• 27 May

  Mazda, Mexico to be hit by US auto tariffs

  

  Bloomberg Automakers including Mazda Motor Corp. and countries led by Mexico should buckle up: their car businesses could be in for a bumpy ride, thanks to US President Donald Trump. Trump instructed his Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to consider conducting an investigation into whether auto imports are weakening the American economy and may impair national security. The Commerce Department said ...

  Read More »
• 27 May

  CapCo mulls splitting firm as property market diverges

  Bloomberg The poster boy for London’s two-tier property market may be split in two. The board of Capital & Counties Properties Plc is considering dividing the company into a landlord that owns much of the Covent Garden neighborhood and a developer that owns land in the Earls Court district. Both companies would be publicly traded if the demerger goes ahead, ...

  Read More »
• 27 May

  Diesel cars to die out in Tesla-like future, says EU regulator

  

  Bloomberg Consumers may do as much as regulators to propel the car sector into the electricity-powered age foreseen by Tesla Inc., according to the European Union’s industrial-policy chief. European Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska said the EU has had a “breakthrough moment” since Germany-based Volkswagen AG admitted in 2015 that it fitted diesel engines with software to cheat US checks on smog-causing ...

  Read More »
• 27 May

  US-North Korea talks start to salvage Kim summit: Trump

  

  Bloomberg US President Donald Trump said his administration is holding direct talks with North Korea to salvage a summit with Kim Jong Un initially planned for Singapore next month. Trump told reporters that meetings were taking place “as we speak” in an unidentified location to push ahead with the summit, which he abruptly cancelled last week due to “open hostility” ...

  Read More »
• 27 May

  Jailed US citizen visits White House after Venezuela release

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump pledged to soon bring home more Americans held overseas during a meeting at the White House with a US citizen imprisoned in Vene-zuela since 2016 who was released after pressure from Washington. “You went through a lot,” Trump told Joshua Holt at the Oval Office, where the former Mormon missionary was joined by his parents, his ...

  Read More »