April, 2018

• 9 April

  Oil rises but US-China trade tensions remain a concern

  LONDON / Reuters Oil rose on Monday, recovering some of the decline on the potential impact on global growth from a trade dispute between China and the United States as well as rising US output. Markets were also eyeing the situation in Syria after reports – denied by the Pentagon – that US forces had struck a major air base ...

  Read More »
• 9 April

  Nigerian oil firm Neconde mounts arbitration case against Shell

  

  LAGOS / Reuters Nigerian energy company Neconde has launched an arbitration case against Royal Dutch Shell, the West African firm’s chief executive said, alleging the oil major continued to lift crude and failed to remit funds after a lease had been sold. The oilfield in question, Oil Mining Lease (OML) 42, is also at the centre of corruption allegations. Shell ...

  Read More »
• 9 April

  Trump: Beijing will be first to buckle in trade war

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump predicted China will be first to buckle as the world’s largest economies teeter on the brink of a trade war that’s sent financial markets reeling, without indicating where his assessment sprang from. “China will take down its trade barriers because it is the right thing to do,” Trump told his 50 million Twitter followers on April ...

  Read More »
• 9 April

  Jack Ma challenges Mark Zuckerberg to ‘fix’ Facebook

  

  Bloomberg Jack Ma, the billionaire co-founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, urged Mark Zuckerberg to tackle the growing criticism aimed at Facebook Inc. by regulators and users around the world, and “really take it seriously.” China’s richest man and chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. on Monday weighed in on the controversy, calling on his fellow internet pioneer to ...

  Read More »
• 9 April

  China studies yuan devaluation amid trade spat

  

  Bloomberg China is evaluating the potential impact of a gradual yuan depreciation, people familiar with the matter said, as the country’s leaders weigh their options in a trade spat with US President Donald Trump that has roiled financial markets worldwide. Senior Chinese officials are studying a two-pronged analysis of the yuan that was prepared by the government, the people said. ...

  Read More »
• 9 April

  Alibaba funding makes SenseTime world’s most valuable AI startup

  

  Bloomberg SenseTime Group Ltd. has raised $600 million from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and other investors at a valuation of more than $3 billion, becoming the world’s most valuable artificial intelligence startup. The company, which specialises in systems that analyse faces and images on an enormous scale, said it closed a Series C round in recent months in which Singaporean ...

  Read More »
• 9 April

  Novartis bets on gene therapy with $8.7 billion AveXis deal

  

  ZURICH / Reuters Swiss drugmaker Novartis is moving further into gene therapy by buying AveXis for $8.7 billion, adding a rare-disease treatment that could reap billions in sales. The acquisition reflects a surge of interest in biotech deal-making as large pharmaceutical companies seek promising new assets to boost their pipelines. The $218-per-share cash deal announced on Monday represents a 72 ...

  Read More »
• 9 April

  Sequoia Fund takes Facebook stake after ‘recent controversy’

  

  Bloomberg The $4.2 billion Sequoia Fund bought a small position in Facebook Inc. as the stock slid late in the first quarter, investment manager Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb told clients. “The recent controversy enabled us to purchase a very unusual business franchise riding several powerful secular trends at a price-earnings multiple only a little higher than that of the overall ...

  Read More »
• 9 April

  Viacom asks CBS to raise merger bid by $2.8 billion

  

  Reuters Viacom Inc has asked CBS Corp to sweeten its merger bid by about $2.8 billion or almost a quarter more than CBS’s offer, people familiar with the matter said, indicating the wide gap in the US media firms’ price expectations. National Amusements Inc, the Redstone family company that controls CBS and Viacom, has pushed them to negotiate a merger ...

  Read More »
• 9 April

  Dell’s Pivotal Software expects IPO to raise up to $592 million

  Reuters Pivotal Software Inc, a division of Dell Technologies Inc, said on Monday it expects its initial public offering of 37 million Class A shares to raise up to $592 million. Pivotal Software said it expects the offering to be priced between $14 and $16 per share. The company, which plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under ...

  Read More »