July, 2017

• 15 July

  Asia’s biggest buyout sees GIC-backed firm get $11.6bn

  

  Bloomberg A Chinese consortium agreed to pay S$16 billion ($11.6 billion) for Global Logistic Properties Ltd., the warehouse operator backed by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, in Asia’s biggest buyout. GLP accepted the takeover offer from a management-backed group that includes private equity firms Hillhouse Capital Management and Hopu Investment Management. The group, which also includes founder Ming Mei’s SMG, Bank ...

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• 15 July

  Infosys raises sales forecast despite stagnant IT spending

  

  Bloomberg Infosys Ltd. raised its annual revenue outlook after eking out a 1 percent rise in quarterly net income, as newer digital services helped it bag contracts despite shrinking client budgets. Asia’s second-largest outsourcer of IT services forecast a 7.1 to 9.1 percent climb in revenue for the year ending March 2018 on a US dollar basis. That beat analyst ...

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• 15 July

  Hottest commodity in China may start to cool before long

  

  Bloomberg These are great times for China’s gargantuan steel industry as product prices soar to multi-year highs, mills’ profits swell and speculators stake out record positions in futures markets in the country that makes half of global supply. They could be over soon. While demand in Asia’s top economy has remained strong, “as the property market cools and investment growth ...

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• 15 July

  India mulls backing foreign investment in supermarkets

  Bloomberg India is considering a proposal to lift a cap on investment by foreign retailers in local supermarkets, according to people with the knowledge of the matter. A meeting led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi may decide on a proposal to allow 100 percent investment by retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Carrefour SA if they agree to sell ...

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• 15 July

  Trump seeks to steer UN climate cash to building coal power plants

  

  Bloomberg The US will seek to use a United Nations fund designed to aid nations hard hit by climate change to promote the construction of coal-fired power plants around the world. The US already donated $1 billion to the so-called Green Climate Fund, and it can now use its seat on that board to advance American-energy interests globally, a White ...

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• 15 July

  Uber backers discuss stock sale to SoftBank, others

  

  Bloomberg Uber Technologies Inc. shareholders and its board, led by early backer Benchmark, have discussed selling some of their shares to SoftBank Group Corp. and other potential investors, people familiar with the matter said. The talks represent a major turning point for the company. It has amassed more than 500 investors who fought to own a piece of the world’s ...

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• 15 July

  Canada-US lumber deal may precede Nafta talks

  

  Bloomberg The long-running trade dispute over softwood lumber may be nearing an end, with Canada indicating it wants to settle the issue with the US before the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement begins later this year. “We’re going to continue to work very hard towards that,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said to reporters in Providence, Rhode ...

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• 15 July

  Europe car sales growth slows on Brexit concerns

  

  Bloomberg European car demand rose at a slower pace in June as fewer selling days in Germany and Brexit-related concerns in the UK weighed on a peaking vehicle market. Industrywide registrations increased 2.1 percent from a year earlier to 1.54 million vehicles last month, with Toyota and Fiat models posting the biggest gains, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, or ACEA, ...

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• 15 July

  Daimler ready to fight cheating accusations as probe widens

  

  Bloomberg Daimler AG said it will push back against allegations that it manipulated emissions in its Mercedes-Benz engines, as a German government pr-obe into the luxury-car ma-ker deepens. “We would employ all legal means” to defend against any accusation by the Federal Transport Motor Authority of an illegal defeat device in Mercedes-Benz cars, the company said in an emailed statement. ...

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• 15 July

  Why robots won’t steal all our jobs…

  

  Don’t worry, the robots won’t destroy all our jobs. History suggests just the opposite — that new technologies inspire new jobs. So concludes a study from leading labor economists. It’s a useful antidote to widespread fears that robots and ‘artificial intelligence’ will displace millions of workers and lead to permanently high joblessness. No doubt, the anxiety is real. Despite a ...

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