May, 2016

• 10 May

  Brazilian market at the mercy of politics

  

    Bloomberg For about a half hour, it looked like Brazil’s world-beating rallies were coming undone. A few minutes before noon on a relatively calm trading day in Sao Paulo, the real suddenly plummeted by the most in four years and $16.5 billion was wiped off the value of the benchmark stock index. Within 30 minutes, both markets had mostly ...

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• 10 May

  Impeachment shadow fails to affect Petrobras assets

    Bloomberg Political turmoil in Brazil shouldn’t stop Petrobras from completing asset sales it has already opened up to bidders, according to one company vying for the state-controlled driller’s Bauna offshore field. An impeachment process against President Dilma Rousseff that could force her to temporarily step down as early as this week shouldn’t derail any ongoing negotiations, Petro Rio SA ...

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• 10 May

  Suisse posts loss amid cost-cutting

  

    Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG Chief Executive Officer Tidjane Thiam signalled he’s confident in delivering planned cost cuts this year after a tumultuous first quarter sparked a second quarterly loss. The shares jumped. Switzerland’s second-biggest bank on Tuesday reported a loss of 302 million Swiss francs ($311 million) in the three months through March, compared with a profit of ...

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• 10 May

  Santander seeks delay in RBS interest-rate swaps suit

  

    Bloomberg The owner of Banco Santander SA’s Madrid headquarters asked a London judge to delay a dispute with Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and other lenders who are seeking about 700 million euros ($798 million) from interest-rate swaps linked to the 1.9 billion-euro acquisition of the Ciudad Financiera complex. Marme Inversiones’ lawyer Richard Hill asked the judge to ...

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• 10 May

  Ahli initiates dialogue on $250 million loan

    Reuters Qatar’s Ahli Bank has started talks to raise a $250 million three-year loan, banking sources maintained. The loan will be partially used to refinance an existing $200 million facility the bank signed in September 2014 and is due to mature next year, two of the sources said on condition of anonymity as the negotiations are private. One of ...

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• 10 May

  Boubyan aims capital-boosting sukuk sale

    Reuters Kuwait’s Boubyan Bank is aiming to sell $250 million in capital-boosting sukuk after releasing initial pricing thoughts for the issue, a document from lead managers said. The deal, structured with a perpetual tenor and with an option for the bank to redeem the paper after the fifth year, is earmarked to price in the very low 7 percent ...

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• 10 May

  Nordea expects hadcount to dip to meet goals

  

  Bloomberg Nordea Bank AB will cut more jobs as Scandinavia’s largest lender looks for ways to lower its cost-to-income ratio by about one-fifth. “Over time the headcount will be lower,” Chief Executive Officer Casper von Koskull said in an interview at Nordea’s headquarters in Stockholm. “A best-in-class retail bank operates today with a cost-to-income ratio in the low 40s. Surely ...

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• 10 May

  EasyJet flies into a loss over Brussels attacks

  

    Luton / AFP-Bloomberg British no-frills airline EasyJet on Tuesday said it had fallen into a loss during the first half of its financial year in the wake of the Brussels attacks. Its earnings statement added that future revenues would be impacted also by recent events in the Belgian capital. Net losses stood at £20 million ($29 million, 25 million ...

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• 10 May

  Gap plummets after comeback plan fails

  

  Bloomberg Gap Inc. shares plunged as much as 15 percent in late trading after the apparel chain posted disappointing results, a sign the company’s much-vaunted springtime comeback hasn’t materialized. Same-store sales — a key benchmark — dropped 7 percent in April, the San Francisco-based retailer said in a statement. Analysts had predicted a gain of 1.1 percent, according to Retail ...

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• 10 May

  AB Foods in early stages of sale of Chinese business

    Bloomberg Associated British Foods Plc, the British food-to-retail conglomerate, plans to sell its Chinese sugar business for as much as $1 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. The process is in the very early stages and there’s no timetable for completion, said the person, who declined to be identified as the information is private. AB Foods ...

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