Bloomberg Ron Sim, founder of one of Asia’s largest massage chair makers, is in talks to partner with a unit of Temasek Holdings Pte and other firms to bid for one of Singapore’s new virtual banking licenses, according to people familiar with the matter. V3 Group Ltd, Sim’s Singapore-based firm, is discussing forming a consortium with Temasek’s Heliconia Capital Management ...
Read More »IHH’s Fortis takeover faces legal bar after court order
Bloomberg India’s Supreme Court refused to remove a barrier to the takeover of embattled hospital chain Fortis Healthcare Ltd by Malaysian operator IHH Healthcare Bhd, the latest twist in one of the country’s most contentious corporate sagas. The court held Fortis’ founders — Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh — guilty of contempt of court and said it could start similar ...
Read More »India’s palm oil imports slump 12%
Bloomberg India’s palm oil imports in October probably retreated from a one-year high as traders and refiners trimmed buying after overseas supplies became more expensive. Shipments dropped about 12% from a month earlier to 775,000 tons, according to the median of five estimates in a Bloomberg survey of processors, brokers and analysts. That’s the lowest since June. Imports were 879,947 ...
Read More »China purchases US soybeans despite trade talk uncertainty
Bloomberg Chinese private soybean processors purchased about five cargoes from the US this week, according to people familiar with the deals, less than what was expected by the market. The private crushers in the world’s biggest soybean importer bought the cargoes for December and January shipment, said the people, who asked to not be identified as the matter is private. ...
Read More »WeWork’s China rival targets US listing in December with $100m
Bloomberg Ucommune, the largest rival to WeWork in China, plans an initial public offering in the US in December even as the better-known competitor still recovers from its botched IPO, according to people familiar with the matter. The first-time share sale of the Chinese office-sharing provider could raise about $100 million, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing ...
Read More »China probes Hikvision Digital’s vice chairman
Bloomberg Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co Ltd’s shares fell by the most in more than a month after China’s securities regulator opened a probe into alleged misconduct by its billionaire vice chairman. The investigation, announced in a filing, deals another blow to the surveillance giant that’s blacklisted by Washington. The Chinese seller of video cameras said the China Securities Regulatory ...
Read More »Has America really gone soft on competition?
It’s no secret that we live in an era of so-called “superstar†firms — the Facebooks, Apples and Microsofts of the world. As monopolies and oligopolies, they dominate their industries and generate enormous profits. Initially hailed for their technological achievements, they’re now accused (amazingly) of creating a drag on US economic growth. Could it be? The notion seems counterintuitive. New ...
Read More »Capgemini’s $4b French deal is cheap
It’s not quite a stitch-up — you’d need the state to be a big shareholder for that to apply. But the $4 billion takeover of tech consultancy Altran Technologies SA by domestic peer Capgemini SE looks like an attempt to build a French champion without giving the target’s shareholders a good price. With activist-in-chief Elliott Management Corp. siding with minority ...
Read More »Jack Ma is ripping up a $12trn stock market
Jack Ma is riding high. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., the company he founded, has won approval to forge ahead with a Hong Kong share sale that could raise at least $10 billion. On November 11, China’s largest e-commerce company logged more than $38.3 billion of purchases during its annual Singles’ Day shopping event, a new record. The rest of China’s ...
Read More »Trade war frontlines are friendlier than you think
The island of Tsushima, halfway between Japan and South Korea, is about as close as you can get to the frontline of their trade war. Now part of Nagasaki prefecture, waves of Korean cultural, commercial and military influence have crested and receded over the hills of this verdant island since the Middle Ages. Here it’s apparent that centuries-old ties between ...
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