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Bloomberg Total SA will take 10 percent stake in a multibillion dollar liquefied natural gas project in Russia’s frozen north from Novatek PJSC. Total is aiming to become a key global LNG player, competing with Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp., after it snapped up assets from Engie SA last year. The world’s biggest oil companies are also ...

Bloomberg The US and China’s on-again, off-again trade dispute is casting a shadow over Asia-Pacific nations’ efforts to further open up global trade, a senior Australian government official said. Delegates at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Port Moresby this weekend pledged to keep pursuing a free and fair international trading regime, in the face of rising protectionist sentiment. The ...

Bloomberg Profit growth at Chinese industrial companies accelerated, snapping a streak of slowing expansion since October, as factory output remained robust. Industrial profits advanced 21.9 percent in April from a year earlier, versus a 3.1 percent increase in March and 16.1 percent in January and February combined. Total profits for the month were 576.03 billion yuan ($90.1 billion), the National ...

Bloomberg Prem Watsa, the billionaire head of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., sees plenty of opportunities for investment in the US and his native India. He’s less interested in the other Asian powerhouse. “In China, we are less invested,” Watsa said in an interview with BNN Bloomberg Television. “We like democracy. We like business-friendly policies.” Watsa, who emigrated from India 46 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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, ...

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 ...

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 ...