Hong Kong property market continues to soar

Bloomberg Sino Land Co. was part of a consortium that swooped in to buy residential land in Hong Kong from the government for HK$17.3 billion ($2.2 billion), described by local media as a record for that type of property. Shimao Property Holdings Ltd., Wheelock Properties Ltd., K Wah International Holdings Ltd. and S E A Holdings Ltd. were the other ...

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AT&T engages Washington firepower with its megadeal

Bloomberg AT&T Inc.’s $85.4 billion bid for entertainment titan Time Warner Inc. is where few imagined it would end up—hurtling towards a make-or-break moment in Washington with a pro-business Republican administration that shows signs it may reject the deal. Dallas-based AT&T is fighting an increasingly public battle with Justice Department antitrust officials, who have questioned whether the combined company would ...

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Swedish $370bn home-loan market gets ‘mortgage fund’

Bloomberg As investors wonder whether Sweden’s housing market is headed for a correction, the country’s first mortgage fund is about to enter the $370 billion Swedish home-loan industry. Stabelo plans to pool capital from Swedish institutional investors in exchange for fixed-income securities. That money will then be lent to home buyers. The fund starts offering its products this week and ...

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Prosecutors raid Volkswagen over labour chief’s pay

Bloomberg German prosecutors raided Volkswagen AG’s headquarters in an investigation of whether the carmaker’s leadership agreed to excessive payments to its top labour representative. The search is part of a probe into remuneration of works council chief Bernd Osterloh, a Volkswagen spokesman said, declining to provide further details. Sascha Rueegg, a spokesman for prosecutors in Braunschweig, the legal administrative center ...

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Nike knocked by unions ‘tax avoidance’ strategies

Bloomberg Nike Inc., which was cited in the so-called Paradise Papers for funneling billions of dollars into offshore tax havens, is now facing a push by organised labour to stop the practice. The AFL-CIO, a federation of 56 unions that represent 12.5 million workers, said it sent a shareholder proposal to the company. The document asks the world’s largest sports ...

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UK labour market shows signs of slowing as employment falls

Bloomberg UK unemployment held at a 42-year low in the third quarter but there are signs that the labour market is slowing as the number of people in work fell for the first time in a year. The jobless rate averaged 4.3 percent between July and September, the Office for National Statistics said. But employment fell by 14,000, the first ...

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BMW dumps coal in pledge for 100 percent green power

Bloomberg BMW AG’s plan to switch exclusively to green electricity finds it tapping some unusual power sources, including a South African biomass plant that runs on cow dung and chicken droppings. The arrangement is part of the carmaker’s bid to shift all its external power purchases to renewables by 2020, up from 63 percent last year, head of procurement Markus ...

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EU looks to 2018 summits for Brexit breakthrough

Bloomberg European officials have identified summits early next year where they could seek a breakthrough in Brexit talks, as the European side is bracing for a crunch meeting in December to end in failure, three people familiar with the negotiations said. The view in Brussels is that it’s up to the UK to make concessions before the EU will agree ...

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China to send envoy to North Korea after Trump-Xi talks

Bloomberg Chinese President Xi Jinping is dispatching a special envoy to visit North Korea this week, shortly after he hosted US counterpart Donald Trump in Beijing. Song Tao, head of the Chinese Communist Party’s International Liaison Department, will visit Pyongyang on Friday to brief North Korean officials about last month’s once-in-five-year leadership reshuffle, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. ...

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Thailand set to end military rule in 2018

Bloomberg Thailand said it remains on course for elections next year and that curbs on political parties will soon be eased, as pressure mounts on the military government to roll back restrictions on campaigning. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha said last month a vote will be held in November 2018, though analysts are concerned the military will seek to retain power. ...

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