Energy Capital, investors to buy Calpine for $5.6 billion

Bloomberg Private equity firm Energy Capital Partners and a consortium of investors struck a deal to buy US power generator Calpine Corp. for $5.6 billion in cash. Calpine investors will get $15.25 a share, the Houston-based company said in a statement, 13 percent more than the closing price. Including debt, the deal is valued at more than $17 billion. The ...

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Blackstone doubles down on shale boom lasting with Harvest deal

Bloomberg Blackstone Group LP’s reach for $10 billion in energy assets is the firm’s latest bet that the US shale boom is just hitting its stride. The world’s largest alternative-asset manager agreed to buy Harvest Fund Advisors for an undisclosed amount, adding the firm’s 18-member team led by Eric Conklin to an investment empire that spans private equity, real estate, ...

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China ups the ante against ‘overseas investment’

Bloomberg China formally laid down new rules on overseas investments, making explicit its de facto campaign against “irrational” acquisitions of assets in industries ranging from real estate to hotels and entertainment. The authorities set out three categories—banned, restricted and encouraged—while backing companies to support the nation’s ambitious “Belt and Road” initiative backed by President Xi Jinping, the State Council said. ...

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Infy’s ex-boss Sikka, just one of the casualties of ‘hire American’

Bloomberg The resignation of Vishal Sikka as chief executive officer of India’s bellwether technology company masks the rot in India’s once feted export sector. While Sikka cited heightened acrimony with a cohort of founders at Infosys Ltd., the malaise is much deeper, and threatens to become a faultline for Asia’s No. 3 economy. Software services exports are experiencing their longest ...

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JD.com’s loss widens on spending boost to drive sales

Bloomberg JD.com Inc. posted a wider quarterly loss as China’s second-largest online mall boosted marketing spending to drive sales at its mid-year shopping promotion. The net loss was $74 million in the three months ended June, almost double the 252 million yuan loss of a year earlier. Second-quarter sales jumped 44 percent to 93.2 billion yuan, helped by a partnership ...

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In a good year for Asia currencies, Philippine peso is unloved

Bloomberg Asian emerging market currencies have been having their best year since before the 2013 taper tantrum, bolstered by pace-setting growth rates and attractive yields. But the Philippine peso has been left out of the party—ironically after it held up better than peers including Indonesia’s rupiah back in 2013. Unless things change, it’ll be a fifth straight year of declines ...

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Iraq launches offensive to take back Tal Afar from IS

BAGHDAD / ERBIL / Reuters Iraqi security forces launched an offensive to take back the city of Tal Afar on Sunday, their next objective in the US-backed campaign to defeat IS militants, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said. “You either surrender, or die,” Abadi said in a televised speech announcing the offensive, addressing the militants. A longtime stronghold of hardline Sunni ...

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Finland cops call fatal stabbings act of terror

Bloomberg Finnish police are investigating an attack on Friday as an act of terror after a young Moroccan man fatally stabbed two people and wounded six others in a town west of the capital Helsinki. The suspect, an 18-year-old who came to Finland as an asylum seeker last year, has so far refused to answer questions relating to the attack, ...

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Icahn ends White House role over ‘conflict of interest’ row

Bloomberg Carl Icahn’s role as a special regulatory adviser to President Donald Trump has ended after questions were raised by Democratic lawmakers about potential conflicts of interest with his business dealings in oil refining and insurance. In a letter to Trump addressing his departure that was posted Friday on Icahn’s website, the billionaire investor denied profiting from his advice-giving role ...

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Syrian army pounds rebel areas, breaking truce

AMMAN / Reuters Syrian jets and artillery struck rebel-held eastern Damascus suburbs a day after a Russian sponsored ceasefire with a rebel group agreed a halt of fighting in the last opposition enclave in the capital, rebels and witnesses said. The Russian defence ministry said it had reached a ceasefire that took effect with Failaq al Rahman, the main Free ...

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