JAPAN DATA | Page 2 BUSY START | Page 9 Industrial Chinese tech output IPOs set to rises 4.1% ignite market

Saturday, March 31, 2018 Rajab 14, 1439 AH NEW CHALLENGES IN TRUMP AGE : Page 12 Amazon said to sever GULF TIMES ties with top lobbying BUSINESS fi rms in Washington Exxon, Total join majors US ‘explores’ including wage interested in Iraq oil auction

Bloomberg factor in Nafta auto rules Baghdad

Reuters Steve Verheul told reporters, “We’ve Exxon Mobil, Total and Lukoil are among Mexico City/Ottawa got quite a bit of work do yet,” and international companies interested to win noted that Washington had not yet rights to develop 11 oil and gas border explained what it meant by an agree- fields as Opec’s number two producer S trade negotiators have ment in principle. Offi cials from the continues to build production capacity. fl oated a plan to introduce three countries are due to meet in Iraq plans to hold a bidding round on April Urules under a reworked Nafta the United States next month for the 15 and award service contracts the same that stipulate a certain amount of au- eighth round of talks. day for companies to develop 11 onshore tomotive production must be carried Only six of the roughly 30 chapters and off shore fields along the borders with out in areas paying higher salaries, have been closed and wide diff er- Iran and Kuwait, Abdul Mahdy al-Ameedi, two sources familiar with the matter ences remain on topics such as dis- the Oil Ministry’s director-general for said. pute resolution and how much North upstream oil contracts, said on Thursday Setting such wage requirements American content should be con- at an event in Baghdad to show details of for the auto industry under the North tained in autos produced in the three the fields to the companies. American Free Trade Agreement Nafta nations, a fi le that Verheul said The 16 companies that expressed inter- could benefi t the United States and was still far from settled. est also include Chevron, Eni, Gazprom, Canada, whose trade unions say that But Freeland later told reporters Zarubezhneft, Petroliam Nasional, Oil lower Mexican pay has caused a drift by phone she was “truly heartened” & Natural Gas Corp, Cnooc, Geo-Jade in manufacturing capacity to Mexico. by some of the progress made on the Petroleum Corp, China ZhenHua Oil Co, The US plan aims to explore what autos question. United Energy Group, Dana Gas, Crescent percentage of output could be in are- The United States last week Petroleum Co and Dragon Oil, according as paying higher salaries, and at what dropped its insistence that all autos to an Oil Ministry document distributed on levels of remuneration the scheme made in the three Nafta countries Thursday. could be targeted, said one of the two have 50 % US content. Iraq has been ramping up crude produc- sources, who spoke on condition of That said, Canada and Mexico are tion and exports over the last few years anonymity. still wrestling with a separate US as the country overcomes decades of Mexico’s government and its Nafta demand that autos produced in the conflict and sanctions. The country has partners were all analysing the US three member nations contain 85 % become the second-biggest producer in idea, the source said. Nafta content, up from 62.5 % now. the Organisation of Petroleum Export- The news follows a week in which Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s minister of foreign aff airs, speaks during a joint press conference in Mexico City on “We don’t have a deal yet but we ing Countries, though it’s now bound by hopes have risen that the United February 2. Freeland’s off ice yesterday said she would be meeting her Nafta counterpart Mexican Economy Minister are working really, really hard,” said the group’s agreement with other major States, Mexico and Canada could Ildefonso Guajardo in Toronto to discuss the ongoing renegotiation. Freeland, who did not answer direct- producers to keep limits on their output to be closer to brokering agreement on ly when asked about the merits of a reduce global inventories. one of the thorniest issues surround- for the salary component, the second are going to present something along more downbeat, saying much work deal in principle. Iraq produced 4.36mn barrels of crude a ing renegotiation of Nafta — content of the sources said. those lines.” remained. Verheul said there were “obvi- day in March. levels for the auto industry. However, if a deal is reachable, it A USTR spokeswoman could not “I think we are making progress. ously some signifi cant gaps on many Iraq plans to develop three blocks along Last week, industry sources said would likely end up at a lower level immediately be reached for com- I think that all three parties want to issues,” citing the US positions on the border with Kuwait, which are Khidr that the US had withdrawn a divisive than that, the source added. ment. move forward, we have a short win- dispute settlement, government pro- Al-Maa, Jabal Sinam and al-Fao, Oil Minis- demand that at least 50% of Nafta auto Mexico’s economy ministry had no Freeland’s offi ce said she would be dow, because of elections and things curement and a sunset clause that try spokesman Asim Jihad said by phone. content should come from the US. comment on the matter, a ministry meeting her Nafta counterpart Mexi- beyond our control,” Lighthizer told would allow one party to quit Nafta It will also auction rights for seven areas at The wage idea was fl oated after spokesman said. can Economy Minister Ildefonso CNBC television. after fi ve years. the border with Iran, which are Sindibad, that, the sources said. Alex Lawrence, a spokesman for Guajardo in Toronto to discuss the “But if there’s a real eff ort made to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Huwaiza, Shahabi, Zerbatia, Naftkhana, The United States, which also Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia ongoing renegotiation. try to close out and to compromise... Trudeau last week said a deal was Injana and Khashm Ahmar, and Klabat wants to raise the minimum auto Freeland, said it was a question for Lighthizer on Wednesday ex- I’m optimistic that we can get some- likely while stressing the chal- wa Gumar. Also on off er is the off shore content threshold for the Nafta re- the offi ce of US pressed optimism that talks to modi- thing done in principle in the next lenges posed by the Mexican vote Al-Khaleej Al-Arabi block in the nation’s gion to 85% from 62.5%, is exploring Trade Representative (USTR) Rob- fy Nafta could be wrapped up quick- little bit,” he said. and US congressional elections in waters on the Gulf, he said. setting a wage fl oor at $15 per hour ert Lighthizer “as to whether they ly, but a top Canadian offi cial was But chief Canadian negotiator November.

US regulator okays SpaceX plan for broadband EU sours on reviving satellite services

Reuters Washington trade-pact push with

The top US telecommunications regulator on Thursday gave formal ap- proval to a plan by Elon Musk’s SpaceX US amid tariff s row to build a global broadband network using satellites. “This is the first approval of a US- Bloomberg The TTIP negotiations to ex- beyond May 1: The status of “dis- licensed satellite constellation to Brussels pand the world biggest economic cussions of satisfactory long-term provide broadband services using relationship have been frozen since alternative means to address the a new generation of low-Earth orbit Trump entered the White House threatened impairment to US na- satellite technologies,” the Federal he European Union dis- with an “America First” agenda tional security.” Communications Commission said tanced itself from the idea that has shunned multilateral trade EU leaders showed as much an- in a statement. The system proposed Tof reviving talks on a broad initiatives. This extended to the noyance as relief at the tempo- by privately held SpaceX, as Space free-trade agreement with the US completed Trans-Pacifi c Partner- rary exemption on March 23, with Exploration Holdings is known, will use as part of EU eff orts to gain a per- ship, from which Trump withdrew. French President Emmanuel Ma- 4,425 satellites, the FCC said. manent exemption from President “He terminated the trans-Pacifi c cron saying “we won’t talk about FCC chairman Ajit Pai in February had Donald Trump’s controversial im- deal; he didn’t terminate TTIP,” anything while there’s a gun point- endorsed the SpaceX eff ort, saying: port tariff s on steel and aluminium. Ross said in an interview with ed at our head.” “Satellite technology can help reach A day after US Commerce Sec- Bloomberg Television yesterday. To read about US trade discus- Americans who live in rural or hard-to- retary Wilbur Ross said the Trump “That was meant quite deliberately sions with South Korea, click here serve places where fibre optic cables administration is willing to restart and quite overtly as a message that After 14 months of the Trump and cell towers do not reach.” negotiations on the stalled Trans- we’re open to discussions with the administration, EU offi cials are The Federal Aviation Administration Atlantic Trade and Investment European Commission.” sceptical that it would be willing said on Wednesday that SpaceX plans Partnership, the European Com- European trade chief Cecilia to seek the kind of broad market- to launch a Falcon 9 rocket on April 2 at mission said it’s seeking a “dia- Malmstrom and Ross spoke four opening TTIP deal that the bloc Cape Canaveral, Florida. “The rocket will logue” with Washington “on issues days ago with their eyes on a May was negotiating with the govern- carry a communications satellite,” the of common interest” including glo- 1 deadline for Trump to decide ment of former President Barack FAA said. bal steel overcapacity. whether to prolong an exclusion Obama. The FCC said SpaceX has been granted “More contacts will be held in for the EU from US import tariff s In May last year, Malmstrom re- authority to use frequencies in the Ka the coming weeks to agree the exact of 25% on steel and 10% on alu- fused to rule out the possibility of a (20/30 GHz) and Ku (11/14 GHz) bands. scope and framework of this EU- minium. free-trade accord between the EU Musk, who is also the founder and US dialogue,” a spokesman for the The White House justifi ed the and the US while stressing that the chief executive of electric automaker commission, the 28-nation EU’s levies introduced a week ago on na- planned TTIP had been left “in the Tesla Inc, said in 2015 that SpaceX executive arm in Brussels, said yes- tional-security grounds dismissed freezer” as a result of Trump’s elec- planned to launch a satellite-internet terday. “The commission is com- by the EU, which has demanded a tion. business that would help fund a future mitted to engage in this process permanent exemption and threat- “There’s still a case for an ambi- city on Mars. SpaceX wanted to create in an open and constructive way. ened to join China in applying tit- tious trade agreement between us, a “global communications system” However, it should be clear that for-tat tariff s on American goods not to mention a huge potential,” that Musk compared to “rebuilding the this dialogue does not represent the and complaining to the World Malmstrom said in a speech at the Internet in space.” It would be faster revival of the process for a compre- Trade Organisation. time. “But we both need a bit more than traditional connections, he said. hensive Trans-Atlantic Trade and Trump set a vague condition for time, and to know there was shared Investment Partnership.” prolonging the metal-tariff s waiver ambition and common ground.” Gulf Times 2 Saturday, March 31, 2018 BUSINESS

Asia’s Iran oil imports Japan industrial output hit 2-month low in Feb

Reuters rises 4.1% in February Tokyo Reuters mports of Iranian crude oil Tokyo by major buyers in Asia fell Iby nearly a fi fth in February from the same month a year ear- apan’s industrial production re- lier, hitting a two-month low as bounded in February from a large all of them except India curbed Jdecline in the previous month and purchases, government and companies forecast further gains in ship-tracking data showed. coming months in a sign that factory China, India, Japan and South output is back on the path towards ex- Korea last month imported a pansion. total of 1.63mn barrels per day Factory output rose 4.1% in Febru- (bpd) from Iran, the lowest vol- ary from the previous month, less than ume since December, the data economists’ median estimate of a 5% showed. increase but recovering from a revised 6.8% decline in January, trade ministry Imports of Iranian crude oil data showed yesterday. by Japan were down about The increase was led by higher out- 22% from a year earlier put of cars, construction equipment, at 180,144 bpd, marking and semiconductors. the 10th straight monthly Gains in industrial output suggest decline. China’s February that January’s weakness was tempo- imports of crude tumbled rary and the economy remains poised nearly 28% from the to extend its record growth streak due previous year to a 13-month to solid exports and improving domes- low of 474,386 bpd tic demand. One risk to the outlook is that Ja- Iran has been pushing to re- pan’s exports of steel and aluminium tain its prized customers in Asia could weaken if it fails to win an ex- but concerns that US President emption from US tariff s imposed last Donald Trump will carry out a week. threat to exit Tehran’s nuclear “In the fi rst quarter industrial out- deal with world powers and re- put is likely to be fl at or decline slight- impose sanctions has dampened ly,” said Daiju Aoki, regional chief in- appetite for the country’s crude, vestment offi cer at UBS Securities. amid a persistent global glut. “However, we still expect exports to China’s February imports of expand moderately, so weakness in the Iranian crude tumbled nearly fi rst quarter is likely to be temporary.” 28% from the previous year to a Output of cars, engines, and car 13-month low of 474,386 bpd. parts rose 10.3% in February, the fast- The country’s overall crude est increase since April last year. imports rose by 1.5% last month. Production of construction equip- A worker cycles near a factory at the Keihin industrial zone in Kawasaki. Japan’s industrial production rebounded in February from a large decline in the previous month India’s imports from Iran rose ment and factory machinery rose 3.6% and companies forecast further gains in coming months in a sign that factory output is back on the path towards expansion. 1.3% to 655,500 bpd last month. in February, while production of semi- Korea’s purchases were down conductors and electronic parts rose steel and aluminium tariff s that US Separate data released yesterday highest in 44 years. The jobless rate to vanquishing decades of stagnation. almost a third. 4.8%. President Donald Trump imposed last showed labour demand eased slightly rose to 2.5% in February from 2.4% in Consumer spending, exports, and Imports into Japan were down Manufacturers surveyed by the Min- week. and the jobless rate edged higher in the previous month. capital expenditure have helped drive about 22% from a year earlier at istry of Economy, Trade and Industry Trump has temporarily excluded February, but the labour market is ex- Japan’s economy has grown for eight growth. Economists say consumer 180,144 bpd, marking the 10th (METI) expected output to rise 0.9% in six countries and the European Un- pected to remain tight due to a short- straight quarters, its longest continu- spending could lose some momentum straight monthly decline, data March and increase 5.2% in April. ion from the tariff s, but it is uncertain age of workers. ous expansion since the 1980s bub- this year but they expect exports to re- from the country’s Ministry of Japan’s government is lobbying the whether Japan will receive the same The jobs-to-applicants ratio fell to ble economy, moving Prime Minister main strong thanks to sustained global Economy, Trade and Industry United States for exemptions from treatment. 1.58 from 1.59 in January, which is the Shinzo Abe’s revival plan a step closer demand. showed yesterday. Huawei 2017 net profi t jumps on cost controls, smartphone sales

Reuters drop in net fi nancing expenses as the com- 23.6% expansion, as telecom operators pre- Hong Kong pany booked smaller foreign exchange pare to roll out next-generation 5G wireless losses. networks in the coming years. Revenue grew 15.7% to 603.6bn yuan, in “We conducted 5G pre-commercial tests hina’s Huawei Technologies, the line with the company’s previous guidance with over 30 leading carriers...and prepare world’s third-largest smartphone and its slowest growth in four years. for the upcoming end-to-end commercial Cmaker, posted a 28% rise in 2017 net Huawei vowed to focus on improv- deployment of 5G,” it said. profi t yesterday, driven by cost controls and ing profi t after posting the slowest profi t Huawei this week launched its most ex- a solid performance in its home market. growth in fi ve years in 2016 as its slim-mar- pensive fl agship smartphone to date in Eu- The outlook for Huawei, which trails gin smartphone business weighed down rope – the triple-camera P20 series that Samsung Electronics and Apple Inc in profi t growth. sell for €649-€899 ($800-$1,108) – a fresh smartphones, is clouded by strong compe- Huawei’s consumer business, which in- attempt to compete head-to-head with BoJ bid to taper by stealth made tition in the domestic market and declining cludes smartphone operations, grew at a Samsung and Apple in the high-end phone sales in the United States, as Washington slower 31.9% to 237.2bn yuan ($37.85bn) af- market. plans higher import tariff s on China’s tech ter shipping 153mn smartphones last year. Market share gains in Europe have helped tougher by supercharged yen products. The segment had grown 43.6% a year Huawei off set the company’s exclusion Shenzhen-based Huawei saw net profi t earlier. from the United States, the world’s most rise to 47.5bn yuan ($7.3bn) in 2017, sharply The carrier business, accounting for profi table market for phone sellers. Bloomberg a policy in which it buys be buying less given where up from a 0.4% increase in 2016. nearly half of the group’s total revenue, Revenue from the Americas dropped 11% Tokyo government debt to keep 10- yields are, but it can’t, with the The rise was partly the result of a 85% grew at a slower pace of 2.5%, versus 2016’s to 39bn yuan. year bond yields around 0%. yen at a much stronger level Despite the steady reduction than many had projected.” The Bank of Japan is finding in purchase amounts, Japan’s Japan’s 10-year yield was steady out just how hard it is to be benchmark 10-year yield has at 0.04% yesterday, having stealthy – when everyone is moved largely within target fallen from a year-to-date high looking right at you. this fiscal year, with a few of 0.095% on January 30. The central bank looks set to upward blips. The BoJ remains behind its end this fiscal year well behind But the central bank global peers, who are either on its target for Japanese unintentionally kicked off a raising interest rates or turning government bond purchases. rally in the yen on January towards normalising policy. But having inadvertently 9 when it unexpectedly cut But with Japanese inflation still sparked a yen rally in January, purchases of long term bonds, far from its 2% target, the bank a repeat of this “stealth taper” sparking a slew of bets on insists a change to policy is in of monetary policy in 2018 is speculation the reduction no way imminent. going to prove a much tougher signalled its ultra-loose Should currency markets challenge. policy could end sooner than stabilise, the BoJ will prioritise “The hurdle is higher this year expected. scaling back purchases of 5-10 than last year when the BoJ Since then, the yen has year maturities, according to was able to taper stealthily strengthened about 6% Oshikubo. without a problem,” said Naoya against the dollar despite After “normalising” the sector Oshikubo, rates strategist at repeated remarks from that has the biggest impact on Barclays Securities Japan Ltd. governor Haruhiko Kuroda its zero-rate target, it is then “The main scenario is for the that the BoJ will keep policy expected to focus on super- BoJ to keep reducing in line accommodative. long bonds where the curve with a drop in government A weaker dollar and domestic has been flattening, he said. debt issuance in fiscal 2018. political concerns have also For now, trade tensions But unlike last year they are bolstered the currency. triggered by the US more sensitive to the currency, Hedge funds are the most protectionist stance and so cuts will be gradual and bullish they have been in uncertainty over the stock cautiously timed with an eye almost a year, according to market’s outlook are weighing on that.” the latest Commodity Futures on bond yields, only adding to The BoJ is expected to keep Trading Commission data. the BoJ’s headaches. buying ranges unchanged “The BoJ is in an extremely “They are in a catch-22 for a second month when it diff icult situation, putting yields situation,” said Hidenori announces its April plan later from 10 years and longer at Suezawa, chief fixed-income yesterday. risk of sinking below zero,” said strategist at SMBC Nikko Its net bond purchases Akio Kato, general manager Securities Inc in Tokyo. “It’s have totalled around ¥54tn of trading at Mitsubishi UFJ unlikely the BoJ will boost ($508bn) in fiscal 2017, Kokusai Asset Management buying, but it can’t reduce compared with an annual Co in Tokyo. “Under normal it either as it puts further Richard Yu, CEO of the Huawei Consumer Business Group, attends the launching the new generation of its smartphone, Huawei P20, in guideline of ¥80tn under circumstances, the BoJ should downward pressure on yields.” Paris. The world’s third-largest smartphone maker posted a 28% rise in 2017 net profit yesterday, driven by cost controls and a solid performance in its home market. Gulf Times Saturday, March 31, 2018 3 BUSINESS

China cuts tax rates for chipmakers amid trade tensions Japan may be forced into

Reuters Beijing

China’s finance ministry said yesterday it has trade deal with US, says introduced tax breaks for chipmakers made in the country, at a time when the government is seeking to reduce dependence on foreign semiconductors amid trade tensions with the United States over technology transfers. The move comes as the United States is considering imposing tariff s on $50bn worth of Chinese exports, ex-currency diplomat citing discriminatory trade practices in high-tech sectors, including semiconductors. Chipmakers will be exempt from corporate taxes for Reuters two to five years followed by partial deductions, the Tokyo ministry said in a notice posted on its website. The exemptions cover a range of products, from very basic to cutting-edge chips, for use in computers, apan will have little choice but to enter smartphones and other electronic devices. into a bilateral trade deal with the United The new rules are eff ective from January 1, 2018. JStates similar to one President Donald China relies heavily on foreign semiconductors, Trump clinched with South Korea, a former which make up one of its largest import categories top Japanese currency diplomat said. by value. Naoyuki Shinohara, who was also dep- It is seeking to overtake foreign rivals and become a uty managing director at the International top semiconductor producer by 2030, according to Monetary Fund, said Washington will keep its own roadmap. pushing for a bilateral free trade agreement China’s ambitions have riled overseas regulators (FTA) with Japan given Trump’s “America however, who have blocked several acquisition First” agenda – and Tokyo’s calls to use attempts by Chinese firms looking to speed up a multilateral framework will only buy it development through technology transfers. some time. US President Donald Trump’s administration is “The United States is only interested in requesting China purchase more semiconductors a bilateral deal and probably won’t listen to from the United States as part of a plan to avoid Japanese calls for a multilateral approach proposed tariff s and a potential trade war, Reuters on trade,” said Shinohara, who retains close reported on Tuesday. contact with international fi nancial According to yesterday’s notice, companies diplomats. producing high-end chips using 65 nanometre “Japan will eventually have to enter FTA technology or smaller with an investment of over talks” and face US pressure to open up its 15bn yuan ($2.39bn) will be exempt from corporate auto and farm markets, he told Reuters taxes for five years. Companies producing chips yesterday. using 130 nanometre technology or smaller will be Global markets were shaken this month tax exempt for two years. when Trump moved to impose tariff s on Chi- The new rules will mostly benefit China’s larger, older nese goods and Beijing threatened similar chipmakers which can promise higher investment measures, stoking fears of a global trade war. and large-scale production. Shinohara said there was a small but real China had 171 chip fabrication plants as of the end risk of a United States-China trade war, of 2016, accounting for roughly 14% of total global which could spiral out of control given Shinohara: There is a small but real risk of a US-China trade war, which could spiral out of control given Trump’s unpredictability. capacity, according to PwC, but produces less Trump’s unpredictability. sophisticated chips than its foreign competitors. “A trade war is a worse-case scenario and institute. Japanese policymakers worry that similar demands to Japan – entering talks Tokyo pushing back against US calls for ne- The country has allocated extensive national funding doesn’t make economic sense as both sides Trump could use a similar approach to what for a bilateral FTA, with a side deal on cur- gotiations on a bilateral FTA. Deputy Prime to boost production. will lose. But once there’s a war, it’s hard to he took with South Korea, which agreed on a rencies. Minister Taro Aso has ruled out opening up Last year leading chipmaker Tsinghua Unigroup stop shooting. The possibility is small but not trade pact with a side deal to deter competi- Trump will use such talks to demand more talks for a bilateral trade deal, stressing that Ltd signed deals with China Development Bank and unthinkable,” he said. tive currency devaluation. US access to Japan’s auto and highly-pro- this would do no good for Japan. China’s national integrated circuit fund for financing An escalating trade spat could spread, in- Shinohara, who co-ordinated Asian poli- tected agricultural markets, he added. Trade will likely feature as a topic when of up to 150bn yuan. cluding to Japan, said Shinohara, currently cies during his IMF stint, said there was a Japan and the United States remain at log- Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo a professor at a University of Tokyo research “pretty good chance” Washington will make gerheads on how to frame trade talks, with Abe hold a summit next month. Gulf Times 4 Saturday, March 31, 2018 BUSINESS

Former ‘Uber-Grab deal may have Dragon Aromatics to restart infringed competition’ China

Reuters Singapore petchem

ingapore’s competition watchdog plant said it had reasonable grounds to Ssuspect competition had been in- fringed by Uber Technologies Inc’s deal Reuters to sell its operations in Southeast Asia to Singapore/Beijing rival ride-hailing fi rm Grab. In a rare move, the Competition Com- mission of Singapore (CCS) has com- hina’s Fuhaichuang, for- menced an investigation into the deal merly known as Dragon and proposed interim measures that will CAromatics, plans to re- require Uber and Grab to maintain their start its refi ning-petrochemical pre-transaction independent pricing, the complex in eastern Fujian as watchdog said in a statement yesterday. early as June after halting opera- The proposal also requires Uber and tions for three years, four sourc- Grab not to take any action that might es with knowledge of the matter lead to the integration of their businesses said on Thursday. in Singapore, a move likely to pose a ma- The re-opening of one of jor hurdle to the US company’s attempt to China’s biggest petrochemical improve profi tability by exiting the loss- plants will add to demand for making Southeast Asian market. raw materials like condensate, It is the fi rst time the commission has fuel oil and mixed xylenes and issued interim measures on any business will come amid increasing global in the country. use of the mainly polyester fi bres Uber and Grab announced the deal on it will produce. Monday, marking the US company’s sec- The complex, an important ond retreat from an Asian market. addition to the synthetic textiles Under the deal, Uber will take a 27.5% supply chain if started, has been stake in Grab, which is valued at around shut since April 2015 after a fi re, $6bn, and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi the second in less than two years, will join the Singapore-based company’s raised safety concerns and the board. need for fresh funds for repairs. CCS proposals also require both Grab The cost of the complex was and Uber not to obtain from each other previously tagged at $3bn, before any confi dential information including the fi res. pricing, customers and drivers. The sources did not have an The two fi rms will be given an oppor- amount for the cost of repairs. tunity to make written representations Before the extended shut- to the CCS upon receipt of the proposed down, the plant in Zhangzhou, interim measures, it said. on the east coast of China, in- Singapore has a voluntary merger no- cluded a 90,000-barrels-per- tifi cation regime, and CCS has yet to re- day (bpd) condensate splitter, ceive the notifi cation from Uber and Grab a 3.2mn-tonnes-per-year (tpy) as of yesterday, although the companies hydrocracker and two 800,000- have indicated their intention to fi le a for- tpy paraxylene plants. mal merger notifi cation, CCS said. The company wants to start Grab and Uber were not immediately operations by June or July, the available for comment. sources said, adding that gov- The deal is the industry’s fi rst big con- ernment approval of the revamp solidation in Southeast Asia, home to is still required. about 640mn people, and is widely ex- Multiple calls to the offi ces pected to give Uber more fi repower to fo- of Fujian Petrochemical Group, cus on other markets including India, as it the main new shareholder in the prepares for an IPO in 2019. project, went unanswered. Uber lost $4.5bn last year and is facing Fuhaichuang is now 90% fi erce competition at home in the United owned by Fuhua Gulei Petro- States and across Asia, as well as a regu- chemical Co Ltd, while Dragon latory crackdown in Europe. The fi rm has Aromatics, owned by Taiwan’s invested $700mn in its Southeast Asian Xianglu Group, retained a 10% operations. share, one of the sources said. Fuhua Gulei is, in turn, owned by the provincial government- backed Fujian Petrochemi- cal Group and a local fi rm in Zhangzhou. In October 2017 Fuhua Gulei Pakistan textile fi rms ink deals worth $245mn registered a joint venture with the Taiwanese company to man- age and operate the complex, ac- Internews relevant industrial units made deals. cording to Fujian Petrochemical Karachi Li Yang, the vice division director, Group’s website. department of commerce, Zhejiang Repairs to the fi re damage are province, China, expressed the hope almost complete and the splitter akistan’s textile sector has to further strengthen trade ties with has been expanded to 110,000 signed 63 deals with foreign Pakistan. bpd, the source said. Pcounterparts worth $245mn, She said Chinese people are proud The splitter processes con- organisers of the three-day 19th to have friendship with Pakistan densate into naphtha, which is Textile Asia Exhibition said yester- adding that in the next year’s exhibi- then used to produce paraxylene, day. tion, Chinese entrepreneurs would a chemical used in making poly- The main share of the deals made double the volume of deals. ester fi bre and plastics. during the exhibition, organised by The economy size of Zhejiang Fuhaichuang is seeking to buy E-Commerce Gateway, was that of province is over $1tn and it was for condensate, fuel oil and mixed China, which signed agreements the fi rst time that 150 companies xylenes for the plant’s restart, worth $150mn, they added. were representing the province. the sources said. E-Commerce Gateway president Around 450 companies partici- “Dragon was out in the market Dr Khursheed Nizam thanked the pated in the exhibition and show- seeking condensate and fuel oil, Sindh provincial government and cased around 600 items at 800 dif- but it’s not clear if the new man- Trade Development Authority of Pa- ferent stalls. Around 1,200 foreign agement has got that much ex- kistan (TDAP) for extending support delegates attended the expo. pertise running the plant,” said in organising the event. The visitors show interest in prod- one of the sources. The exhibition also helped the ucts showcased by China, Korea, Dragon Aromatics’ splitter hotel industry grow, while the occu- France, Germany, Italy, Vietnam, used to run mostly on Iranian pancy rate of all the fi ve-star hotels Turkmenistan, etc. As per the ratio South Pars condensate but Iran was 100%, he added. At the event, of the participants, China’s repre- has reduced exports since late A worker inspects fabric on looms at a textile manufacturer in Karachi. Pakistan’s textile sector, including embroidery, digital textile sector, including embroidery, sentation was 60%, 30% from Eu- last year after selling excess sup- printing, metallic yarn, fabric, blankets, buttons, lace and other relevant industrial units made 63 deals with foreign counterparts digital printing, metallic yarn, fab- rope and 10% companies from other plies in storage and as it started worth $245mn at the three-day 19th Textile Asia Exhibition. ric, blankets, buttons, lace and other countries attended the event. up its own new splitters.

Pakistan okays Rs50.5bn development projects Islamabad to release key economic data for new budget

Internews of which one project titled ‘Interconnection of isolated Internews (1947-48 to 1967-68) performance was also working to calculate an exact cost incurred on Islamabad Gwadar and Makran with national grid system of Islamabad published once. war of terror after Pakistan’s decision to ally Pakistan’ was referred to Ecnec. In manpower sector, Finance Ministry Economic Adviser Ijaz Wasti with the US in 2001. a project for establishment of polytechnic institute for said the ministry planned to release the eco- An off icial estimate puts it at approximately Pakistan’s federal government has approved 33 develop- boys in Skardu was approved with a cost of Rs602mn. The Pakistan government is all set to release the nomic survey of 2018 just one day ahead of the $123.1bn equivalent to Rs10.3tn. ment projects worth Rs50.5bn, off icial sources said here In physical planning and housing, Gwadar smart economic survey for the current fiscal year of upcoming federal budget scheduled on April 27. “The cost will definitely go up a few billion yesterday. environment sanitation system and landfill project with 2018 next month with annual growth estimated The National Accounts Committee will hold a dollars after adding up losses incurred dur- The approval for the projects were made by the Plan- a cost of Rs2.2bn was also approved. In addition, exten- at up to 5.7%. meeting next month to assess gross domestic ing the outgoing fiscal year,” an off icial said. ning Commission’s Central Development Working Party sion of Federal Lodge No 1, Karachi was approved with a Off icial sources said yesterday that the Eco- product (GDP) growth rate for the outgoing “Pakistan obtained peanuts from international (CDWP), which referred two of these worth Rs22.5bn to total cost of Rs277.1mn. CDWP also approved 13 projects nomic Survey Report, which is released ahead fiscal year. Once the committee finalises GDP community in the last 17 years despite becom- the Executive Committee of National Economic Council related to construction of dams, including flood levee in of the federal budget for the new fiscal year, growth, the executive summary of the survey ing main hub of conflict zone.” (Ecnec) for further approvals. Dallas canal division in Rahimyar Khan. will also highlight poverty counts and financial will be ready for release. Off icials said the Planning Commission has Deputy chairman Planning Commission Sartaj Aziz In governance sector, two projects, including up- losses of wars. Economic and planning managers are confi- also been working to come up with the latest headed the CDWP meeting. Secretary Planning Com- gradation of firefighting system at Karachi and establish- “Eff orts are underway to publish economic dent Pakistan is going to achieve an impressive poverty figures, which could also become part mission Shoaib Siddiqui and other senior off icials also ment of model police station in Islamabad with a cost of cost of war losses and latest poverty figures in growth rate in the range of 5.6% to 5.7% for of the upcoming economic survey. attended the meeting. Rs1.7bn and Rs2.4bn, respectively, were also approved. the upcoming economic survey which will be the current fiscal year in the wake of improved The commission is making eff orts to launch The projects presented for approval were from en- In health sector, three projects were presented out released on April 26,” an off icial said. performance of large scale manufacturing and poverty report having latest poverty estimates ergy, health, education, manpower, governance, physical of which one was referred to Ecnec. CDWP approved The tradition of launching economic survey other sectors as against the envisaged target of and trends within next month separately and planning and housing, transport and communications, establishment of medical device development centre started from 1960-61 to highlight annual six per cent. it is expected that the committee may meet water resources and mass media sectors. at National University of Science and Technology with a performance achieved by diff erent economic Off icials said an inter-ministerial committee within next two weeks for approving the pov- In energy sector, three projects were presented out cost of Rs231.8mn. sectors. An economic survey covering 20-year comprising of diff erent ministries is currently erty figures. Gulf Times Saturday, March 31, 2018 5 BUSINESS

DJIA WORLD INDICES Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume Indices Lt Price Change Dow Jones Indus. Avg 24,103.11 +254.69 Apple Inc 167.78 0.78 38,398,505 S&P 500 Index 2,640.87 +35.87 Microsoft Corp 91.27 2.10 45,867,548 Nasdaq Composite Index 7,063.45 +114.22 Exxon Mobil Corp 74.61 2.47 14,882,885 S&P/Tsx Composite Index 15,367.29 +197.35 Johnson & Johnson 128.15 0.55 6,119,424 Mexico Bolsa Index 46,124.85 -668.73 General Electric Co 13.48 -1.46 74,514,308 Brazil Bovespa Stock Idx 85,365.56 +1,491.43 Jpmorgan Chase & Co 109.97 1.82 13,274,639 Ftse 100 Index 7,056.61 +11.87 Procter & Gamble Co/The 79.28 0.56 10,036,424 Cac 40 Index 5,167.30 +36.86 Walmart Inc 88.97 1.37 9,274,565 Dax Index 12,096.73 +156.02 Verizon Communications Inc 47.82 -0.38 17,305,531 Ibex 35 Tr 9,600.40 +45.40 Pfizer Inc 35.49 0.54 23,533,906 Nikkei 225 21,454.30 +295.22 Visa Inc-Class A Shares 119.62 2.25 12,918,073 Japan Topix 1,716.30 +12.30 Chevron Corp 114.04 1.73 6,627,844 Hang Seng Index 30,093.38 +70.85 Coca-Cola Co/The 43.43 0.25 10,450,497 All Ordinaries Indx 5,868.91 -30.33 Intel Corp 52.08 5.00 45,265,805 Nzx All Index 1,482.25 -12.03 Merck & Co. Inc. 54.47 -1.13 9,750,495 Bse Sensex 30 Index 32,968.68 -205.71 Cisco Systems Inc 42.89 2.95 55,021,225 Nse S&P Cnx Nifty Index 10,113.70 -70.45 Home Depot Inc 178.24 1.99 4,423,526 Straits Times Index 3,427.97 +45.19 Intl Business Machines Corp 153.43 0.60 3,419,959 Karachi All Share Index 32,727.24 -12.70 Walt Disney Co/The 100.44 1.93 9,343,626 Jakarta Composite Index 6,188.99 +48.15 Unitedhealth Group Inc 214.00 -2.06 5,529,392 3M Co 219.52 1.38 2,643,041 Mcdonald’s Corp 156.38 -1.28 5,289,487 Nike Inc -Cl B 66.44 1.53 10,748,306 TOKYO United Technologies Corp 125.82 1.10 2,837,872 Boeing Co/The 327.88 2.46 3,652,078 Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume Goldman Sachs Group Inc 251.86 1.00 3,073,925 Rakuten Inc 899.10 3.01 7,165,100 American Express Co 93.28 1.16 4,940,615 Kyocera Corp 6,004.00 1.30 1,410,400 Caterpillar Inc 147.38 1.53 4,209,422 Nissan Motor Co Ltd 1,104.00 0.87 14,944,400 Travelers Cos Inc/The 138.86 0.05 1,378,018 Hitachi Ltd 770.80 1.01 13,994,000 Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd 5,183.00 1.23 4,669,700 Jfe Holdings Inc 2,143.50 1.23 1,834,700 The headquarters of Societe General in Paris. Strategists such as Societe Generale, continue to bet on cyclicals, recommend Ana Holdings Inc 4,118.00 0.86 1,162,500 shifting to defensive stocks. FTSE 100 Mitsubishi Electric Corp 1,701.50 0.12 4,596,900 Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Gr 4,458.00 0.16 4,584,900 Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume Honda Motor Co Ltd 3,660.00 0.52 3,889,900 Fast Retailing Co Ltd 43,240.00 3.10 872,700 Wpp Plc 1,132.50 -0.53 3,492,409 Ms&Ad Insurance Group Holdin 3,355.00 2.41 2,331,000 Worldpay Group Plc 0.00 0.00 - Kubota Corp 1,862.00 0.92 2,951,400 Wolseley Plc 0.00 0.00 - Seven & I Holdings Co Ltd 4,564.00 0.71 2,318,200 Europe’s defensive shares back in Wm Morrison Supermarkets 213.50 2.40 18,552,597 Inpex Corp 1,316.00 1.50 2,982,600 Whitbread Plc 3,700.00 -0.27 648,152 Resona Holdings Inc 562.00 -0.51 8,764,200 Vodafone Group Plc 194.22 0.18 55,214,261 Asahi Kasei Corp 1,399.00 0.04 3,813,600 United Utilities Group Plc 715.40 -1.19 4,116,560 Kirin Holdings Co Ltd 2,832.50 0.68 2,053,100 favour as economic concerns rise Unilever Plc 3,955.50 1.02 3,093,943 Marubeni Corp 769.90 0.42 4,056,900 Tui Ag-Di 1,528.00 -0.26 1,266,410 Mitsubishi Ufj Financial Gro 697.00 0.10 45,402,600 Travis Perkins Plc 1,234.00 -0.92 1,264,193 Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings 1,030.50 1.03 4,030,700 Tesco Plc 205.90 0.15 26,138,783 ment Management in London. same time, some classically defensive Fanuc Corp 26,960.00 1.47 1,058,400 Bloomberg Taylor Wimpey Plc 184.60 -0.46 8,625,348 European cyclical stocks, which his- sectors, such as telecoms and health Daito Trust Construct Co Ltd 18,390.00 2.11 307,900 London Standard Life Plc 0.00 0.00 - torically have traded below the levels of care, were outweighed by the selloff and Otsuka Holdings Co Ltd 5,329.00 0.68 968,100 Standard Chartered Plc 712.70 -0.34 7,998,438 Oriental Land Co Ltd 10,865.00 0.70 603,700 the region’s defensive shares, have ral- have retreated more than 9%. St James’s Place Plc 1,086.50 -0.32 1,266,380 Sekisui House Ltd 1,942.00 0.52 1,790,500 he European stock market’s lied so much that on February 21 they On Thursday, utilities and health- Sse Plc 1,276.00 -1.39 5,623,218 Secom Co Ltd 7,920.00 1.15 564,200 worst slump in two years is fi - closed higher than defensive peers for care shares were the biggest advancers Smith & Nephew Plc 1,331.00 -1.37 3,540,460 Tokio Marine Holdings Inc 4,735.00 -0.80 3,005,200 nally paying off for fans of de- the fi rst time since at least 2010 when on the European benchmark, which Sky Plc 1,297.50 -1.44 3,409,902 T Aeon Co Ltd 1,899.50 1.06 3,046,700 Shire Plc 3,570.50 2.01 4,762,647 fensive stocks. And the trend is seen Bloomberg started tracking the in- slipped 0.5%. Mitsui & Co Ltd 1,822.50 0.69 4,997,900 Severn Trent Plc 1,844.00 -0.22 1,290,832 continuing next quarter. dex data. Since then, a slide in cyclical HSBC analyst Robert Parkes on Kao Corp 7,981.00 0.62 1,399,400 Schroders Plc 3,192.00 0.16 333,831 While Europe’s cyclical equities have shares has resumed and widened their Monday raised European telecoms and Dai-Ichi Life Holdings Inc 1,942.50 -0.13 4,579,300 Sainsbury (J) Plc 238.80 1.83 13,264,801 Mazda Motor Corp 1,406.50 -0.21 3,158,700 outperformed defensive peers since discount to defensives. health care equipment to overweight Sage Group Plc/The 639.20 -0.71 3,331,870 Komatsu Ltd 3,547.00 1.20 2,438,700 the start of the year, they have lost out Falling euro-area economic confi - while cutting materials, transport Abi Sab Group Holding Ltd 0.00 0.00 - West Japan Railway Co 7,431.00 -0.59 524,000 since the beginning of the global mar- dence, reported on Tuesday, was the and automobiles to underweight, cit- Rsa Insurance Group Plc 630.00 -0.25 1,915,168 Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd 14,570.00 0.55 746,600 Royal Mail Plc 540.80 0.93 3,834,835 ket correction at the end of January, latest in a string of data suggesting ing a rotation into longer duration and Kansai Electric Power Co Inc 1,367.00 -0.87 3,029,900 Royal Dutch Shell Plc-B Shs 2,277.00 -0.35 5,641,516 as concerns about economic growth economic growth in the currency bloc higher dividend-yielding stocks amid Denso Corp 5,820.00 0.66 1,322,900 Royal Dutch Shell Plc-A Shs 2,233.50 0.09 5,823,868 turned investor attention to utilities, has cooled off after 2017 saw the fastest slowing economic growth. Sompo Holdings Inc 4,282.00 0.97 1,738,000 Royal Bank Of Scotland Group 258.80 0.70 11,816,702 At the same time, Natixis analysts Daiwa House Industry Co Ltd 4,100.00 1.49 1,600,000 consumer staples and energy. expansion in a decade. Infl ation has re- Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc 871.60 -0.14 3,562,220 Jxtg Holdings Inc 643.70 0.96 13,003,200 With Europe’s economic recov- mained stubbornly below the European Sylvain Goyon and Thomas Zlowodzki Rio Tinto Plc 3,611.00 2.50 4,557,319 Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Meta 2,336.50 1.23 3,118,200 ery having translated into a corporate Central Bank’s goal of just under 2%. warned against being overly pessimis- Rexam Ltd 0.00 0.00 - Suzuki Motor Corp 5,730.00 0.47 1,205,800 tic about European growth prospects Relx Plc 1,465.00 -0.27 3,706,679 earnings boom, the region’s cycli- “I prefer defensive sectors because Nippon Telegraph & Telephone 4,900.00 -0.04 3,370,300 Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc 6,034.00 0.62 2,429,136 cal shares beat defensive peers every of potential for further negative eco- and said that lower-than-expected in- Ajinomoto Co Inc 1,925.00 0.34 975,300 Randgold Resources Ltd 5,882.00 0.89 354,927 quarter since June 2016. But although nomic surprise in the eurozone in the dicators refl ect the high level of activity Mitsui Fudosan Co Ltd 2,581.50 1.95 4,072,400 Prudential Plc 1,778.50 -1.55 5,562,935 some strategists, such as Societe Gen- second quarter and expectations that achieved and don’t signal a recession. Ono Pharmaceutical Co Ltd 3,294.00 -1.76 2,180,300 Provident Financial Plc 681.60 -0.12 1,038,956 Daikin Industries Ltd 11,735.00 0.77 718,900 erale, continue to bet on cyclicals, an bond yields will decline as infl ation But the market correction requires a Persimmon Plc 2,530.00 -0.55 981,496 Bank Of Yokohama Ltd/The 0.00 0.00 - increasing number, including Natixis comes in below estimates,” said Max switch to defensive shares, they added. Pearson Plc 749.00 -0.32 3,081,490 Toray Industries Inc 1,006.50 0.55 3,059,800 and HSBC Bank, recommend shifting Kettner, a London- based cross-asset “This is clearly good news for eq- Paddy Power Betfair Plc 7,300.00 0.21 124,033 Astellas Pharma Inc 1,614.00 -0.12 5,214,900 Old Mutual Plc 239.30 0.93 12,849,791 to defensive stocks. strategist at Commerzbank. uity markets, but it probably needs to be Bridgestone Corp 4,624.00 -0.09 2,136,000 Next Plc 4,759.00 -1.51 599,163 “In Europe, we prefer defensives Since the January 30 start of the glo- played via diff erent vectors than those Sony Corp 5,146.00 0.70 5,425,900 National Grid Plc 802.20 -0.38 10,813,882 to cyclicals as the latter have outper- bal equity market correction, among the employed during the phase of rapid mar- Hoya Corp 5,305.00 -0.08 873,700 Mondi Plc 1,915.00 -0.26 1,442,916 formed more sharply than the fun- Stoxx Europe 600 Index’s sectors, cycli- ket rise, which played into the hands of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdin 4,307.00 0.09 796,500 Merlin Entertainment 346.60 -1.14 2,157,452 Japan Tobacco Inc 3,066.00 1.02 4,831,800 damentals justify and as the region’s cal shares of banks and basic resources cyclicals,” Natixis strategists said in a Mediclinic International Plc 601.00 5.11 1,892,258 Osaka Gas Co Ltd 2,099.50 0.12 865,600 manufacturing data is coming off have slumped more than 9% while de- note. “The exhaustion of cycle accelera- Marks & Spencer Group Plc 270.20 1.12 8,472,473 Sumitomo Electric Industries 1,623.50 1.06 2,017,200 peaks,” said Lars Kreckel, an equity fensive shares of utilities lost 3.5% and tion capacity is thus likely to encourage a London Stock Exchange Group 4,126.00 -0.07 1,037,227 Daiwa Securities Group Inc 678.70 0.35 4,686,000 Lloyds Banking Group Plc 64.66 -0.39 141,293,438 strategist at Legal & General Invest- oil and gas stocks dropped 7.1%. At the return to more defensive themes.” Softbank Group Corp 7,950.00 1.84 5,712,500 Legal & General Group Plc 257.80 0.16 16,482,461 Mizuho Financial Group Inc 191.40 -0.05 94,836,300 Land Securities Group Plc 937.10 0.22 2,366,779 Nomura Holdings Inc 615.30 0.67 12,348,800 Kingfisher Plc 292.50 0.69 11,903,710 HONG KONG HONG KONG Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd 3,526.00 -0.25 1,483,400 Johnson Matthey Plc 3,042.00 -1.62 572,615 Subaru Corp 3,487.00 -0.06 2,408,900 Itv Plc 144.15 -0.59 12,285,751 Ntt Docomo Inc 2,716.50 1.00 4,057,500 Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume Intu Properties Plc 207.70 0.48 3,428,953 Sumitomo Realty & Developmen 3,935.00 0.28 1,531,000 Intl Consolidated Airline-Di 614.60 2.95 4,954,342 Aluminum Corp Of China Ltd-H 4.35 1.40 25,225,560 Hong Kong & China Gas 16.12 -0.62 19,653,128 Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd 4,480.00 3.58 1,739,000 Intertek Group Plc 4,660.00 -0.49 578,605 Bank Of East Asia Ltd 31.30 -0.95 2,054,976 Hong Kong Exchanges & Clear 255.20 0.00 7,101,895 Orix Corp 1,876.50 -0.11 3,727,500 Intercontinental Hotels Grou 4,268.00 -0.59 650,726 Bank Of China Ltd-H 4.22 0.00 285,918,877 Hsbc Holdings Plc 74.00 0.00 20,383,080 Asahi Group Holdings Ltd 5,667.00 -0.40 1,160,700 Inmarsat Plc 362.10 -2.77 2,918,312 Bank Of Communications Co-H 6.15 0.16 35,184,488 Hutchison Whampoa Ltd 0.00 0.00 - Keyence Corp 66,040.00 0.82 239,400 Informa Plc 718.60 0.25 3,933,675 Belle International Holdings 0.00 0.00 - Ind & Comm Bk Of China-H 6.73 0.45 263,925,374 Nidec Corp 16,390.00 1.80 718,300 Imperial Brands Plc 2,426.00 0.79 3,418,474 Boc Hong Kong Holdings Ltd 38.20 -0.52 9,104,261 Li & Fung Ltd 3.84 -2.04 27,218,868 Isuzu Motors Ltd 1,632.00 1.43 1,357,900 Hsbc Holdings Plc 665.40 -0.64 28,634,452 Cathay Pacific Airways 13.54 1.20 4,398,626 Mtr Corp 42.20 -1.52 4,468,213 Unicharm Corp 3,029.00 -0.66 1,169,200 Hargreaves Lansdown Plc 1,633.00 -0.06 826,973 Ck Hutchison Holdings Ltd 93.90 0.11 3,770,793 New World Development 11.08 0.36 15,363,020 Shin-Etsu Chemical Co Ltd 11,005.00 1.20 882,100 Hammerson Plc 536.60 -0.37 4,392,197 China Coal Energy Co-H 3.14 -1.57 21,937,880 Petrochina Co Ltd-H 5.39 -1.82 132,312,210 Smc Corp 43,070.00 1.13 149,500 Glencore Plc 353.80 0.18 49,038,705 China Construction Bank-H 8.06 0.25 373,544,634 Ping An Insurance Group Co-H 79.80 -0.44 107,785,230 Mitsubishi Corp 2,862.00 1.29 3,573,900 Glaxosmithkline Plc 1,394.00 -0.24 12,012,740 China Life Insurance Co-H 21.60 -0.92 43,185,042 Power Assets Holdings Ltd 69.95 0.07 20,929,138 Nintendo Co Ltd 46,860.00 0.43 2,203,300 Gkn Plc 463.00 9.46 38,143,873 China Merchants Port Holding 17.30 -0.46 8,720,396 Sino Land Co 12.70 -1.09 5,488,856 Eisai Co Ltd 6,781.00 -0.07 677,500 Fresnillo Plc 1,268.50 2.92 1,150,836 China Mobile Ltd 71.95 0.91 16,700,994 Sun Hung Kai Properties 124.00 -0.64 3,497,406 Sumitomo Corp 1,791.00 1.82 3,120,800 Experian Plc 1,537.50 -0.45 2,444,634 China Overseas Land & Invest 27.25 -0.18 20,156,080 Swire Pacific Ltd - Cl A 79.15 -0.94 967,871 Canon Inc 3,853.00 0.08 3,749,100 Easyjet Plc 1,604.50 2.46 1,830,650 China Petroleum & Chemical-H 6.89 2.07 211,238,977 Tencent Holdings Ltd 409.60 -0.63 41,115,421 Japan Airlines Co Ltd 4,282.00 -0.16 986,600 Dixons Carphone Plc 186.55 1.66 4,043,335 China Resources Beer Holdin 34.00 0.74 4,300,794 Wharf Holdings Ltd 26.95 -0.55 6,332,437 Direct Line Insurance Group 381.30 0.98 6,802,282 China Resources Land Ltd 28.55 1.24 12,679,139 China Resources Power Holdin 14.32 0.42 10,588,514 Diageo Plc 2,412.00 0.31 4,407,754 SENSEX Dcc Plc 6,560.00 -0.83 246,468 China Shenhua Energy Co-H 19.50 0.52 43,300,938 GCC INDICES Crh Plc 2,409.00 -0.21 2,172,332 China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd 9.90 1.96 66,311,826 Compass Group Plc 1,455.50 -1.99 6,011,185 Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume Citic Ltd 10.98 1.48 11,870,222 Indices Lt Price Change Coca-Cola Hbc Ag-Di 2,634.00 1.97 1,396,883 Clp Holdings Ltd 79.90 0.50 3,434,421 Doha Securities Market Zee Entertainment Enterprise 575.50 -1.88 2,104,261 8,573.99 +20.85 Centrica Plc 142.20 0.53 25,632,563 Cnooc Ltd 11.56 -0.52 63,972,987 Saudi Tadawul Yes Bank Ltd 304.85 0.44 17,421,408 7,870.87 -29.41 Carnival Plc 4,580.00 0.70 724,439 Cosco Shipping Ports Ltd 6.60 -1.79 24,421,849 Kuwait Stocks Exchange Wipro Ltd 281.15 2.59 5,351,133 6,633.44 +29.93 Capita Plc 144.05 -4.60 11,332,639 Esprit Holdings Ltd 2.67 -1.84 6,328,927 Bahrain Stock Exchage Vedanta Ltd 277.85 -3.19 15,100,359 1,318.40 +3.27 Burberry Group Plc 1,696.00 -0.09 2,032,530 Fih Mobile Ltd 1.70 -0.58 9,290,371 Oman Stock Market Ultratech Cement Ltd 3,950.00 -0.72 467,035 4,773.51 -0.53 Bunzl Plc 2,095.00 1.35 1,586,860 Hang Lung Properties Ltd 18.28 -0.65 5,593,260 Abudhabi Stock Market Tech Mahindra Ltd 638.70 2.74 5,711,706 4,585.40 +34.81 Bt Group Plc 227.50 0.78 29,703,459 Hang Seng Bank Ltd 181.60 -0.82 1,355,225 Dubai Financial Market Tata Steel Ltd 571.05 -3.21 19,297,629 3,108.53 +17.99 British Land Co Plc 642.00 0.77 3,692,664 Henderson Land Development 51.10 0.20 3,213,479 Tata Power Co Ltd 79.00 -1.37 10,932,577 British American Tobacco Plc 4,131.00 1.15 7,578,101 Tata Motors Ltd 326.85 -1.30 11,470,306 Bp Plc 479.25 1.67 47,503,667 Tata Consultancy Svcs Ltd 2,849.15 0.05 3,514,884 Bhp Billiton Plc 1,403.60 1.93 7,157,640 Sun Pharmaceutical Indus 495.10 -1.98 7,071,853 Berkeley Group Holdings/The 3,789.00 0.19 590,824 “Information contained herein is believed to be reliable and had been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. The State Bank Of India 249.90 -1.75 37,768,876 Barratt Developments Plc 530.40 -0.34 3,289,637 Reliance Industries Ltd 882.70 -1.90 9,083,823 accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. This publication is for providing information only and is not intended Barclays Plc 206.50 0.24 55,675,438 Punjab National Bank 95.30 -4.17 31,812,719 as an off er or solicitation for a purchase or sale of any of the financial instruments mentioned. Gulf Times and Doha Bank Bae Systems Plc 581.40 1.01 9,201,906 Power Grid Corp Of India Ltd 193.25 -1.38 9,806,416 or any of their employees shall not be held accountable and will not accept any losses or liabilities for actions based on Babcock Intl Group Plc 668.80 1.15 1,562,048 Oil & Natural Gas Corp Ltd 177.80 -1.00 6,392,392 this data.” Aviva Plc 495.90 -0.38 8,671,779 Ntpc Ltd 169.70 -0.79 8,579,431 Astrazeneca Plc 4,895.50 -0.98 2,338,609 Maruti Suzuki India Ltd 8,861.10 0.10 1,238,276 Associated British Foods Plc 2,491.00 -0.44 1,103,172 Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd 738.90 -0.81 3,353,571 Ashtead Group Plc 1,940.00 0.10 1,344,859 Lupin Ltd 735.85 -1.72 2,322,349 CURRENCIES Arm Holdings Plc 0.00 0.00 - Larsen & Toubro Ltd 1,310.90 0.26 4,109,419 DOLLAR QATAR RIYAL SAUDI RIYAL UAE DIRHAMS BAHRAINI KUWAITI Antofagasta Plc 921.00 1.12 2,614,738 DINAR DINAR Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd 1,047.80 -0.20 5,978,620 Anglo American Plc 1,661.00 2.73 4,844,956 Itc Ltd 255.50 -1.31 12,711,118 Admiral Group Plc 1,844.00 -0.83 704,023 Infosys Ltd 1,131.80 -1.92 6,374,894 3I Group Plc 859.00 -1.11 3,314,270 Indusind Bank Ltd 1,796.75 0.48 2,420,701 #N/A 0.00 0.00 - Idea Cellular Ltd 75.90 -5.83 22,974,567 Icici Bank Ltd 278.35 -1.95 27,658,505 TOKYO Housing Development Finance 1,825.60 0.13 4,077,758 Hindustan Unilever Ltd 1,333.35 0.04 1,433,430 Hindalco Industries Ltd 214.55 -1.81 14,163,897 Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume Hero Motocorp Ltd 3,542.80 2.25 806,150 East Japan Railway Co 9,862.00 -0.10 776,400 Hdfc Bank Limited 1,886.10 -0.34 2,292,589 Itochu Corp 2,066.50 0.73 4,437,400 Hcl Technologies Ltd 968.60 -0.35 2,347,761 Fujifilm Holdings Corp 4,245.00 1.17 1,280,800 Grasim Industries Ltd 1,050.90 -3.49 7,163,230 Yamato Holdings Co Ltd 2,668.50 0.72 972,700 Gail India Ltd 328.55 2.37 9,821,173 Chubu Electric Power Co Inc 1,503.00 -0.92 1,316,000 Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories 2,080.55 -1.04 684,169 Mitsubishi Estate Co Ltd 1,798.50 2.77 5,731,700 Coal India Ltd 283.30 2.57 7,118,099 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries 4,074.00 0.37 1,676,400 Cipla Ltd 545.45 0.07 2,721,264 Toshiba Corp 308.00 0.65 25,001,000 Cairn India Ltd 0.00 0.00 - Shiseido Co Ltd 6,813.00 0.37 1,524,800 Bosch Ltd 18,017.55 1.86 175,836 Shionogi & Co Ltd 5,491.00 0.11 973,000 Bharti Airtel Ltd 398.70 -3.51 10,590,864 Tokyo Gas Co Ltd 2,821.50 0.12 952,200 Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd 427.45 1.59 5,976,914 Tokyo Electron Ltd 20,015.00 4.16 1,386,700 Bharat Heavy Electricals 81.35 -1.75 5,678,540 Panasonic Corp 1,521.00 1.16 11,471,500 Bank Of Baroda 142.30 -0.97 94,497,928 Fujitsu Ltd 654.80 2.47 10,799,000 Bajaj Auto Ltd 2,744.70 -1.92 693,943 Central Japan Railway Co 20,130.00 0.10 198,400 Axis Bank Ltd 510.50 -0.33 11,186,276 T&D Holdings Inc 1,688.50 0.90 2,348,300 Asian Paints Ltd 1,120.40 -0.95 740,213 Toyota Motor Corp 6,825.00 -0.25 4,744,500 Ambuja Cements Ltd 232.95 0.54 17,356,444 Kddi Corp 2,716.50 0.41 5,305,500 Adani Ports And Special Econ 354.10 -3.12 7,399,984 Nitto Denko Corp 7,978.00 0.83 726,400 Acc Ltd 1,507.50 -1.08 848,158 Gulf Times 6 Saturday, March 31, 2018 BUSINESS/LEISURE

Google-led plan to upend wireless industry gains momentum

Bloomberg This could upend the wire- CBRS has three tiers. At the buys a priority slice and doesn’t could be as much as $260bn, a availability — the digital oxygen a database and other technol- San Francisco less business. Carriers spent top is the military, which gets put it to work, the spectrum is former FCC commissioner re- that sustains its search engine, ogy needed to make CBRS work. more than $50bn in recent years spectrum whenever it needs it. free for others to use. This pre- cently estimated. YouTube video service and the If wireless giants don’t want buying exclusive spectrum The second is a priority level that vents hoarding and changes the It’s the culmination of almost ads that generate almost 90% of Google controlling part of their Google-led plan to over- rights then charging users for will be sold to the highest bid- supply and demand equation, a decade of research, develop- the company’s revenue. When network, they can hire Federated haul how valuable airwaves cell service. What if, instead of ders in hundreds or thousands of making spectrum more plentiful. ment and lobbying by Google CBRS goes live, the company will instead, Lindholm explained. Aare used for calls and texts buying and hoarding, spectrum mini auctions covering diff erent “Spectrum is like drinking veteran Milo Medin, colleague be in a powerful and somewhat Tarazi, the former Sprint ex- is gaining momentum across the is shared in new ways? It could parts of the country. At the bot- water. There’s only so much of it Preston Marshall and other in- familiar position. As a Spec- ecutive, runs Federated. He wireless industry, giving the com- become an abundant resource, tom is a free tier that any compa- and you better use it effi ciently,” dustry players like former Sprint trum Access System provider, said Google brought credibil- pany the chance to play a central making mobile Internet connec- ny can use. That fi nal tier won’t said Joel Lindholm, an executive Corp executive Iyad Tarazi. it will be paid to sit in the mid- ity to persuade the government role in networks of the future. tivity more available and poten- get protection from interference. at Ruckus Wireless, a unit of Ar- “There’s a huge amount of dle of information fl ows about and industry that the technol- Citizens Broadband Radio tially cheaper. Imagine you’re on a call with ris International Plc that’s build- industry momentum on this,” valuable spectrum and decide ogy would work, while Federated Service, or CBRS, is a fat slice “This will be a huge psycho- your smartphone in Los Angeles ing CBRS gear. Medin said. Google and other what happens to the airwaves in worked closely with companies of the US airwaves being freed logical hurdle for US wireless and it’s using CBRS to connect Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile US providers of databases to run the real time. To avoid interference, to develop standards and equip- this year from the military’s ex- companies to overcome,” said you. An aircraft carrier churns Inc, Comcast Corp and Charter new spectrum system applied for Google has even installed special ment to bring the idea to life. clusive control. Instead of just industry consultant Chetan past. Systems run by Google, Communications Inc are test- certifi cation by the FCC in Febru- sensors along US coastlines to “Milo is the visionary behind zipping messages between air- Sharma. “These operators want startup Federated Wireless or a ing CBRS. Verizon, the largest US ary, he noted. “We hope to be ap- spot when Navy ships are near this. He led most of the lobbying craft carriers and fi ghter jets, the to own the spectrum clean and few other companies, will spot wireless player, has told smart- proved in the next six months or (although the exact locations are eff orts,” Tarazi said. “With just spectrum will be shared by the not worry about interference.” that, give the Navy a prime bit phone makers to include chipsets so, with deployments on the heels digitally scrubbed). one entity like Google it was hard Navy, wireless carriers like Ve- What’s changed is that the US of the spectrum to use, then in their latest handsets that can of FCC approval,” Medin added. That power doesn’t sit well to recruit lots of players like car- rizon, cable companies includ- wireless industry is so desper- move you onto a slightly diff er- handle the new spectrum band The FCC is on board. Chair- with the wireless industry, so riers and equipment makers. We ing Comcast, and even hospitals, ate for new spectrum it’s will- ent channel without dropping and switching technology, ac- man Ajit Pai mentioned the Medin spent years building part- are a small startup and a neutral refi neries and sports stadiums. ing to try the idea — and even the call. When the ship leaves cording to people familiar with new sharing approach at Mobile nerships with other companies body.” Alphabet Inc’s Google, with work with Google, which has the area, the Navy’s spectrum is the matter. That’s a key require- World Congress in February, and in the business. The wireless industry is not help from some smaller tech been viewed sceptically by the sent back into the mix. There’s ment to make the idea a reality. Commissioner Michael O’Rielly “Is Verizon really going to fall entirely comfortable yet, though. companies, is leading the charge industry. Unlimited wireless enough spectrum to go round — The Federal Communications recently stressed the importance in love and let Google touch all It’s making a late push to change on ways to make the new service plans have caused data usage to 150 MHz is the largest chunk of Commission is due to approve of the spectrum. CBRS uses air- their data? No,” said Lindholm the rules to favour their existing work seamlessly. They’ve built soar. Throw in pressure to build contiguous airwaves to be re- parts of the plan soon and the waves in the 3.5 gigahertz band, of Ruckus Wireless. business models. Wireless carri- databases and sensor systems new 5G networks and companies leased in years. And the Navy is fi rst commercial deployment is which could become a global Part of the solution is Federat- ers argue the areas for priority li- that switch users to diff erent like Verizon Communications unlikely to sail past Denver, Kan- expected to come later this year. standard for 5G networks. ed Wireless, a startup backed by censes need to be larger. But that CBRS channels to avoid interfer- Inc and AT&T Inc can’t aff ord to sas City or most other US loca- The market value of the spec- For Google, the project is the communications industry stal- could cut out smaller companies ence, especially when the Navy ignore CBRS, even if it disrupts tions. trum is $7.5bn to $15.6bn, while most successful in a long series warts like Charter. It was found- that want to use the spectrum in sails into town. decades of spectrum orthodoxy. The key is that if a company the total value to consumers of eff orts to increase Internet ed in 2012 to develop and run new ways.

Sudoku Adam

Pooch Cafe

Sudoku is a puzzle Weekly’s Solutions based on a 9x9 grid. The grid is also divided into nine (3x3) boxes. You are given a selection of values and to complete the puzzle, you must fill the grid so that every column, every row and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9 and none is repeated.

Super Cryptic Clues Garfi eld

ACROSS DOWN 1. The strips of material go on the wall (8) 1. Are they doing their damnedest to be dif- Bound And Gagged 5. Cooks for the second elevens (6) ficult? (6) 10. Where one’s previous holiday was spent 2. Make it clear - that a mistake’s been make? if all else fails (2,3,4,6) (3,6) 11. Try to get more insurance money when 3. Trickling, you notice, onto the buttons (7) you get back (7) 4. Rex has a meal out in the field (5) 12. Tranquil for a fellow amid Ulster’s chaos 6. They get set on wave (7) (7) 7. Apart from a twit who stood up (5) 13. With diff iculty, steer the deer round the 8. Putting a number in for fixing (8) bush (4-4) 9. It’s a fish egg, by the way (8) 15. Figure the Irishman has appropriated 14. He keeps telling you it’s a gun (8) the chair (5) 16. Blast! Mother has people coming! (9) 18. Levers the top off and up it comes (5) 17. Drinks and cheeses are brought round (8) 20. Prospect for gold in a foreign country 19. Had the best role and looked right in it (7) (8) 21. Doesn’t go because the bad weather’s held 23. Falls out again with the artist (7) me up (7) 25. Build the dream house first, chum (7) 22. When the dear girl turns in, have something 26. People who have been told what to to eat (6) think? (8,7) 24. He’ll be back if there’s drink about (5) 27. Passes time: doesn’t save it (6) 25. The fool is on the hard stuff (5) 28. A horse box? He’s crazy! (8)

Weekly’s Solutions

Across: 1 Prodigal; 5 P.S.alms; 9 Trespass; Down: 1 Potter; 2 One off ; 3 Impulse; 4 Apse; 10 Values; 12 Enfold; 13 Dislodge; 15 fear the 6 Shallow; 7 Launders; 8 Suspects; 11 Tighter; worst; 18 Eyes of the law; 23 On course; 24 14 Protest; 16 Debonair; 17 Merchant; 19 Debate; 26 Awaken; 27 Sherlock; 28 Rotate; Opulent; 20 Averred; 21 Saloon; 22 Heckle; 29 Prudence. 25 Char.

Gulf Times 8 Saturday, March 31, 2018 BUSINESS

A Renault-Nissan deal would untangle 20-year pact for shift to EV

Bloomberg engines and towards electric vehicles as workers and posted revenue of $108.4bn the globe’s most profitable, earning him majority of the profit. Any deal between example, was designed for the European Paris emissions regulations are tightening. It’s in 2017. Mitsubishi Motors Corp, based the nickname Le Cost Killer. Ghosn, born Nissan and Renault would need Ma- market and is made at a Renault factory still unclear how quickly consumers will in Tokyo, has a market value of $10.5bn, in Brazil, raised in Lebanon and educated cron’s approval. in Flins, France. In April, Mitsubishi will fur- embrace electric cars: While the Renault- almost 30,000 workers and annual sales in France, is the archetypal Davos Man, The origins ther integrate with the alliance by joining A merger between Renault SA and Nis- Nissan alliance sold the most battery- of $17.6bn. conferring with heads of state as he jets In 1999, Nissan was stumbling under a a shared parts-purchasing organisation. san Motor Co would streamline a nearly powered vehicles in the industry to date, Tangled holdings around the globe to visit factories and crushing debt load and declining sales. Need for change 20-year-old alliance between the two the advantage has amounted to little Renault is the biggest shareholder in Nis- attend conferences. Renault swooped in with an off er to take While Ghosn revived both Nissan and automakers just as they grapple with the amid tepid demand. Electrified models san, with a 43.4% stake. The French state Emmanuel Macron, who became a stake in the Japanese company, and Renault, the Japanese company has shift to electric vehicles in the industry’s will comprise half of Renault’s line-up by is the biggest owner of Renault at 15.01%, France’s wunderkind president last year Ghosn and a team of executives were sent become the biggest contributor to the biggest-ever technological change. the end of 2022 as the carmaker rolls out just ahead of Nissan’s 15%. Nissan holds at the age of 39, is celebrated by execu- to revive the automaker. Nissan, in turn, profits of the three-pronged alliance. The companies are in talks to merge and eight new or revamped wholly battery- 34% of Mitsubishi. tives as a pro-business leader who’s bought 15% of Renault in 2002 as part of Yet its 15% stake comes with no right to create a new automaker that trades as a powered autos and adds 12 hybrid The people restored confidence in the nation’s a plan to deepen the alliance. In 2016, Nis- vote at Renault shareholder meetings, as single stock, Bloomberg News reported vehicles. Carlos Ghosn, 64, is chairman of Nissan economy. He’s also a proponent for san stepped in to buy shares in Mitsubishi opposed to the French state. Streamlin- on Thursday, citing people with knowl- The companies and Mitsubishi, and chairman and CEO of the state to have a strong role shaping after the smaller company was rocked by ing the arrangement will be helpful to edge of the matter. Renault, market value $35.4bn. France’s Renault. He joined the French company in industrial policy. As economy minister in a fuel-economy testing scandal. prepare the companies for the day when Here’s what you need to know: biggest car maker, based in Paris, 1996, reviving the unprofitable automaker 2015, he spearheaded France’s decision Working together Ghosn is no longer there to co-ordinate EV revolution employs about 125,000 people and had with job cuts and expense reductions. to buy more Renault shares to secure Renault and Nissan cooperate on engi- their relationships, and also to bulk them Car makers are scrambling — and sales last year of $72.4bn. Nissan, market Three years later, he did the same with Re- special voting rights that give the state neering, manufacturing and supply chain up as they embark on a strategy to boost spending billions of dollars — to adapt value $43.3bn. The Yokohama, Japan- nault partner Nissan, turning it from the more sway in the alliance than the management, purchasing and human electric-car off erings and adapt to the ar- to the industry’s shift away from diesel based company has more than 137,000 most indebted carmaker in the world to Japanese carmaker, which generates a resources. Nissan’s Micra small car, for rival of autonomous driving technologies.

Tesla shares recover US EPA poised to announce as company pushes to hit Model 3 target

Reuters cerns about cash reserves were rejection of Obama govt’s behind Moody’s downgrade of San Francisco Tesla last week. The ratings agency cited the esla Inc shares rose likelihood of a new capital raise, ahead of the expected which it estimated at over $2bn, vehicle fuel effi ciency rules Trelease next week of the in part to cover approximately company’s quarterly auto pro- $1.2bn in convertible bonds duction data, while a senior coming due by March 2019. Reuters executive urged workers at the The downgrade, togeth- New York automaker to hit a weekly pro- er with a fatality involving a duction target of 2,500 Model 3 Model X that is currently being sedans by the end of March. investigated by safety regula- he US Environmental Quickly ramping up Model tors, sent shares down 12% for Protection Agency is ex- 3 production is crucial for the the week, even after Thursday’s Tpected to use a Virginia Silicon Valley electric vehicle rebound. car dealership on Tuesday as maker. That made it Tesla’s worst the setting to tout its rejection The company’s profi tability week in nine months. of the Obama administration’s depends on delivering the new Tesla shares are still above landmark vehicle fuel effi ciency sedans to customers on a wait- the $255.73 level, the price rules, a move that could put au- ing list that Tesla has said now when Tesla last announced a tomakers in the middle of a bat- numbers about 500,000 ad- capital raise in March last year tle between the Trump adminis- vance reservation holders. to raise $1.15bn. tration and California. Tesla shares recovered to Moody’s and other analysts EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt $266.13, up 3%, yesterday af- have predicted Tesla will soon plans to sign a declaration by to- ter a sell-off prompted by a have to sell more shares to re- morrow that the Obama admin- Moody’s debt downgrade and plenish cash reserves and pay istration’s vehicle effi ciency rules news that safety regulators are for expansion of Model 3 pro- for 2022 through 2025 are “not investigating a Model X-in- duction and new vehicles such appropriate” and must be revised, volved fatality. as the Tesla Semi electric com- Reuters reported last week. In an e-mail to employees mercial truck and a compact Pruitt is expected to speak at viewed by Reuters, Tesla senior sport utility vehicle. As of De- an event at a Chevrolet dealer- vice-president of Engineering cember 31, Tesla had $3.4bn in ship in suburban Washington Doug Fields wrote that produc- cash and securities. and will joined by groups rep- tion of Tesla vehicles is “well Moody’s estimated approxi- resenting dealers and automak- into the 200’s on every single mately $500mn in cash was ers, according to people familiar line.” needed for normal operations with the plans. Field gave reasons why Tesla and forecast cash burn this year The state of California, which needs to get to 2,500 vehicles of about $2bn. has the power to eff ectively cre- EPA offi cials suggested a de- But they have urged Pruitt and process of setting vehicle targets lief from the Obama rules, they a week, including: “There are Beyond the $2bn that ate its own fuel economy stand- tailed proposal could come US President Donald Trump to agreed to by automakers in 2011. are pressing the administration an incredible number of people Moody’s predicted Tesla would ards, several allied states and en- in late May or June, while the revise the Obama standards to Pruitt is expected to declare to avoid a battle with California who ‘short’ Tesla stock, which seek in the near-term, it said vironmental groups are gearing Transportation Department is make it easier and less costly to that the existing 2022-2025 and maintain a single, nation- means they profi t when we fail. the company would likely need up for a legal and political fi ght pushing for a speedier proposal, meet complex targets, which model year rules on fuel econo- wide set of fuel effi ciency re- And lately the story is the to raise additional capital dur- over the rules, aimed at curbing automakers and offi cials said. vary depending on the size of my must be revised but he is not quirements. same: ‘Tesla can’t do high- ing the second half of 2019. greenhouse gas emissions from The EPA declined Thursday to vehicles and whether they are expected to immediately pro- In New York, Toyota North volume production’. I fi nd that Chief Executive Elon Musk new cars and trucks. comment on Pruitt’s plans. classifi ed as cars or trucks. pose new requirements, people America Chief Executive Jim personally insulting, and you has promised to build 10,000 California Air Resources Board An EPA spokeswoman said Overall, the Obama rules familiar with the plans said. Lentz said at an Reuters event should too. Model 3s per week by some chair Mary Nichols said in Janu- last week “a fi nal determination called for roughly doubling by They asked not to be identi- on Thursday that automakers Let’s make them regret ever point in 2018 after meeting a ary the board does not believe the will be signed by April 1.” 2025 to about 50 miles (80km) fi ed because they were not au- would face higher costs if they betting against us.” 5,000-per week target by the standards should be lowered. Automakers want rule chang- per gallon the average fuel ef- thorised to speak to the news had to manage fuel economy by Tesla must “quickly break end of the second quarter. Pruitt was in California earlier es to address lower gasoline fi ciency of new vehicles sold in media. each individual state. through the 300 cars/day bar- Tesla built only 2,425 Model this week, but did not meet with prices and a shift in US con- the United States. The so-called Corporate Av- Lentz said individual state rier, and keep going,” the e-mail 3s in its fourth quarter. Nichols. sumer preferences to larger, less But the Obama rules includ- erage Fuel Economy rules sought emissions requirements could continued. Barclays analyst Brian John- Two administration offi cials fuel-effi cient vehicles. ed a review by April 2018 as to to double the average fuel effi - result in Toyota getting “towards Tesla did not immediately son warned in a note to inves- and several automakers told Auto industry executives have whether the fi nal years were fea- ciency of automakers’ fl eets, or the end of the year and I no long- comment on the e-mail, which tors yesterday that Tesla could Reuters the timing of proposing not publicly sought specifi c re- sible or not. complete lineup of cars and light er can sell SUVs,” depending on was previously reported by engage in a Model 3 “burst specifi c revisions to existing fuel ductions in the requirements By declaring the Obama rules trucks, to about 50 miles (80km) the state’s fuel economy num- Bloomberg News. rate” of production that could economy standards and emis- negotiated with the Obama ad- “not appropriate,” the Trump per gallon by 2025. bers. “It would be an absolute Doubts that Tesla could meet send shares up, but would not sions limits remains in fl ux. ministration in 2011. administration can reopen the While automakers want re- nightmare for us to fi gure out.” its production targets and con- be sustainable. Gulf Times Saturday, March 31, 2018 9 BUSINESS

Tokyo equities lead Asia bourses higher in thin holiday trade

AFP Facebook under pressure over Hong Kong privacy concerns and reignited fears of a global trade war. Despite Thursday’s gains on apanese stocks led the way Wall Street, the Dow and S&P in Asia yesterday, climbing 500 fi nished with losses for the Jhigher following a rally on quarter. Wall Street but the majority of The S&P 500 declined 1.2%, Asian markets were closed for its fi rst loss since the third quar- the Easter holiday. ter of 2015. Easing tensions on the Korean But traders in the US and Eu- peninsula, with the two Koreas rope went into the long Easter setting the date for a rare inter- weekend in a buoyant mood Korean summit in April, also bu- although analysts attributed oyed investor sentiment. some of the bounce to profit- Among the few markets trad- taking on tech stocks after a ing in Asia, Tokyo closed 1.4% bloody week. higher, Seoul rose 0.4% and “The onset of the Easter holi- Shanghai added 0.3%. Finan- day encouraged investors to take cial markets in Australia, India, a well-deserved breather,” said Indonesia, the Philippines, Sin- Jasper Lawler, head of research gapore, New Zealand and Hong at London Capital Group. Kong were closed for public Looking further ahead, ana- holidays. lysts in Japan said they would be “Further easing of tension closely monitoring the “tankan” over North Korea has...contrib- quarterly business confi dence uted to improving investor sen- survey on Monday. timent,” said Toshihiko Matsuno “We want to check the im- at the investor information divi- pact of the recent strong yen on sion of SMBC Nikko Securities. corporate sentiment,” Yoshihiro Tencent Holdings headquarters in Shenzhen, China. Naspers, the 33% owner of Tencent, cashed in part of its holding in the Chinese tech darling for the first time last week, Japanese stocks also followed Okumura, general manager at raising $9.8bn from the sale of 2%. the lead from Wall Street where Chibagin Asset Management, a rally in technology shares drove told AFP, adding that investors the Dow Jones index to close up would also be looking at US pay- 1.1% ahead of the long Easter roll fi gures yesterday. holiday weekend. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 The mood on fi nancial mar- closed up 1.4% at 21,454.30 and kets had soured signifi cantly Shanghai — Composite rose Blockbuster Chinese this week with technology giant 0.3% at 3,168.90 points. Yuan to post biggest quarterly rise against dollar in a decade

Reuters a crackdown on shadow financing Shanghai reduced systemic risks. “If you tech IPOs set to ignite look at top banks’ results, China’s economy is not as bad as some China’s yuan firmed against the had expected,” said Tang Xiang- dollar yesterday and is set to bin, an analyst at China Minsheng post its biggest quarterly gain in Corp Tang said that since last a decade, as the country attracts year, capital has been gradu- capital inflows and US trade fric- ally flowing back towards China, red-hot Asia market tions bolstered expectations of a and that this trend was likely firmer Chinese currency. to continue “as China further Record equity sales in Q1, led by the year to March 28 — a 43% jump from Hong Kong has a lot riding on expecta- aomi, the Chinese smartphone and Taking cues from a firmer deregulates its capital markets.” Naspers $9.8bn Tencent trade; Hong the same period last year, according to tions of a pick-up in IPOs. appliances maker which is seeking a mid-point set by China’s central The Bloomberg Barclays Global Kong still awaiting a series of Thomson Reuters data. Rule changes due in the second quar- valuation of up to $100bn, and Lu- bank, the yuan opened at 6.2870 Aggregate Index will include Chi- high-profile tech floats; total IPO The rise was led by a 46% increase in ter will overturn the city’s long-held fax, the online wealth management per dollar in the spot market and nese yuan-denominated govern- capital raised in Asia-Pacific falls 12% so-called follow-on deals, including, as one-share-one-vote principle, ushering platform backed by Ping An valued at was changing hands at 6.2695 at ment and policy bank securities well as the Tencent block trade, rights in the ability to weight voting rights in $18.5bn in 2016. midday. starting next year, Bloomberg Reuters issues of $2.5bn and $1.9bn by Woodside favour of company founders. For bankers, the prize is not simply Barring a sharp pullback later said earlier this month. Hong Kong Petroleum and Tata Steel respectively to In theory, the changes should allow wresting the crown of leading capital- in the session, the yuan is likely to Starting June, global index fund expansion plans. the city to better fi ght back against New raising centre from New York again. post its highest closing level since publisher MSCI will include China Capital raised via initial public off er- York, its closest rival in the battle for the They are also hoping investor enthu- August 10, 2015, capping its fifth stocks into its emerging market sia’s equity markets have en- ings fell by 12% to $11.9bn as Hong Kong, biggest Chinese tech listings. siasm for Hong Kong will increase after consecutive quarterly gains, with benchmark. joyed their busiest start to a typically the regional leader, remained Many companies have to date opted the territory was dominated for years by an appreciation of around 3.7% Caitong International attrib- Ayear in deal terms even as Hong quiet, raised just $2.8bn — a fi gure for New York, including Alibaba, pre- the fl oats of state-owned Chinese groups during the March quarter. uted the recent yuan strength Kong, the region’s most active IPO hub, eclipsed by the $4.2bn raised on India’s cisely because the United States has long that few foreign fund managers were in- The yuan’s biggest quarterly partly to the newly-launched awaits a series of blockbuster Chinese two main exchanges and one dwarfed by allowed weighted voting rights. terested in. gain since early 2008 comes crude oil futures in Shanghai, tech listings. the $12.8bn raised by the New York Stock “This year will defi nitely be a huge year “When you look at the current listed amid increasing signs China’s which the brokerage said trig- Companies and investors have taken Exchange and Nasdaq. for Hong Kong IPOs,” said Li Hang, head universe in Hong Kong, it still has an old- economy has stabilised, whetting gered demand for the yuan from advantage of buoyant markets to sell But bankers are confi dent that Hong of Greater China equity capital markets economy, fi nancial bias to it. foreign appetite for Chinese foreign investors. blocks of new and existing shares — as Kong will soon reassert itself. at CLSA. If we get a lot of volume coming assets. On the trade front, the looming seen last week when Naspers, the 33% “The second half of the year is looking “There are a lot of companies that are through with tech-related, growth-type Late on Thursday, China’s spectre of a trade war between owner of Tencent, cashed in part of its very robust. Notwithstanding the recent rushing to go, or hoping to get listed as stocks, it should transform the market top five lenders reported strong the United States and China holding in the Chinese tech darling for market volatility, the second quarter of early as possible. into a more interesting space with great- performance and expected fuelled expectations that Beijing the fi rst time, raising $9.8bn from the this year is going to be much busier than Before, their only choice is the US er institutional involvement,” said David business conditions to continue may be happy to see a stronger sale of 2%. usual, too,” said Bruce Wu, co-head of market, but now they are really think- Binnion, Goldman Sachs’ head of equity to improve this year, as Beijing’s yuan at this stage to defuse ten- Asia-Pacifi c markets have in total Citigroup’s Greater China equity capital ing about Hong Kong.” Among those capital market distribution and risk for structural reforms bore fruit while sions with Washington. hosted $69.1bn of equity-related deals in markets group. expected to list in Hong Kong are Xi- Asia excluding Japan. Time running out for Philippine Stock Exchange merger deal Hedge funds that are short dollar-yen

Bloomberg exempt it from owning more than 20% of the bond stare down new fi scal year squeeze Singapore exchange, and the regulator isn’t going to change its mind, Teresita Herbosa, the SEC’s chairperson, said on March 22. Bloomberg The Philippine Stock Exchange is fighting against The SEC has previously said the deal doesn’t Tokyo the clock as it tries to buy the nation’s bond trading benefit the investing public. venue after a seven-year courtship. The SEC could take the brokers’ stake in PSE Agreements for the PSE to buy Philippine Dealing to below 20% if it cancelled the inactive firms, ust as hedge funds pile into wagers bet- System Holdings Corp lapse today, but the nation’s Monzon said in an interview. “We have done ting on dollar-yen weakness, signs are Securities and Exchange Commission has yet to everything that we are supposed to. Jemerging that the pair is poised for a re- bless the deal. And a late contender, state-backed How long it will take to complete the deal surgence in Japan’s new fi scal year. Land Bank of the Philippines, emerged in January. depends on how long the SEC would take to The greenback’s failure to break below Ramon Monzon, president of PSE, said by phone revoke,” he said. 104.50, seen by major Japanese banks as a that his company would not seek to extend the It will also be “good risk management” to have key barrier amid a congestion of buy orders, deadline. the depository under the control of the stock is pointing to a potential bottom for the Acquiring Philippine Dealing, which runs the exchange, Monzon said. widely traded cross. nation’s bond exchange and a depository, would An SEC off icial said Herbosa wasn’t available to That’s bad news for speculators that sud- help Asia’s second-smallest exchange operator by comment, while calls to Philippine Dealing weren’t denly turned bearish for the fi rst time in al- market value boost volumes and expand beyond answered. most a year this month as an escalation in equities. Philippine stock trading averaged With time running out, the fate of the stock global trade tension and a domestic political $169mn a day this year while daily trading of exchange’s purchase bid rests on the SEC, said scandal spurred demand for Japan’s haven government debt on the fixed-income bourse Ed Francisco, president at BDO Capital Corp. currency. was $200mn, according to data compiled by Shareholders of Philippine Dealing will be free to The culmination of the country’s fi scal Bloomberg. evaluate Land Bank’s competing off er once PSE’s year-end this week – which has historically “It will be an opportunity lost for the stock bid expires, he said. capped dollar strength amid repatriation exchange and the capital markets if this deal Philippine Stock Exchange shares fell 0.3% at fl ows – month-end fund rebalancing and The dollar-yen exchange rate fell from The yen was trading at 105.58 in New York. collapses because a union of the equities and the close of trading on Wednesday in Manila, easing trade tensions are creating the con- 115.51 to 110.11 between March 10 and March The 105 level is an important threshold for bond markets is a move forward,” said Astro extending this month’s loss to 2.9%. ditions for a dollar bounce against the yen, 27 last year, before rebounding to as high as Japan’s large manufacturers who forecast del Castillo, managing director at First Grade Land Bank, which was established by the according to traders and strategists. 112.20 before month-end. Similar moves 110.18 in their fiscal 2017 business plans, Holdings, a Manila-based financial and investment government to serve farmers and fishermen, The rebound looks to have already begun, can be seen in 2014, 2015 and 2016. according to the Bank of Japan’s tankan advisory firm. is offering 360 pesos a share for Philippine with the pair climbing as high as 105.90 on The pair’s relative-strength reading – a survey. The deal will make securities more accessible Dealing, topping the PSE’s 320 peso a share Tuesday. The dollar maintained most of its measure of momentum – fell to 31.25 on Chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga because “investors will need to go to just one bid. Land Bank is a member of the Bankers gains against the yen Wednesday even as a March 23, approaching the key 30 level said last week it’s important to have stable place to buy both investment instruments,” he Association of the Philippines, which has has stock selloff spurred a fl ight to safety. that’s seen as a sign the move has gone too exchange rates, in response to a question said. agreed to sell its 23.8% stake in Philippine “With Japan’s new fi scal year starting far, too fast. about the yen strengthening past 105. A key hurdle for PSE in its eff orts to secure the deal Dealing to the PSE. shortly, I expect a certain degree of yen “The yen often underperforms the last Favourable end-of-month fl ows are is that it’s 21.7% broker-owned, breaking a rule that “It will be presumptuous of us to request the selling fl ows to emerge,” said Tohru Sasaki, week of March and this year looks set to poised to buoy the greenback as global bars any one industry from owning more than 20% sellers renew the share purchase agreement if head of Japan markets research of JPMorgan be no diff erent,” Kit Juckes, chief currency fund managers with set benchmarks for of an exchange. there is a higher price on the table,” Monzon said. “I Chase & Co. Flows related to the start of the strategist at Societe Generale, wrote in a currency hedge ratios re-adjust their FX The PSE must meet that limit for the SEC to have lost face in predicting when we’d get it done.” fi scal year could push dollar-yen upward note on Tuesday. “RSIs got stretched last exposure, according to Credit Agricole toward the 111 to 112 area, he added. week and that’s enough for a move.” strategist Jennifer Hau. Gulf Times 10 Saturday, March 31, 2018 BUSINESS

In HK’s IPO frenzy, stocks Spring is coming for IPOs as go from boom to bust in days

Bloomberg fear of down rounds fades Hong Kong

By Alex Barinka or pushes too hard,” he said. “I think it’s Bloomberg Businessweek led to a situation where there’s not a lot ou don’t have to be a gen- of stewardship for discipline and re- ius of late to make a kill- sults.” Enter the down round. It’s a bad Ying in newly minted Hong on’t be so afraid of a down look that can dampen employee morale Kong stocks. Just close your eyes round. That may be the mes- and prompt a deluge of negative press and buy. Dsage Silicon Valley takes from coverage. “I don’t care about funda- the initial public off ering of Dropbox Those immersed in the IPO indus- mentals,” said Hei Chiu, a 34- on March 22. In the weeks before the try point to payment-tech company year-old merchandiser and indi- cloud-storage company’s stock mar- Square’s 2015 off ering as a deal that vidual investor who says he only ket debut, it fi rst targeted a price of really stoked valuation concerns. The purchases initial public off er- $18 a share on the high end, giving the company, run by Twitter co-founder ings. “Share prices just go up if company a market valuation of $7.1bn. Jack Dorsey, listed at a $2.9bn public there is strong demand,” he said. That would have been about a third market value, a far cry from the $6bn His strategy of chasing the lower than the $10bn it was valued at valuation in its last private funding hottest deals has worked like in its previous round of private fund- round. Two of last year’s buzziest deals magic. Of 63 Hong Kong new raising—earning the IPO the “down have disappointed post-IPO. Disap- share sales in the last three round” stigma. pearing-photo app-maker Snap listed months, the top one-third of Things worked out better. Drop- with a 44% pop in its debut but went on the most oversubscribed saw an box ultimately sold the stock for $21 a to let down investors with slowing user average fi rst-day rally of 60%, share, pulling its valuation past $8bn. growth and an app redesign, leaving it compared with a 27% gain for And by the end of its fi rst trading day, it to fl irt with its $20bn IPO market value, all IPOs, according to data com- rose an additional 36%, to a total value just above its $18bn valuation in its last piled by Bloomberg. You better of $11.1bn. On the one hand, there’s a private round. sell fast, though: rallies often chance Dropbox could have raised more Meal-kit delivery company Blue fi zzle after the fi rst few days. money, since investors were willing to Apron Holdings is trading at just Arrangers of the city’s hottest value the company a good bit higher $354mn, less than a fi fth of its 2015 deals have used famous con- than where the shares sold. private value, after fears of increas- sumer brands or celebrity links But it was a sign that companies ing competition, the resignation of its to lure investors. Among the shouldn’t see the risk of a valuation founder and chief executive offi cer, and successful ones are a bubble-tea haircut as an absolute obstacle to going disappointing earnings have dragged franchise, a celebrity eye doctor public. In recent years, concerns about on the stock. Still, there are signs that and a producer of satirical media not living up to lofty private valuations more large startups are willing to face content. slowed the IPO pipeline. Grumbles about the scrutiny. Apart from tracking famous the IPO market being broken have grown Uber’s new CEO, Dara Khosrowsha- names, investors can look at louder as tech giants such as Uber Tech- hi, the ex-Expedia chief who took over margin loan data to gauge popu- nologies and Airbnb wait to go public. Jay after its founder and CEO was ousted, larity. Brokerages such as Phil- Clayton, head of the US Securities and Dropbox signage is displayed on a screen during the company’s initial public off ering at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York, has said he wants to take Uber public lip Securities Group regularly Exchange Commission, and New York on Friday, March 23. Dropbox ultimately sold the stock for $21 a share in the IPO, pulling its valuation past $8bn. And by the as early as next year. Nine-year-old update the amount of money Stock Exchange president Tom Farley end of its first trading day, it rose an additional 36%, to a total value of $11.1bn. Pinterest added its fi rst chief operating investors borrow to bid for IPOs. have both said the listing process dis- offi cer, aiming to scale its advertising Bubble-tea maker B & S Inter- suades companies from going public. leaves the companies. The bread and according to PitchBook-NVCA Venture nies go from private to public will keep business internationally—a move seen national Holdings added froth But IPOs have been making a quiet butter of the IPO market still isn’t the Monitor. Masayoshi Son’s conglomer- shifting,” saysNeeraj Agrawal, general as a step toward taking the $12bn pri- to the market in Hong Kong’s comeback. More than $12bn in stock Dropboxes of the world. Since 2009 the ate and investment vehicle SoftBank partner at tech-focused investment vate company public. second-hottest deal over the last has been sold in new US listings this average off ering size is about $250mn, Group Corp, with its nearly $100bn fi rm Battery Ventures. While money There’s also the mammoth in the 12 months. Retail investors jos- year, up a third from the same period or a market value of about $1.7bn. Vision Fund, has taken stakes in pri- has been plentiful, there have been room outside of the tech industry. The tled for a piece of the company in 2017. January’s $8bn was the biggest That’s a fraction of the valuations for vate companies at sizes that dwarf all unintended consequences to all this Saudi Arabian government is hoping to this month, even though the re- month since Alibaba Group Holding some of the biggest startups waiting in but the biggest IPOs. It was the biggest investment. Many private market valu- raise a record $100bn selling shares in tail business generates less than raised $25bn in its September 2014 IPO. the wings. Uber sits at a $69bn value, buyer of a $9.3bn sale of Uber stock; ations became infl ated, especially in its oil company, Saudi Aramco, though half of its revenue. Individuals Maybe public equities aren’t passé, af- Airbnb at $31bn, and WeWork Cos. at $4.4bn went toward WeWork. years such as 2014, when Dropbox last the deal’s timing has become un- ordered 2,601 times the shares ter all. A robust IPO market needs two $20bn. All founded eight or more years The private funding world has be- raised funds privately, through 2016, clear. In April all eyes will be on music originally set aside for them and things: favourable stock market condi- ago, those companies have grown up in come crowded with some investors says Agrawal. streaming service Spotify Technology. B & S rewarded them by quadru- tions and companies that want to sell a funding world fundamentally diff er- that usually play in the public markets. Not all of these richly priced com- It’s skipping the marketing roadshow pling on the fi rst day of trading. shares. Even with a record one-day ent from their predecessors’—a world Mutual funds, hedge funds, sovereign panies are ready for prime time. “Hy- and valuation-setting process typical Most Kwai Chung, a provider volatility surge in early February and awash with cash for private companies. wealth funds, and even private equity percompetition has made it so that the of an IPO in favour of a direct listing. Its of advertising and media serv- some more bumps in March, the stock The startups have been able to go fi rms (which typically buy public com- majority of venture capital’s biggest opening public value will be decided on ices, surged as much as 880% market has been stable enough to get through their growing pains without panies and make them private again) fear is missing out on the next invest- listing day based on how many shares in its debut this week. Retail deals done. Meanwhile, investors are the scrutiny of public investors, un- have sought out these potentially high- ment,” Bill Gurley of Benchmark, which existing shareholders want to sell, investors ordered 6,289 times still hungry for investment opportu- like Apple, Amazon, and Google (now growth investments because years of has invested privately in the likes of who wants to buy stock, and the price the stock originally available to nities, according to Michael Millman, Alphabet), whose IPOs all came within low interest rates and muted economic Uber, WeWork, and Snap, said in an they agree upon. Unlike most IPOs, the them, a record subscription ra- JPMorgan Chase & Co’s co-head of eq- six years of their founding. Last year growth have limited returns elsewhere. interview with Bloomberg TV. “So move won’t raise capital for the com- tio in Hong Kong. The producer uity capital markets Americas and glo- saw $84bn in venture capital invest- “As more and more late-stage capi- they’re afraid to have a reputation as pany but will give existing shareholders of satirical media content rose to bal head of technology banking. That ment, the most since the dot-com era, tal appears, the line of when compa- someone who asks too many questions a chance to cash out. fame after naming itself as a play on the Chinese characters of Tel- evision Broadcasts Ltd, the city’s biggest broadcaster. C-Mer Eye Care Holdings, an eye-clinic operator whose founder is well known for ca- Global IPO proceeds hit four-year high in fi rst quarter tering to Hong Kong’s rich and famous, surged as much Reuters Global IPO proceeds jumped almost “Pockets of Europe are increasingly creased market sensitivity. “Currently, potential listing of US tech unicorns as 586% in the first three days. London 26% to $38.9bn, driven by strong in- attractive to investors, with German there is more nervousness within mar- — companies that have achieved $1bn The retail portion of its IPO creases in Europe and the Americas. and French leadership secure,” said ket participants relative to this time valuations without tapping stock mar- was more than 1,500 times “CEO confi dence is up, investor ac- Philip Drury, head of EMEA capital last year. Having said that, issuers need kets — such as Uber and Airbnb, to see if subscribed in January. lobal proceeds from initial pub- tivity is up and valuations are attractive markets at Citi, referring to elections to move forward into windows when they can shrug off a recent sell off in the The eye-popping rallies have a lic off erings (IPO) rose to $39bn because of a strong secondary market. last year in both countries. available. FAANGs (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, habit of sputtering soon after the Gin the fi rst quarter of 2018, Corporates are taking advantage of After unusual market calm in 2017, Increased rhetoric from the US has Netfl ix and Google) on privacy concerns fi rst day. B & S has plunged 62% the highest since 2014, as companies that,” Gareth McCartney, head of Eu- 2018 began with a sell-off in January an impact on the global capital mar- after it was revealed that 50mn Face- from its intraday record high, rushed to take advantage of generally rope Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and February and the biggest ever rise kets,” Drury said. book users’ data was misused. while Most Kwai Chung has strong equity markets and robust eco- ECM syndicate at UBS said, adding an in stock volatility. In Europe, a large rights issue to help “The market rally that we’ve seen in tumbled 70% from Wednesday’s nomic growth amid signs they may not early Easter also encouraged issuers to Rapidly escalating tensions over glo- Bayer fund its planned $66bn takeover the US was incredibly narrow with a peak. C-Mer has seen half of its last. push ahead with IPO plans. bal trade, with a threat of US tariff s on of Monsanto is anticipated. small number of companies creating a peak value erased. Companies raised a total of $186.7bn European IPO proceeds more than up to $60bn of imports from China, A series of large IPOs is also expected disproportionate amount of value. It’s a Ulferts International, a furni- in equity, up 3.5% from the same pe- tripled, with two of the three largest of- and major tech sector wobbles were in the region in the second and third bit of profi t taking and does not neces- ture dealer, has lost 66% from riod last year, Thomson Reuters Equity ferings globally coming from Germany: keenly felt by markets. quarters, but some bankers caution the sarily translate to a broader rotation out its intraday record. The stock Capital Markets (ECM) data to March the long awaited listing of Siemens’s Bankers also blamed the looming chain of upcoming listings refl ects sen- of technology,” McCartney said. surged as much as 257% on the 26 showed. €28bn ($35bn) medical equipment end to central bank bond buying pro- timent from last year, when companies Morgan Stanley topped the league fi rst day, after orders covered Activity fell in Europe, though, after arm Healthineers and Deutsche Bank’s grammes, which had helped infl ate as- would have decided to go to market. table for global ECM issuance overall more than 1,600 times the IPO’s several big bank fund-raisings last year. €6.5bn asset management arm. set prices and stoke growth, for the in- Bankers are also looking ahead to the and global IPOs. retail book.

Russia central bank seen cutting key rate to 6.5% by year-end Why UK won’t punish Russia by Reuters which can help Russia to Moscow prop-up its stalling economic recovery. Gross domestic product is The Russian central bank is expected to grow by 1.8% in going after its debt markets expected to cut its key interest 2018, before picking up to 1.9% rate to as low as 6.5% by the in 2019, the poll showed. end of the year, the level where This is above 1.5% GDP growth Bloomberg on the two big European clearing houses spond to pressure from the UK govern- viduals in 2014 showed that Russia can it is seen holding the cost of seen in 2017 but far below Moscow to restrict them from processing new ment over Russia. always muddle through on its own. Those borrowing throughout 2019, a the average annual growth of Russian bond sales. But neither is incor- Dependency goes both ways restrictions forced the country to cut monthly Reuters poll showed 7% that Russia used to enjoy porated in the UK, so Theresa May would Imposing restrictions on Russian down on borrowing (albeit at the expense yesterday. thanks to rising oil prices prior s the UK mulls further action need approval from her European coun- sovereign debt markets would push of economic growth), giving it a debt-to- The Bank of Russia said earlier to the financial crisis of 2008- against Russia in response to a terparts for an EU-wide ban. down prices of the country’s outstand- GDP ratio of just 14%, one of the lowest in this month the rate-cutting 2009. Anerve agent attack on a former spy “The UK cannot force Euroclear or ing bonds. Since many of those assets the world. Thanks to higher oil prices, the cycle was nearing an end, as Economic growth this year will on British soil, the question of whether Clearstream to refuse the clearing of are owned by international investors, Finance Ministry may add about $35bn to inflation, once stubbornly high be propped up by consumer policymakers should go after the bond Russian bonds,” said Viktor Szabo, a fund including British pension funds, the its rainy-day fund this year. at double-digit levels, is now demand and capital investment. market is back on the table. manager at Aberdeen Asset Manage- UK would be shooting itself in the foot If Russia’s sovereign debt is sanc- below its 4% target. Retail sales, the gauge for Prime Minister Theresa May is under ment in London. “It can try to impose EU through its penalties. Investec, Legal & tioned, the Finance Ministry would sim- A consensus poll of 16 analysts consumer demand, are pressure from some UK lawmakers to sanctions on the Russian sovereign debt, General Group and Schroders are British ply reduce borrowing, Finance Minister and economists showed the expected to increase 2.6% in look into Russia’s sovereign debt. The is- which would have this eff ect, but I see money managers listed among the big- Anton Siluanov said in an interview with market expects the central 2018, while capital investment sue is “extremely important” and offi cials this as unlikely at the moment.” gest holders of Russian Eurobonds, ac- Russian TV Rain aired on Thursday. bank to trim its key rate to is seen growing by 3.2%. are monitoring the matter very closely, When, in 2016, Russia sold its fi rst cording to data compiled by Bloomberg. The US already decided it’s 7.00% in April from the current Off icial unemployment levels Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Eurobond since sanctions were imposed Russia made a point of stressing this not worth it level of 7.25%. are seen steady around 5% on Thursday, shortly before Russia ex- on individuals and industries over the interdependence when it sold a $4bn Eu- The US Treasury already looked into The bank is next seen lowering in 2018 and in 2019, the poll pelled diplomats from across Europe and Crimea crisis, Belgium-based Euro- robond earlier this month, in the same week sanctioning Russian debt markets in re- the key rate to 6.75% in the showed. the US in retaliation against similar moves clear didn’t initially agree to handle it. that May revealed her plans to hit back over sponse to alleged interference in the 2016 second quarter and then The rouble is seen trading at from Western governments. Clearstream International hasn’t proc- the nerve agent attack. UK-based institu- elections. Their conclusion: it would be cutting it further to 6.50% in the 57.41 against the dollar in 12 But like their US colleagues before essed new Russian debt sales since 2013. tional investors accounted for half of the too damaging for global markets. Their fourth quarter of 2018. month’s time versus 58.40 them, UK policymakers may fi nd this The 2016 sale went ahead anyway and buyers of one of the bonds on off er, accord- report on the subject published in Febru- Inflation is expected to be predicted by last month’s poll. isn’t a path they’re prepared, or able, to most foreign investors bought the bond ing to VTB Capital which organised the deal. ary concluded that preventing American 3.5% at the end of 2018. Lower The Russian currency traded at go down. Here’s why: when Euroclear accepted it two months Russia can survive without debt investors from buying Russian sovereign interest rates boost lending, 57.41 per dollar yesterday. Britain can’t act alone later. Both clearing houses declined to In some respects, the sanctions im- debt would hinder the competitiveness One option would be to put pressure comment on whether they would re- posed on Russian companies and indi- of asset managers. Gulf Times Saturday, March 31, 2018 11 BUSINESS JPMorgan brings Amazon’s Alexa to Wall Street trading fl oors

Bloomberg something people are habituated to in voice assistants to monitor accounts, means the agents can ask Alexa to fi g- ness credit card for its customers. The a $400mn currency bet last year. So New York their lives,” Hudson said. “It’s about tak- according to a survey conducted last ure out how much life insurance a cus- companies are also collaborating on a allowing Alexa users to access JPMor- ing information that’s somewhere in the year by Bain & Co While 6% of US re- tomer has or the value of those poli- health-care venture. gan data from wherever they choose bank, that someone has to generally go spondents now use the technology, cies, or to catch them up on the latest JPMorgan’s Alexa project started last to work - home, offi ce or on the go - Alexa, ask JPMorgan what the price and look for, or which is time-consum- 27% are open to it, according to the products the fi rm is off ering, he said. year as part of an internal competition makes sense. target for Apple is.” It’s a request ing or requires authentication to get, and consultant. “This is a very complicated busi- to foster innovation. The next step is enabling institu- “that JPMorgan Chase & Co insti- putting that to you in another channel.” Capital One Financial Corp was the ness,” Madgett said. “When I started The bank fi rst opened up data in its tional clients to act on the information tutional clients can now get quickly an- As clients’ habits evolve, fi rms have fi rst bank to allow customers to man- 32 years ago, I had fi ve products that I research group and added feeds from they’re getting. In the not-so-distant swered through Amazon.com’s ubiqui- been fi nding ways to adapt popular re- age credit card and bank accounts could help solve problems with. Today other departments, including banking future, Wall Street traders could rou- tous voice-activated assistant. The bank tail technologies for the business world. through the voice assistant, and the there are thousands of permutations and custody and fund services - ca- tinely use Alexa to execute trades, ac- and the e-commerce giant have part- While JPMorgan is one of the fi rst to push lender has slowly expanded its Alexa around fi nancial solutions.” pabilities now being tested internally. cording to Hudson. But the bank needs nered to provide JPMorgan’s Wall Street the Alexa virtual assistant to institutional service, allowing people to ask ques- New ‘skill’: JPMorgan’s automated If the automated service takes off , it to do more work on client authentica- users with another way to access its shops, other banks have been using the tions like how much they spent on service, known in Amazon verbiage as should free the fi rm’s salespeople from tion and other security measures to research. Alexa is able to send analysts’ service in their consumer operations. Amazon last week. a “skill,” is the latest shared project for having to answer routine queries. prevent errant trades before that hap- reports and related queries, and the bank And New York Life Insurance Co is New York Life will start rolling out the biggest US bank and the world’s JPMorgan has seen that clients are pens, he said. is testing other features, like providing among fi nancial companies building Alexa features to its 12,000 agents later largest online retailer. open to new ways of interacting with “In the open-offi ce environment, prices on bonds or swaps, according to programs that use Alexa as a tool for this year to help them get quick de- Amazon already leases cloud-com- technology. if you leave an Alexa on your desk David Hudson, global head of markets employees. tails on policies and prepare for meet- puting power to JPMorgan and has Not long after the bank created mo- plugged into an Amazon account, you execution for the New York-based bank. 12,000 agents: Customers are ings, said Mark Madgett, who leads asked the bank to compete in creating bile apps for its trading business, it might fi nd a TV delivered tomorrow as Voice assistants are “clearly becoming becoming increasingly willing to use the insurer’s fi eld force of agents. That new products including a small-busi- was recording large trades, including a practical joke,” Hudson said.

Bolton pick vindicates oil bulls as short-sellers run for exits

Bloomberg tanks and terminals shrank be- Brexit half time sees low the fi ve- year average mark New York for the fi rst time since 2014. “The fact that people were he oil bulls are taking expecting to see more builds charge of the market as in crude inventories and they Tglobal tensions escalate didn’t is making people think and a crude supply glut appears the market is getting pretty close to be fi nally dissipating. to balance,” said Michael Lynch, pound shunned by Hedge funds started last week president of Strategic Energy & ratcheting up bets that West Tex- Economic Research in Winches- as Intermediate crude would rise ter, Massachusetts. and slashing short-selling to the At the same time, “the geo- lowest level since July 2014. political risk defi nitely looks a They were proven right after a lot higher than it did a couple of surprise slump in US stockpiles weeks ago.” and the appointment of hardliner Hedge funds increased their Europe’s top funds John Bolton as national security WTI net-long position - the dif- adviser. ference between bets on a price Bloomberg The week’s 5.7% price surge increase and wagers on a drop - London was the biggest since July. by 7.7% to 458,609 futures and “I’ll give you one name: John options during the week ended Bolton,” said Michael Corcel- March 20, the biggest rise since t’s half time in the waiting game for li, chief investment offi cer of January, according to the US Brexit and some of Europe’s top funds hedge fund Alexander Alterna- Commodity Futures Trading Iare still struggling to fi nd a reason to tive Capital. “That’s rattling oil Commission. buy the pound. markets. It’s sending a screech- Longs rose 5.1%, while shorts Twelve months after the UK triggered ing message through geopolitical declined 24%, the biggest de- the two-year process of its withdrawal risk. He’s not a dovish guy.” crease since November. from the European Union, the two sides The US benchmark crude is The appointment of Bolton haven’t even got round to starting trade less than $1 away from surpass- also raises uncertainty with re- talks and that’s prompting Amundi to ing this year’s high, with Brent gard to North Korea and poten- maintain a short position on sterling. also closing in. Volatility has tially Taiwan, according to Bank While a transition deal signed this month picked up to levels last seen in of America Merrill Lynch ana- buoyed the British currency, Allianz Glo- mid-February. lysts. bal Investors warns that markets may be Bolton’s appointment came “There’s also the recognition underestimating risks and is bearish on after President Donald Trump that the Opec and non-Opec the pound. named Mike Pompeo, another eff orts are bearing some fruit,” Expectations that the Bank of England hawk, as secretary of state. said John Kilduff , a partner at could raise interest rates as early as May That fuelled speculation the Again Capital, a New York-based have helped sterling outperform most duo could push for renewed hedge fund. “The market was set Group-of-10 peers this year, but AXA sanctions against Iran, Opec’s up on a technical basis to break Investment Managers remains scepti- third-largest producer. Mean- out one way or the other, but the cal about the odds of policy tightening while, crude storage in American upside was defi nitely favoured.” amid lingering economic uncertainties. Option volatility on the UK currency has averaged higher this quarter as the na- tion faced an industrial slowdown and US bankers’ average bonus subdued consumer confi dence. “The transition deal has not removed jumps to highest since 2006 political uncertainty from the UK,” said Didier Borowski, head of macroeconom- Bloomberg adopted after the financial crisis,” ic research at Amundi, Europe’s larg- New York DiNapoli said in the statement. “It est money manager that oversees over is too soon to tell how increased €1.4tn ($1.7tn) in assets. “We are still in A man holds pound banknotes in an arranged photograph in London. It’s half time in the waiting game for Brexit and some of volatility in the financial markets the middle of nowhere and are very much Europe’s top funds are still struggling to find a reason to buy the pound. Wall Street’s average bonus might impact profits in 2018.” unclear concerning the fi nal deal that jumped 17% in 2017 to $184,220, Banks’ corporate clients took will be negotiated. So we are still very, “The market is now far too compla- Aberdeen Standard Investments is up- Brexit is still unclear. “I fi nd it hard to see the highest since 2006, according advantage of cheap financing very cautious concerning our exposure to cent,” he said. “Markets have gone from beat on the pound’s short-term prospects the BoE raising rates in the fi nal year of to estimates by New York State last year, meaning investment the currency and British equity markets.” being over-concerned about the fallout after the transition deal, but refrains from Brexit negotiations when we don’t know Comptroller Thomas DinNapoli. bankers saw their bonuses swell While the pound is the third-best from Brexit, to fl ipping the other way.” taking a long-term call given the po- what the fi nal trade deal will look like,” The bonus pool climbed to as their businesses were buoyed G-10 performer this year with a 4.1% Riddell remains bullish on UK govern- litical risks. The pound could rise against Iggo, AXA’s chief investment offi cer $31.4bn as employment in the by record debt-underwriting gain to about $1.4060, it has retreated ment bonds but is “particularly more the euro toward pre-Brexit vote levels of for fi xed income, wrote in a client note. industry dipped slightly in New revenue and a jump in stock- 2% from a high of $1.4345 in January. Im- fearful for sterling if things don’t pan out around 76 pence by year-end from about “Nothing is agreed until everything is York City, DiNapoli said in a state- underwriting and advisory fees. plied volatility on three-month sterling- as well as” expected. 88 pence currently, said Luke Hickmore, agreed.” ment. Their colleagues in sales and trad- dollar options averaged 8.3% this quar- A deterioration in UK economic data senior investment manager at the fi rm. The one thing fund managers agree on The bonuses increased as ing braced for smaller payouts ter, compared with 7.8% in the previous could drive 10-year gilt yields below Pound bulls are betting on rate increas- is that positioning for what the next 12 profits from broker-dealer opera- as a prolonged slump in volatility three months, showing traders are con- 1.30% in the next 12 months from 1.36% es by the BoE, with money markets cur- months have in store is diffi cult. tions of New York Stock Exchange crimped revenue in those busi- cerned about future price swings. currently, he said. rently pricing in an 83% chance of a move “The eventual outcome is not a member firms increased to nesses last year. The currency plunged to a 31-year low Pacifi c Investment Management Co in May, and some predicting a second hike straightforward thing to get right in its $24.5bn, the most since 2010, ac- JPMorgan Chase & Co invest- in October 2016, following the UK’s June has a long pound position versus the toward the end of the year. If the central entirety, which means you have to look cording to the statement. ment bankers’ saw their 2017 vote to leave the EU. Even as the 18% euro, betting that the risk of Brexit nego- bank pauses after one rate increase this to short- term negotiations instead,” Ab- “The large increase in profit- bonus pool expand by about 5%, rebound since then refl ects improved tiations collapsing is now “incrementally year, trade-weighted sterling could slide erdeen’s Hickmore said. “The chance of ability over the past two years while fixed-income trading per- sentiment, the market may now be over- lower,” Andrew Balls, chief investment 5%, according to Allianz’s Riddell. being wrong increases, the longer time demonstrates that the industry sonnel saw theirs drop by about looking the fact that uncertainties re- offi cer of global fi xed income, said in an AXA Investment’s Chris Iggo remains horizon you have. The old adage about a can prosper with the regula- 12%, people with knowledge of main, according to Mike Riddell, a port- interview with Bloomberg Television on unconvinced the BoE will tighten policy week in politics being a very long time is tions and consumer protections the payments said in January. folio manager at Allianz. Wednesday. at a time when the economic fallout from well worth remembering.” Washington leak culture meets Wall St’s insider trading cops

Bloomberg allegedly used the information to make more Beginning in 2009, the US sent dozens of traders an investor. “This is not national security prove that Worrall leaked information that was New York than $3.5mn in trading profits. and executives to prison in a multiyear insider- information. This is how the government is illegal to disclose. Deerfield paid $832,000 in consulting fees to trading crackdown that included the guilty going to provide healthcare to millions of A hurdle for prosecutors may be proving that the firms where Blaszczak worked, they say. plea of Steven A. Cohen’s SAC Capital and the people,” Henning said. “How secret is secret the Deerfield partners knew Worrall was getting The federal prosecutors who sent Wall Streeters Blaszczak got secrets from sources inside the conviction of ex-Galleon Group co-founder Raj with this type of information versus confidential some sort of benefit from Blaszczak, as the law to prison for trading on insider information are government, including his friend and former Rajaratnam. corporate information?” requires. taking on Washington’s culture of leaks in a first- CMS colleague Christopher Worrall, prosecutors The Blaszczak case may prove challenging. In this case, the government plans to show how The outcome will matter in Washington. Firms of-its-kind trial next week. say. Worrall - along with Robert Olan and “How do you regulate political intelligence?” Blaszczak’s cozy relationship with Worrall, which including Marwood Group & Co have sprung For the first time, the capital’s “political Theodore Huber, Deerfield partners who are asked Peter Henning, a professor at Wayne included lunch meetings, golf, baseball games up to service investors while at the same intelligence” industry is in their crosshairs. now on leave from the fund - are also on trial. State University’s law school in Detroit. “This is and drinks, crossed the line into illegal sharing time becoming targets for scrutiny. Marwood Hedge funds and other businesses pay All deny wrongdoing; their lawyers declined to getting into a much grayer area than we’ve seen. of insider tips after Blaszczak left his post as Group paid a $375,000 penalty in 2015, after consultants, often recent government comment or didn’t respond to inquiries about This isn’t Raj Rajaratnam getting a tip about an special assistant to the CMS Administrator in the SEC accused it of getting inside tips from employees, expecting them to leverage the case. upcoming tender off er for Hilton.” 2005. Prosecutors claim he wooed Worrall by government workers and then sharing them relationships with colleagues still in public The government’s star witness is a former That’s because Washington’s information inviting him to join his firm in 2014, saying they’d with its investor clients. service to get a heads-up on government Deerfield partner, Jordan Fogel, who pleaded ecosystem operates diff erently than Wall probably make $2mn in revenue by year’s end, Lawmakers have tried to regulate the actions that could move markets. guilty and is cooperating in a bid for leniency. Street’s. according to court records. political intelligence industry with little eff ect. David Blaszczak, who consulted for hedge The firm agreed to pay $4.6mn in August to There’s a revolving door between the places “We’d kill it working together,” Blaszczak Representative Louise Slaughter, a New York funds after leaving the Centers for Medicare settle US Securities and Exchange Commission where policy gets made - Congress and the allegedly wrote in a text message to Worrall, Democrat who died this month, introduced and Medicaid Services, is charged in Manhattan allegations that it failed to properly supervise administration - and lobbying shops on K Street. who responded, “You’re like a drunk whore to the “Political Intelligence Transparency Act” with passing details of government plans to cut its employees. It didn’t admit or deny the Rumours flow freely and former staff ers are me. Hard to resist.” last year, which would require firms to register reimbursement rates for a certain kind of cancer regulator’s allegations. Deerfield declined to hired for their connections and expertise. Ultimately Worrall didn’t join Blaszczak’s firm, and report their activities. The bill is stalled in treatment and to increase payments for kidney comment. But the porous nature of Washington has but used such job off ers to leverage a promotion Congress. dialysis. The trial is the first to focus on Washington created a dilemma. A legitimate eff ort by a at CMS, the SEC said in a related lawsuit. The case is US vs Blaszczak, 17-cr-00357, US Prosecutors claim Blaszczak tipped partners at intelligence firms, where the currency is company to find out about a regulation or Defense lawyers haven’t detailed their case, but District Court, Southern District of New York Deerfield Management, a New York fund that government secrets, and not corporate ones. a law that will aff ect it can also be useful for they argue in filings that the government must (Manhattan). Saturday, March 31, 2018 GULF TIMES BUSINESS

QSE WEEKLY REVIEW Index settles below 8,600 as domestic institutions turn profit takers

By Santhosh V Perumal trade surplus at QR14.05bn mainly of 0.48mn QATR valued at QR11.18mn Ooredoo, Nakilat; whereas Ahlibank, Non-Qatari funds’ net buying weakened by 55% to 899. The insurance sector Business Reporter on higher shipments to South Korea, change hands across 294 deals. Vodafone Qatar, Zad Holding and considerably to QR65.57mn compared reported 69% shrinkage in trade Japan and India, which together The Total Return Index shed 2.56%, Qatari Investors Group were among the to QR110.63mn a week ago. volume to 2.07mn shares, 73% in accounted for more than 53% of All Share Index by 2.97% and Al Rayan gainers this week which saw banking, However, local retail investors turned value to QR66.91mn and 58% in deals The Qatar Stock Exchange settled exports. Islamic Index by 2.91% and Al Rayan industrials and real estate sectors net buyers to the tune of QR26.87mn to 890. below 8,600 levels as domestic Notwithstanding, the bullish outlook Islamic Index (Price) by 3.81% this week accounted for about 81% of total trade against net sellers of QR59.53mn the The industrials sector’s trade volume institutions turned profit takers this of local and non-Qatari retail investors, which saw a total of 0.06mn QETFs volumes. previous week. declined 49% to 8.49mn equities, week which saw improved earnings the 20-stock Qatar Index shrank valued at QR5.65mn trade across 110 The banks and financial services sector Non-Qatari individuals were also net value by 22% to QR252.65mn and performance of banking and industry 2.85% this week which saw Al Meera transactions. accounted for 44% of the total volume, buyers to the extent of QR16.78mn transactions by 38% to 3,057. help the listed companies’ 2017 net Consumer Goods Company all set to The insurance index plummeted industrials (20%), realty (17%), telecom compared with net sellers of There was 26% slump in the real estate profitability expand more than 1%. open nine more outlets this year with 6.58%, realty (4.1%), transport (3.62%), (8%), insurance (5%), consumer goods QR46.63mn a week ago. sector’s trade volume to 7.19mn stocks, Insurance, real estate, transport and one dedicating half of its store space banks and financial services (3.08%), (4%) and transport (3%) this week. Total trade volume shrank 44% to 31% in value to QR93.57mn and 16% in banking counters witnessed stronger for organic products. industrials (2.46%) and telecom (0.45%); The banks and financial services’ 43.14mn shares, value by 38% to deals to 3,033. selling pressure this week which Islamic stocks were seen declining while consumer goods gained 0.5% this share in total trade turnover was 42%, QR1.03bn and transactions by 31% to The banks and financial services witnessed Capital Intelligence, the faster than the other constituents this week which saw no trading in the debt industrials (25%), consumer goods and 16,924. sector’s trade volume shrank 17% international credit rating agency, week which saw Woqod’s intent to segment. real estate (9% each), insurance (7%), The market witnessed 77% plunge to 19.08mn shares, value by 26% to aff irm Doha Bank’s financial strength invest around QR634mn this year for its More than 82% of the traded stocks telecom (6%) and transport (3%) this in the telecom sector’s trade volume QR433.32mn and transactions by 19% rating at ‘A’ with a “stable” outlook. expansion as part of initiatives to cater were in the red with major losers being week. to 3.48mn equities, 64% in value to to 6,064. Foreign institutions’ weakened net to the local market. Qatar Insurance, Industries Qatar, Gulf Domestic institutions’ net selling QR57.26mn and 54% in deals to 1,268. The consumer goods sector saw 16% buying interests also played its part Profit booking was squarely visible International Services, Mazaya Qatar, strengthened significantly to The transport sector’s trade volume slippage in trade volume to 1.62mn in the bearish market this week within micro, large and midcap Ezdan, QIIB, Qatar Islamic Insurance, QR109.22mn against QR4.3mn the tanked 69% to 1.21mn equities, value equities and 6% in value to QR97.49mn which saw Qatar’s February 2018 segments this week which saw a total Qatar First Bank, Milaha, Woqod, week ended March 22. by 71% to QR28.17mn and transactions but on 2% jump in deals to 1,713.

Walmart in talks Amazon said to sever to buy insurer Humana: Report

AFP Walmart’s archrival Amazon ties with top lobbying plans to expand into the busi- New York ness. Earlier this month, health in- S retail behemoth Wal- surer Cigna announced a $67bn mart is in preliminary purchase of pharmacy benefi ts Utalks to acquire health manager Express Scripts. insurer Humana, the Wall That came on the heels of fi rms in Washington Street Journal reported, the the December announcement latest in the recent wave of that retail pharmacy chain CVS Bloomberg healthcare mergers. Health would buy insurer Aetna Washington The terms of the possible for $69bn. deal were not clear and there In January, Amazon, along is no guarantee an agreement with Warren Buff ett’s Berk- mazon.com Inc cut ties would be reached, the newspa- shire Hathaway and JP Morgan with Washington’s big- per reported late on Thursday. Chase, announced the crea- Agest lobbying fi rm and The transaction would link tion of a nonprofi t to address brought on new advisers fol- the world’s biggest retailer with skyrocketing costs that Buff ett lowing passage of the tax over- one of the largest US health in- said have become a “hungry haul bill last year and in the face surers, and based on Humana’s tapeworm on the American of new challenges in the age of market capitalisation of $37bn, economy.” President Donald Trump. a takeover would be Walmart’s GlobalData Retail noted The shakeup occurred last biggest ever. the “considerable” risks for Friday, a week before Trump Walmart, already a giant Walmart of becoming too en- briefl y sent Amazon’s stock in pharmacy sales and with meshed in healthcare, includ- tumbling with a Twitter attack healthcare clinics in some ing myriad challenges of inte- on the world’s largest online re- stores, reported revenues of grating an insurer into a retailer. tailer. $500.3bn last year. At the same time, a trans- Trump charged that Amazon Humana, which a big pres- action would broaden the re- doesn’t pay enough in state ence in US Medicare pro- tailer’s relationship with con- and local sales taxes, hurts re- gramme, had revenues of sumers, deepen its trove of tailers and gets an unfair edge $53.8bn last year. consumer data, give Walmart on the back of the US Postal The talks come amid a wave a bigger presence in a growing Service. of consolidation in US health- part of the US economy and Amazon ended its relationship care driven by runaway costs off er a strong foundation to with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and disruption from online re- counter Amazon, GlobalData & Feld LLP, the law fi rm that tailers, as well as growing signs said in a research note. attracts more lobbying revenue than any other K Street opera- tion, and Squire Patton Boggs, last Friday, according to a person HSBC agrees to pay $100mn to familiar with the decisions. At the latter fi rm, Amazon’s lobby- settle Libor-rigging lawsuit ists included former Senate Ma- jority Leader Trent Lott. Bloomberg with other banks to depress In their place, Amazon hired Los Angeles the Libor rate to minimise the Paul Brathwaite of Federal amount the firms had to pay Street Strategies LLC and Josh out on investments tied to the Holly of Holly Strategies Inc, HSBC Holdings agreed to pay rate. Libor-linked investments according to the person. Both A truck pulling an Amazon Prime branded cargo container waits beside the entrance gate at Amazon.com’s new fulfilment centre in $100mn to settle an antitrust included asset swaps, collat- formerly worked as outside lob- Kolbaskowo, Poland. Trump has charged that Amazon doesn’t pay enough in state and local sales taxes, hurts retailers and gets an unfair lawsuit by over-the-counter eralised debt obligations and byists for Airbnb Inc and Ora- edge on the back of the US Postal Service. investors, including the city of forward-rate agreements. cle Corp at the defunct Podesta Baltimore and Yale University, The investors said in their request Group, which was once dubbed in new warehouses and offi ces, Attacks by the president have recent federal lobbying disclo- making its presence felt from who claimed they were harmed for preliminary approval yester- the “King of K Street,” before hires people by the thousands coincided with calls for scru- sures. Congress and the White House when they bought securities tied day that the deal is substantially becoming entangled in Special and helps small businesses grow tiny by outside groups that say Driven by the need to tack- to Nasa as it outspent all of its to rigged Libor. fair given the hurdles they would Counsel Robert Mueller’s inves- by letting them sell products on Amazon has gotten too big and le regulatory and legislative peers except for Google. The proposed settlement by the face to get a favourable jury ver- tigation into Russian meddling its popular web store. should be investigated for anti- hurdles to its ever-expanding While for years, Amazon London-based bank follows simi- dict in the six-year-old case that’s in the 2016 election. In recent months, however, competitive practices. business lines, Amazon has in- focused on a narrow set of is- lar agreements the investor group currently before an appeals court. Amazon declined to com- the company has faced a shift- Both Akin Gump, which be- creased its lobbying spending sues such as state sales taxes reached with Barclays, Citigroup, “This litigation presents the ment. ing landscape in Washington. gan working with Amazon in more than 400% in the last fi ve and copyrights, the online re- and most recently Deutsche Bank court, the parties, and eventu- For years, Amazon has been Trump has aimed repeated 2014, and Patton Boggs, which years, shelling out nearly $13mn tail giant now deploys lobbyists over similar allegations. The set- ally, a jury, with the task of un- working to steer its image from Twitter barbs at Amazon chief the company famously hired in in 2017, according to the disclo- broadly across Washington as it tlement will need to be approved derstanding extremely complex that of a cut-throat Internet executive offi cer Jeff Bezos, who 2013 at the beginning of a surge sures. seeks to begin drone delivery of by a federal judge in Manhattan. derivative instruments in an giant wreaking havoc on Main also owns the Washington Post, in lobbying, had been focusing It lobbied more government goods, sell cloud services to the The investors claimed that be- opaque, unregulated market,” Street to that of a job-creation which has been critical of his ad- on tax matters for the com- agencies than any other tech Defense Department and make ginning in 2007 HSBC colluded according to the court filing. machine that invests billions ministration. pany, according to their most company, the records show, acquisitions. Facebook risks millions of dollars in FTC fi nes over data crisis

Bloomberg sumer Reports. “The FTC is unlikely to will be serious consequences from this In the 2011 case, the agency alleged app developer in violation of Facebook moving to untangle its often bewilder- Washington get billions,” Rich said. “It could get violation.” in an eight-count draft complaint that policy. ing array of privacy options, consoli- hundreds of millions.” Facebook is struggling to respond Facebook had broken its promise that “We remain strongly committed to dating choices in one place on mobile The FTC is probing how data from to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, users could keep their information on protecting people’s information,” said devices, rather than sending users to ormer Federal Trade Commission 50mn Facebook users was obtained by which has prompted an outcry from Facebook private. Facebook had as- Rob Sherman, deputy chief privacy some 20 diff erent screens. offi cials say that Facebook Inc Cambridge Analytica, a British politi- lawmakers, investors and privacy ad- sured users that third-party applica- offi cer at Facebook. “We appreciate Rich, the former FTC consumer Fappears to have breached a 2011 cal consulting fi rm that consulted on vocates. The crisis comes just a few tions only had access to data required the opportunity to answer questions chief, said the investigation could take consent agreement to safeguard users’ President Donald Trump’s campaign, months after revelations that Russia for them to function, while, in fact, the the FTC may have.” Zuckerberg said a year and would likely explore whether personal information and may be facing and whether the transfer violated exploited Facebook’s platform to infl u- applications had access to almost all of in newspaper ads March 25 that a quiz Facebook should have reacted more hundreds of millions of dollars in fi nes. pledges the company made to settle an ence the US presidential election. Con- a user’s personal information. app “leaked” data in 2014. “This was a vigorously in 2015, when it received The agency could fi ne Facebook up to earlier privacy case. Investigators can gress is seeking to bring Facebook chief Under the settlement, Facebook breach of trust, and I’m sorry we didn’t assurances from Cambridge Analytica $40,000 per violation per day — which also consider whether Facebook misled executive offi cer Mark Zuckerberg to agreed to get consent from users before do more at the time,” he said. that the data it received had been de- could add up quickly with millions of users or violated rules governing data Washington for public testimony. sharing their data with third parties. It Cambridge Analytica had received stroyed. Instead, not all data was delet- users involved — if it fi nds the social shipments between Europe and the US. The scandal has caused Facebook to also required Facebook to establish a data from some 50mn Facebook users ed, Facebook acknowledged in a March media giant broke its earlier promises “The agency has a fair amount of lat- delay the unveiling of new home prod- “comprehensive privacy programme,” as it built a election-consulting com- 17 blog post. “There could be a failure of to protect user data, they say. itude to turn the screws up,” said David ucts and redesign its privacy settings. block access to a user’s account within pany that boasted it could sway voters oversight,” said Rich. “If I had to bet, they will fi nd viola- Vladeck, the former head of the FTC’s The stock has lost almost $100bn in 30 days of it being deleted and barred in contests all over the world. While Vladeck, the Georgetown professor, tions,” said Jessica Rich, a former head of Bureau of Consumer Protection who market value and is no longer among it from making any deceptive claims 270,000 users had authorised an aca- see he expects “some sort of an agree- the FTC’s consumer protection bureau. signed the consent order which binds the top fi ve most valuable companies in about its privacy practices. demic to use their data for research ment between the FTC and Facebook “The penalty could potentially be Facebook for 20 years. the world. The shares closed up 0.53% Facebook says it didn’t violate the purposes, according to reports, the which will call for very serious fi nan- huge,” because each user adversely af- “This is in my view a serious breach Wednesday at $153.03. consent decree. It has suspended Cam- researcher allegedly violated privacy cial civil penalties, and a new consent fected could be considered a violation, of the FTC’s consent” agreement, Facebook’s 2018 net income is project- bridge Analytica from its network and rules when he handed the data off to decree that will ratchet up the restric- said Rich, now vice president of con- Vladeck, now a Georgetown University ed to rise 20% this year to $21.8bn, ac- said in a blog post that the British com- Cambridge Analytica. tions on the way Facebook gathers in- sumer policy and mobilisation for Con- professor, told Bloomberg TV. “There cording to data compiled by Bloomberg. pany had received user data through an Facebook on Wednesday said it’s formation.”