Shares of Apple Inc tumbled nearly 4 percent on Wednesday, rounding off a bleak ten weeks for the most valuable U.S. company, with analysts citing factors such as increasing competition in the tablet market.
Industry
Blackstone to Buy Dutch Tax Consultancy Intertrust for $883 Million
Tax consultancy in The Netherlands is seemingly on the upswing in view of a greater number of corporates seeking to establish their European holding companies in the EU member country because of its many bilateral tax agreements with other nations to prevent double taxation. Against this backdrop, US private equity firm Blackstone Group LP has decided to buy Dutch tax consultancy Intertrust from Dutch private equity firm Waterland for a reported $883 million (675 million euros).
HSBC to Pay $1.9 Billion U.S. Fine in Money-Laundering Case
HSBC has agreed to pay a record $1.92 billion fine to settle a multi-year probe by U.S. prosecutors, who accused Europe's biggest bank of failing to enforce rules designed to prevent the laundering of criminal cash.
AIG to Sell 90 Percent Stake in ILFC to Chinese Consortium for $4.8 Billion
US insurer American International Group Inc (AIG) has decided to sell 90 percent of its stake in ILFC, the world’s largest aircraft leading business, to a Chinese consortium –comprising New China Trust, which is one-fifth owned by Barclays Plc, China Aviation Industrial Fund and P3 Investments Ltd -- for a total consideration of $4.8 billion. An arm of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China will join the consortium once the deal has regulatory approval.
McDonald's 'Dollar Menu' Sparks November Sales Rebound
McDonald's Corp's sales at established restaurants rose more than expected in November as a renewed emphasis on low-priced menu options, such as $1 Sausage McMuffins and coffee, helped the company bounce back from a rare decline in October, it said on Monday.
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Even as Singapore Airlines reportedly holds talks with other airlines for a possible sell-out of its 49 percent stake in British carrier Virgin Atlantic, Delta Air Lines Inc, the second-largest U.S. airline by operating revenue, is said to be closing in on the stake.
Mobile telecoms equipment maker Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) decided to hive off its optical fiber networks unit to private equity firm Marlin Equity Partners in a bid to focus solely on mobile broadband.
Swiss bank UBS AG is nearing a deal to settle claims some of its staff manipulated interest rates and could reach agreement with U.S. and British authorities by the end of the year, a person familiar with the matter said on Monday.
Auto sales in November were helped by a rebound from storm-ravaged October and the need to replace aging vehicles which put the industry on pace for a near five-year high and left executives optimistic about 2013.
Stocks fell on Monday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq erasing early gains as disappointing U.S. factory numbers curbed optimism spurred by positive data on China's economy.
Japanese conglomerates Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Hitachi Ltd have decided to merge their thermal power businesses to take a vantage position in the domestic fossil-fuel power business.
Even as ConocoPhilips clears the deck for sale of its 8.4 percent stake in Kazakhstan oil field Kashagan to India's oil & gas major ONGC Videsh for a total consideration of about $5 billion, some of ConocoPhillips' partners in the oilfield project could still exercise their right of first refusal on the stake.
The U.S. economy grew faster than initially thought in the third quarter as restocking by businesses provided a big boost, but consumer and business spending were revised lower in a sobering reminder of the recovery's underlying weakness.
The system of so-called "shadow banking" blamed for aggravating the global financial crisis grew to $67 trillion globally last year, a new high, amid calls from the world's top policymakers for greater control of the sector.
