Afghanistan woos corporate India amid concerns over US pact

Indian investors at a December 14 speech by Afghan President Hamid Karzai were not convinced that the latter's country is safe enough to carry out their investment plans, according to a Bloomberg report.


Robinsons Retail buys local operator of Shiseido, Benefit cosmetic unit in the Philippines

Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. has bought Beauty Skinnovations Retail Inc. (BSRI) for an undisclosed sum. BSRI operates the Philippine stores of Japan's Shiseido Co. Ltd. and US' Benefits Cosmetics LLC.

Gold loses its shine as funds predict 31% drop this year

Dara compiled by Bloomberg indicated that investors are exiting from their gold-backed exchange-traded products this year. $69.5 billion in value was removed in the ETPs and analysts expect an additional 311 tons will be removed from the ETPs next year.

Renault, Dongfeng finally ink $1.3 billion joint venture after nine years

French automaker Renault and state-owned Dongfeng Motor Group have finally closed a $1.3 billion partnership agreement after almost a decade. The deal allows Renault to sell locally assembled models in China.


Latest News

British pharmaceutical corporation GlaxoSmithKline on Monday announced that it would buy up to 20.6 million shares in Indian subsidiary GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceutical Ltd. for a total of $1.02 billion.
Sources said that American International Group is close to a deal to make its exit from International Lease Finance Corp. to Netherlands' AerCap Holdings NV. Under the deal, AIG will reportedly receive $3 billion in cash and $2.4 billion in stock.
Asia Pacific Stock Exchange (APX), a new bourse that aims to lure Chinese firms, has received final approval from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to start operating.
A report by Grant Thornton, an American accounting and advisory firm, said that Indian corporations closed as many as 393 private equity deals totaling $9.67 billion in the past 11 months of the year.
UK-based virtual fitting room firm Metail has received £2.6 million in additional funding as it prepares to move into a new headquarters in East London.
This year is set to be a banner year for ecommerce as online sales for Thanksgiving weekend increased 22% from last year. Meanwhile, retail sales fall.
The initial takeover proposal of AU$752 million from Senex Energy was rejected by oil and gas exploration and production firm AWE Ltd.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd plans to sell down its 8.6% stake in Kiwi Income Property Trust, which is worth NZ$95.7 million based on its last trading price.
Royal Dutch Shell's exit of its stake in Australia-based Woodside Petroleum Ltd may enable Asian buyers, particularly China, to get a stake of or even acquire the whole company, Bloomberg reported.
Insurance Australia Group Ltd (IAG) bought the Australian and New Zealand underwriting business of Western Australia's farmers' cooperative Wesfarmers Ltd for $1.845 billion.