No offers for Nord Stream 2 pipeline, says Russia
St Petersburg — Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday that no-one has approached the Russian government about buying the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
The Wall Street Journal reported in November that an American investor, Stephen P Lynch, was seeking to buy the pipeline under the Baltic Sea, which was damaged by mysterious blasts in 2022.
The $11bn Nord Stream 2 pipeline, set to carry Russian gas to Europe, was completed in 2021 but was never commissioned as relations with the West soured due to the onset of the conflict in Ukraine. Reuters
Japan’s TDK snaps up US-based SoftEye
Tokyo — Japan’s TDK said on Thursday it has acquired US-based SoftEye, which makes software and hardware for smart glasses, as the smartphone battery maker looks for growth drivers linked to AI.
SoftEye, based in San Diego, California, develops technology that facilitates eye tracking and object recognition. Its founder and CEO, Te-Won Lee, was an executive at Samsung Electronics and Qualcomm.
The deal is worth less than $100m, a source familiar with the matter said.
Technology firms are looking to hardware beyond smartphones, with Facebook owner Meta and others focusing on smart glasses that use AI to facilitate interaction between users and the environment. Reuters
China approves number of rare earth export licences
Beijing China’s commerce ministry said on Thursday that “a certain number” of rare earth export licence applications had been approved, but declined to give further details such as the exact amount and how many had been extended to US firms.
“China will continue to strengthen the approval process for compliant applications and is willing to further enhance communication and dialogue with relevant countries on export controls,” He Yadong, a ministry spokesperson told a regular news conference. Reuters
German firms submit bids for AI data centre
Berlin — Deutsche Telekom, Ionos and the Schwarz Group’s IT subsidiary will submit competing applications to the EU for an AI data centre after the German firms could not agree on a common concept, the Tagesspiegel newspaper reported Thursday.
The expression of interest which is being submitted precedes an official application, which will take place in autumn, a spokesperson of the web-hosting company Ionos said.
The German applicants could still join forces during the selection process for the data centres planned by the EU, Tagesspiegel said in the report. Reuters
Mars fails to offer remedies for Kellanova takeover
Brussels — Candy company Mars has not offered remedies to EU antitrust regulators reviewing its proposed $36bn takeover of Pringles maker Kellanova, an update on the European Commission website showed on Thursday.
The deadline for Mars to offer remedies was June 18.
Reuters reported on Wednesday that Mars was unlikely to offer remedies for now to address the EU competition enforcer’s concerns about its high market share in certain products in some EU countries and its portfolio of strong brands.
People close to the matter said the EU antitrust watchdog will launch a full-scale investigation into the deal at the end of its preliminary review which finishes on June 25. Reuters
UK hotel firm Whitbread’s quarterly sales decline
Bengaluru — British hotel company Whitbread reported another quarterly decline in sales on Thursday amid subdued leisure demand from cost-conscious customers and said it was unclear when the broader industry would return to growth.
Britain’s hospitality firms are struggling to recover after a surge in inflation hit consumer spending, with a rise in employer costs and global economic uncertainty adding to the challenges.
Whitbread CEO Dominic Paul said the owner of the Premier Inn chain was trying to boost revenue and customer retention by offering extras such as rooms with a view, early check-ins, late checkouts and premium Wi-Fi.
But he added that the wider market remained subdued with no clear visibility on when revenue per available room — a key industry metric — would return to growth. Reuters
Stellantis recalls Citroën vehicles over faulty airbags
Paris — Stellantis has asked for 82,000 Citroën C3 and DS3 vehicles in France with faulty Takata airbags to be removed from roads, a company spokesperson said on Thursday, one week after a woman in Reims died from injuries sustained by one of the airbags in a 2014 Citroën C3.
All C3 and DS3 vehicles produced in 2014-19 are now subject to the “stop drive” recall, the spokesperson said. To date, the company has repaired 481,000 cars in France with the airbags out of 690,000.
The French transport ministry had requested for all Citroën C3 and DS3 vehicles subject to a Takata airbag recall to be removed from the roads after the June 11 accident. Reuters
Morrisons’ second quarter sales improve
London — British supermarket group Morrisons said sales growth improved in its second quarter after trading was dented in the previous quarter by the effect of a cyberattack at its technology provider.
The UK’s fifth largest grocer, which has been owned by US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice since 2021, said on Thursday its like-for-like sales rose 3.9% in the quarter to April 27, having been up 2.1% in the first quarter.
“Morrisons has bounced back strongly from the disruption of the Blue Yonder cyber attack in November 2024,” CEO Rami Baitiéh said. Reuters
ECB working at ‘bringing inflation to target’
Milan — The European Central Bank has shown to be very good at using a wide range of tools to achieve price stability and will keep doing all that is necessary to complete its nearly accomplished mission, one of its top policymakers said on Thursday.
Speaking at a student conference in Milan, European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel, who heads the German central bank, said that bringing inflation to target was the best thing the ECB could do to promote economic growth.
Price stability provides a stable base for politicians to do what is necessary to drive economic growth, he said. Reuters
Global trade tension ‘undermines investor confidence’
Geneva — Global foreign direct investment fell for the second consecutive year in 2024, with fears this year could be even worse as trade tensions rock investor confidence, the UN agency for trade and development said in a report published on Thursday.
Foreign direct investment transactions, which do not include several European conduit economies, declined 11%, indicating a reduction in actual productive investment activity, according to UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Geopolitical tensions and trade fragmentation contributed to lower investment last year as they created uncertainty, which UNCTAD secretary-general Rebeca Grynspan described as a “poison” for investor confidence. Reuters
Swiss central bank cuts interest rate to zero
Zurich — The Swiss National Bank (SNB) cut its interest rate to zero on Thursday in response to falling inflation, appreciation pressure on the Swiss franc and economic uncertainty caused by the US administration's unpredictable trade policy.
The SNB reduced its policy rate by 25 basis points from 0.25%, as expected by markets and a Reuters poll.
It was the central bank’s sixth rate cut in succession after it started reducing borrowing costs in March 2024.
The SNB is now on the brink of returning to negative interest rates, a policy it maintained in 2014-22, but which was unpopular with banks, savers and insurance companies. Reuters
Federal Reserve keeps benchmark rate unchanged
New York — A cautious Federal Reserve has put a damper on hopes for interest rate cuts, leaving investors on edge as they navigate a murky mix of geopolitical tensions, inflation risks and looming growth drag from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The Fed on Wednesday kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged, as expected.
While policymakers reaffirmed that they expected some reduction in borrowing costs this year, they dialled back the anticipated pace of future cuts because of the potential for higher inflation amid uncertainty over the Trump administration’s proposed tariff plans. Reuters
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