South-East Asia

Swisscom's Italian subsidiary Fastweb terminated a long-term contract on Wednesday with INWIT. This escalated a dispute with the top telecom towers provider in the country. Fastweb, who inherited the INWIT contract through its acquisition last year of Vodafone Italy, was pushing for a renegotiation, something that the tower company had refused to do. Fastweb announced last week that it would form a joint venture to build up 6,000 telecoms masts in Italy with Telecom Italia, INWIT's 'other main customer. Sources said that TIM will follow Fastweb in terminating its deal with INWIT. The decision is expected to be made at...

Estun Automation, a Chinese industrial 'robot'maker, said that it would set its price for its Hong Kong listing at the lower end of its range. It aims to raise HK$1,49 billion ($190.54 millions) through the sale of shares. Estun's decision is a result of global markets remaining skittish following the Iran War that erupted in February 28. This triggered a rush for cash which has boosted volatility and squeezed the risk appetite. Estun has offered 96.8 millions H shares at HK$15.36 each, below the maximum HK$17 per share announced last week. Estun is one of a number of companies that...

Sea Ltd, a Singapore-based company, reported a'sharp increase' in?quarterly operating expenses on Tuesday. This was due to heavy spending by the company to combat competition in Southeast Asian ecommerce. The shares of its U.S. listed stock fell 16% before market. The company is attempting to attract consumers through a variety of incentives, including?discounts and offers, as well as loyalty perks. Rivals, such as TikTok Shop, are also expanding. Sea invests in its logistic and delivery services in order to increase market share in important markets like Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand. Total operating expenses increased by over?28% in the fourth quarter...

According to Kpler's and LSEG's ship tracking data, two liquefied gas tankers are heading eastwards towards Asia with cargoes from Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 Project. They picked up fuel for the project sanctioned in the last week. The LNG tankers Voskhod and Christophe De Margerie are traveling north from Russia to Asia via the Northern Sea Route. According to data, they had previously berthed respectively at Arctic LNG 2 between September 23 and 26, according to the data. According to Kpler, both tankers were empty when they arrived. Christophe De Margerie left loaded on 25 September while Voskhod also left...

Shiptracking data from LSEG & Kpler revealed that a liquefied gas (LNG), tanker, targeted by U.S. Sanctions, berthed to Russia's Arctic LNG 2 project on Thursday. This was the fifth LNG tanker in this project so far. Late in June, loadings at the Arctic LNG 2 Project resumed, sanctioned due to the war that Moscow waged in Ukraine. Four cargoes are also heading east towards Asia on sanctioned oil tankers. Buran was formerly known as North Air. Its name was changed to Buran in April, after the U.S. imposed sanctions on it last August. The shipping database Equasis revealed that...

Shiptracking data from LSEG/Kpler revealed that a liquefied gas (LNG), vessel subject to U.S. sanction, docked this week at Russia's Arctic LNG 2 facility, marking the second vessel sanctioned in this year to visit the plant. It could be a sign that Arctic LNG 2 has resumed loading, which is also under the same Western sanctions due to Russia's conflict in Ukraine. Kpler data shows that the tanker Voskhod unloaded itself as it approached the Arctic LNG 2 facility on Wednesday. Arctic LNG 2's first vessel of the year was the Iris. It loaded a cargo on the 26th of...

The 'London High Court' refused to allow Indian businessman Prateek gupta, who was found guilty of defrauding commodities trader Trafigura by using fake nickel cargoes. The Geneva-based 'Trafigura' alleged that Gupta had been the mastermind behind a fraudulent "Ponzi Scheme" where he and his firms agreed to deliver high-quality nickel 99.8% but delivered low-value materials or even worthless ones instead. Gupta admitted he didn't deliver high-grade Nickel cargoes, but said Trafigura?staff designed the scheme. Former Trafigura head nickel trader Sokratis Oikonomou denies this. Last month, Judge Pushpinder Saini found that Gupta's companies and Gupta had induced Trafigura to sign contracts...

Wall Street's love for artificial intelligence giants is cooling, and some investors are shifting their focus to infrastructure companies, which they believe will benefit from AI spending. This shift has spawned a number of new products. Shares of AI tech giants like Alphabet and Amazon have seen sharp drops after huge gains over the past few years. Investors are worried that returns on their "massive investments" in developing smarter AI system won't justify these lofty valuations. Asset managers say that investors should focus on companies receiving the checks, such as chipmakers, data centers, and utility firms, which provide the nuts...

Trafigura has won its London case against Indian businessman Prateek?Gupta regarding fake nickel cargoes on Friday. The High Court of London ruled in favor of the commodities 'trader. Trafigura, a Geneva-based company, claimed that Gupta and his companies were the masterminds of a fraudulent Ponzi scheme??in which they agreed to deliver high-quality nickel 99.8% but instead delivered low-value materials or even worthless ones. Gupta acknowledged he didn't deliver high-grade Nickel cargoes, but claims Trafigura staff designed the scheme. Former Trafigura head nickel trader Sokratis Oikonomou had denied this in his testimony given in November. Judge Pushpinder Saini ruled Trafigura had...

Data from the London Metal Exchange showed that the share of China-made Copper among the available London Metal Exchange stock fell in December. This was due to the outflows?of the inventory in the LME registered?warehouses?in Asia. The percentage of copper stocks that are available - or those on warrant The data revealed that 79% of the - in LME's warehouses were of Chinese origin at the end last month. This was down from 85%?in November. A LME warrant is an ownership document. The absolute number of Chinese copper stock on the LME dropped to 87,475 tons by the end last...

Indian businessman Prateek gupta was accused of orchestrating a $600m metals fraud by commodity group Trafigura. He told a court in India on Friday that he didn't know who within his companies had allegedly made fake documents for selling the same cargo to multiple customers. The long-running trial concluded on Friday with the testimony. It will resume again on December 10, for closing arguments. Trafigura, a Geneva-based company, sued Gupta in more than two years. It claimed that he had orchestrated a ruse where he and his firms agreed to deliver pure nickel instead of steel or scrap. Trafigura's lawyers...

Lawyers at Trafigura said that Prateek Gupta’s claims that the group devised a secret plan to exchange expensive nickel for low value metals are full of contradictions. The Indian businessman was giving evidence in an ongoing fraud case. Trafigura, a Swiss commodity trader, sued Gupta two years ago. It claimed that he was behind a scam where he and his firms agreed to deliver pure nickel but instead delivered scrap steel or other metals. Gupta countered by claiming that Trafigura staff themselves designed the scheme at the heart of the case. Trafigura, however, has denied this claim repeatedly. Gupta, who...

Lawyers for Trafigura accused Prateek gupta, an Indian businessman who gave his first testimony on Wednesday, of a long history of fraud. Gupta admitted that he was under investigation for fraud in India but denied these allegations when he appeared in the High Court of London. Trafigura, a Swiss company, sued Gupta two years ago. It claimed that he was behind a scam where he and his firms agreed to deliver pure nickel but instead delivered scrap steel or other metals. Nathan Pillow, a Trafigura lawyer, cited two more fraud cases in which low-value metals were substituted with nickel. Gupta...

China Gas Holdings, a privately-controlled city gas distributor, has hired an ex-senior trader of the Chinese utility GCL Group as its head of global natural gas sales. Xiong Xin was the head of gas trading for GCL New Energy Holdings (a unit of GCL Holdings), a solar power company, until early 2024. He joined China Gas in Oct. Xiong has nearly a decade's worth of experience in trading at the state oil giant CNOOC, and privately owned Chinese gas company ENN, before he joined GCL. He now heads China Gas’ growing liquefied gas trading business, as well as liquefied petrol...

Three sources with knowledge of the matter said that Trafigura had delivered large quantities to London Metal Exchange-approved warehouses in Malaysia to take advantage of a financial agreement. Sources said that they did not know the details of the deal, which could have been incentives or rent deals. Trafigura has declined to comment. On October 30, the LME-registered warehouses at Port Klang in Malaysia saw an increase of nearly 100,000 metric tonnes in their stock of aluminium. The total now stands at 366,850 tonnes. Sources said that Trafigura had put the majority of this aluminum on LME warrants, which are...

Aquilius Investment Partners, a Singapore-based company, announced on Monday that it had raised $1.1 billion to fund its second Asia Pacific Real Estate Secondaries Fund, making it the largest in the region. According to Preqin, secondaries, where investors purchase existing stakes in funds, are the fastest-growing alternative strategy globally. Data provider predicts that global alternative assets will reach $29.2 trillion in 2029. Secondaries are projected to grow at the fastest rate of 13.1% per year through 2029. This is due to slow exits and increasing private wealth demand. Aquilius announced in a press release that the fundraising included over $750...

ANE (Cayman), a Chinese-based transport and delivery services company, said Tuesday that a consortium including its largest shareholder Centurium Capital and Temasek, had offered to buy it out. The deal valued the group at HK$14.33bn ($1.84bn). Shareholders can choose between a cash payment of HK$12.18 for each ANE share, an alternative share, or a mix of both. The cash consideration represents a premium to the last closing price of the company on October 24, which was 29.6%. Centurium Capital owns around 24.32% ANE shares. Temasek, True Light and other investors do not hold any ANE shares. ANE had earlier this...

ANE (Cayman), said that it received on Friday a conditional offer from a consortium, including Centurium and Temasek, for a potential take-private transaction which could lead to the delisting of ANE from Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In a filing to the stock exchange, the Chinese transport and delivery company stated that an indicative proposal had been submitted on 17 September. It involved Centurium Capital which owns approximately 24,422% of ANE shares and entities related to Temasek, True Light Capital and other companies. After trading was resumed after the announcement on September 18, shares in ANE fell 12%. According to the...