7-Eleven proprietor poised to reject Couche-Tard takeover bid

Good morning. At the moment we’re overlaying:

• The AstraZeneca workers beneath investigation in China

• China’s new again doorways into western markets

• Why India struggles at sport

We begin, nevertheless, with information on the international takeover bid for 7-Eleven’s Japanese proprietor.

The board of Seven & i Holdings is poised to reject the opening provide from Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard, and its pursuit of Japan’s biggest-ever buyout by a international firm.

In keeping with three folks near the Japanese firm, a particular committee arrange by Seven & i to look at Couche-Tard’s bid final month will describe the provide as inadequate and lift considerations that the deal would set off competitors investigations from regulators.

In a response to Couche-Tard that the identical folks mentioned could possibly be despatched as quickly as in the present day, the Japanese firm will go away open the chance for the Canadian group to return with the next provide, and hold the method operating on a pleasant foundation for now.

Learn extra in regards to the Seven & i board’s opposition to the takeover strategy.

Right here’s what else I’m maintaining tabs on in the present day and over the weekend:

• Essential US jobs report: At stake in in the present day’s knowledge, traders consider, is the probably measurement of the Federal Reserve’s first rate of interest minimize later this month. It should even be carefully watched after July’s report undershot expectations, triggering a brutal market sell-off world wide.

• Summit: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida begins a two-day go to to Seoul, the place he’ll meet South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

How nicely did you retain up with the information this week? Take our quiz.

5 extra high tales

1. AstraZeneca mentioned a “small number” of its workers are beneath investigation by police in China. The UK drugmaker’s assertion got here after a report that 5 present and former workers had been detained over attainable infringement of knowledge privateness legal guidelines and the distribution of a liver most cancers drug that had not been permitted within the nation.

2. China’s largest banks are getting ready to subject tons of of billions of {dollars} in loss-absorbing bonds designed to keep away from the expensive authorities bailouts that swept Europe and the US within the aftermath of the 2008 monetary disaster. However score companies nonetheless count on Beijing to help the nascent market in occasions of disaster.

3. President Emmanuel Macron has named the EU’s former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier as France’s subsequent prime minister. Barnier is a veteran of France’s conservative Les Républicains, a celebration Macron has wooed to discover a candidate with a shot at commanding majority help within the Nationwide Meeting. Right here’s how French political actors reacted to Barnier’s appointment.

4. Unique: Russia has been pressured to start out storing gasoline from Vladimir Putin’s Arctic LNG 2 undertaking, in an indication that western sanctions are deterring consumers. In keeping with ship-tracking knowledge and satellite tv for pc pictures, three vessels have shipped liquefied pure gasoline from the undertaking, which is beneath US sanctions, because it began loading operations final month.

5. Donald Trump has unveiled a sweeping plan to decrease costs and minimize crimson tape and mentioned he would appoint the world’s richest man Elon Musk to assist him. The Republican candidate sought to attract a distinction with Kamala Harris’s financial imaginative and prescient in a speech to an viewers of Wall Avenue executives.

What are the implications of the US election for Asia? Be a part of us on September 26 for a webinar analyzing the attainable financial and political penalties, with an emphasis on how the competition will form monetary markets and world commerce. Register totally free right here.

The Huge Learn

Chinese language firms are establishing store in international locations resembling Singapore, Vietnam and Eire, hoping to bypass protectionist measures imposed by western powers towards China-based firms. However as extra Chinese language exports are rerouted by these jurisdictions, officers within the US and Europe are rising more and more involved about the emergence of again doorways into their markets.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

Chart of the day

Rory Inexperienced, chief China economist at TS Lombard, discovered that GDP defined about 90 per cent of the variation in medal counts on the Paris Olympics. However India, the world’s fifth-largest economic system, received simply six medals this yr. Why is it so dangerous at sport? Tej Parikh explains.

Take a break from the information

Family mess is an unavoidable truth of life — so why cover it from visitors? Oliver Burkeman is embracing “scruffy hospitality”, an idea that may be precious sufficient if all it conveyed was permission to place rather less effort into maintaining a pristine house. However there’s extra to it.

Further contributions from Melody Abike Adebisi and Tee Zhuo