By Reuters Staff
4 Min Read
BEIJING, May 25 (Reuters) - China’s market regulator has begun an investigation into suspected anti-competitive practices by KE Holdings, the country’s biggest housing broker whose top backer is Tencent Holdings, two people who know of the matter said.
The investigation is the latest into China’s big so-called “platform” companies that match sellers and buyers, several of which have been accused by regulators of exploiting consumers.
KE Holdings, which operates housing platforms Lianjia and Beike in China, was warned last month by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), along with dozens of internet companies, against any abuse of market dominance and told to conduct self-inspections.
3 Min Read
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian beef producer Marfrig Global Foods SA tried to acquire control of rival Minerva SA before it announced late on Friday it had bought a stake in poultry and pork processor BRF SA, a person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Monday.
FILE PHOTO: A worker cuts up joints of beef at the Marfrig Group slaughterhouse in Promissao, 500 km northwest of Sao Paulo October 7, 2011. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker
The source, who requested anonymity to disclose private discussions, said the talks were interrupted last week, after Marfrig took the stake in BRF, due to concerns about potential problems with Brazilian antitrust agency CADE.
3 Min Read
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -European Union antitrust regulators fined UBS, UniCredit and Nomura 371 million euros ($452 million) on Thursday in connection with a European government bond trading cartel.
FILE PHOTO: European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium May 5, 2021. REUTERS/Yves Herman
The penalties are the latest to punish the financial industry for alleged involvement in foreign exchange cartels, Euribor and Libor benchmark cartels, and bonds cartels.
The three banks said in statements that they would appeal or were considering doing so.
The European Commission said the European government bond cartel ran from 2007 to 2011, with traders from the banks informing each other on their prices and volumes offered in the run-up to the auctions and the prices being shown to their customers or to the market in general via multilateral chatrooms on Bloomberg terminals.
3 Min Read
LONDON/MADRID (Reuters) - Britain’s competition regulator cleared a $44 billion merger between broadband company Virgin Media and Telefonica’s UK mobile network O2 on Thursday, after a months-long review.
FILE PHOTO: A man walks past an O2 phone store in Manchester, Britain March 7, 2016. REUTERS/Phil Noble
Virgin owner Liberty Global and Spain’s Telefonica, who agreed a year ago to forge a broadband and mobile powerhouse to challenge market leader BT, hailed the decision as “a watershed moment in the history of telecommunications in the UK”.
“We are reassured that competition amongst mobile communications providers will remain strong and it is therefore unlikely that the merger would lead to higher prices or lower quality services,” Martin Coleman of Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said.