City London Financial News

Packaging companies Smurfit Kappa (OTC:SMFKY) and WestRock (NYSE:WRK) have agreed to merge, creating the world's largest listed paper and packaging company valued at nearly $20 billion.

Shuntaro Shimizu (pictured) joins AVI after three years at Bain & Company.

China's foreign influence operations, it would represent a sensational case of infiltration. A 28-year-old British man who worked as a researcher deep inside Britain's Parliament was arrested in March on suspicion of working for the Chinese government. The man, who denies being a spy, worked with prominent lawmakers on China policy, raising fears of possible security breaches and widening a rift within the governing Conservative Party over how London should engage with an increasingly assertive Beijing. «The Chinese are infiltrating across the board; they go for anything and everything,» said Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London.

Henry Middleton (pictured) has taken on the role of managing director and head of wealth distribution for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia at Macquarie Asset Management.

LONDON (Reuters) -Shares in London-listed drugmaker AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) fell more than 4% on Monday, sliding to their lowest since July 19.

pharmaceutical industry may be spending $50bn a year on AI to speed up drug development. Most of the buzz revolves around AIs trained on biological data that could improve the hit-and-miss process of drug discovery. Drugs can take a decade to emerge, cost billions of dollars and succeed only 10% of the time.

China at the heart of the government in London, sparking fresh fears over how Beijing gathers intelligence. The incident follows allegations earlier this year that China flew a surveillance balloon over the United States, causing a diplomatic furore.

Indian Foreign Service officers played pivotal roles in India's successful bid to secure a consensus at the recent G20 Leaders Summit. As per a TOI report, these officers, working closely with India's G20 sherpa Amitabh Kant, were instrumental in navigating the challenging negotiations that spanned over 200 hours, involving 300 bilateral meetings and 15 draft revisions. Announcing the achievement on the microblogging site X, Amitabh Kant shared his appreciation for the tireless efforts of these diplomats.

car giant BMW is to make a multi-million pound investment in its Mini plants in the UK, the government in London said Monday. The money will be used to «transform» BMW's plant in Oxford, southern England, «securing 4,000 high-quality jobs and strengthening the electric vehicle supply chain,» the government said in a press release. «BMW's investment is another shining example of how the UK is the best place to build cars of the future,» said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. «By backing our car manufacturing industry, we are securing thousands of jobs and growing our economy right across the country,» he added, with his government having offered tens-of-millions of pounds in support for BMW. The first generation of the iconic British vehicle's electric model was launched at the Oxford plant in 2019, but last year BMW announced most of its electric cars would be made in China. The investment is expected to be used to make the plant fit for making electric vehicles, with all Minis set to be electric by 2030. «Today's announcement by BMW, coming a week after electric vehicle production started at Stellantis's site at Ellesmere Port, clearly shows that the government's plan for the automotive sector is working,» said Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has been arrested in connection with a Rs 371 crore corruption case, casting a shadow over the political landscape of the state just months before crucial elections. This move comes as a blow to Naidu's Telugu Desam Party (TDP), as several other prominent leaders from the party are also implicated in the alleged scam, which revolves around the Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation, established during Naidu's tenure. The investigation, led by the Crime Investigation Department (CID), has raised questions about the involvement of Naidu's son and TDP general secretary, Nara Lokesh, in the case, further intensifying the scrutiny surrounding the former Chief Minister's family. The alleged misappropriation of funds intended for the upskilling of unemployed youth in Andhra Pradesh has created a significant stir in the political arena.

China has lashed out at media reports alleging a man who was arrested on suspicion of espionage was gathering intelligence for Beijing, labelling the claim a «political farce».UK police said over the weekend that they had arrested a man in his twenties at his home in Edinburgh for spying, with the Sunday Times reporting he was a researcher in Britain's parliament. Officers from the Metropolitan Police Service arrested him, and another man in his thirties, in March on suspicion of offences under the Official Secrets Act and both have been bailed until October. The arrests led British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to tell Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the G20 summit in New Delhi that he had «very strong concerns» about Beijing's «interference» in democracy. Asked about the media reports that the British pair were «arrested on suspicion of providing intelligence to China», a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in London said it was «malicious slander». «The claim that China is suspected of 'stealing British intelligence' is completely fabricated and nothing but malicious slander,» the spokesperson said in a statement published late Sunday. «We firmly oppose it and urge relevant parties in the UK to stop their anti-China political manipulation and stop putting on such self-staged political farce.»

UK lawyers behind a $70 billion class action against BHP over the Samarco mine disaster will lobby Australian politicians, super funds and investors this week ahead of a major shareholder meeting for the mining giant.

Liberalised Remittance Scheme, in case of amounts exceeding ₹7 lakh in a financial year from October 1, is likely to push the sale of luxury brands in India, experts said. Covid had helped boost demand for luxury brands in India as international travel restrictions shifted sales to domestic stores. That is now set to get another boost due to narrowing of the price gap between foreign and local markets after accounting for the 20% tax collected at source (TCS), mall owners said. «An Indian consumer earlier used to go abroad and shop in Dubai or London, but when the pandemic happened, many of those brands like Chanel or Hermes called their Indian consumers to do small events inside the store.

trade deal. India’s ambassador in London, Vikram Doraiswami, went public recently to pacify UK’s anti-immigration lobbies (tied umbilically to the Rishi Sunak government) and to re-emphasize nuances in India’s demand for visas, intended to serve as a placatory gesture. Doraiswami’s statement raises concerns whether India is walking back from its stated position on movement of professionals, which is now part of the New Delhi G20 Declaration also, in its eagerness to conclude the trade deal.

Nawaz Sharif is likely to return to Pakistan next month, according to a media report on Saturday. Quoting sources present at a meeting in London where Sharif, the supreme leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), was speaking to his party workers, the Dawn newspaper reported that he «spoke about his return, but a clear date for travel has not been disclosed.» Sharif, 73, has been living in self-imposed exile in London since November 2019.

By Jonathan Stempel and Nate Raymond

₹3,589 crore, while overall TCPL reported consolidated revenue of ₹13,800 crore in FY23. TCPL’s acquisition of British tea company Tetley in 2000 was India’s first major cross-border acquisition, making it the second-largest tea company globally. TCPL is now using its distribution muscle to take more brands overseas.

A consortium of investors including Blackstone Inc. and Thomson Reuters Corp. raised about £2 billion ($3.4 billion) by offloading shares in London Stock Exchange Group PLC (LSEG) via an overnight placing.

A fintech owner in London is under scrutiny for allegedly assisting notorious drug traffickers in laundering hundreds of millions of euros through a crypto exchange platform. 

(This Sept. 7 story has been corrected to fix AFC's ownership structure based on updated guidance from the AFC in paragraph 3)

Tata Consumer Products Ltd. (TCPL) has taken its Soulfull brand of millet-based cereals overseas through a tie-up with British retail chain Tesco. Soulfull will sell cereals under the Joyfull muesli brand in the UK, where TCPL already has a significant presence through its brands - Tetley tea, Good Earth UK, and Teapigs.