Headlines

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is set to become a minority partner in UK department-store chain Selfridges after buying out the position of the now-insolvent Signa Group, Bloomberg News reported. The PIF will take a 40% stake in both the property and operating businesses of Selfridges, according to an emailed statement from current co-owner Central Group. The Thai retail conglomerate will own a 60% stake, with the deal including new investment from both shareholders to shore up Selfridges’ financial position.

Germany’s government has selected banks to arrange a potential selldown of power company Uniper SE, which could rank among the country’s biggest share sales in recent years, Bloomberg News reported. Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG and UBS Group AG have been appointed as joint global coordinators on the potential offering, the people said, declining to be identified because the information is private. More banks could be added to the lineup ahead of the share sale in the first quarter of next year.

More than one in ten British pubs are at imminent risk of closure, with 11% of the UK’s pubs classed as technically insolvent and facing maximum credit risk, according to analysis by accountancy firm Price Bailey, Harpers.co.uk reported. Price Bailey reviewed the credit risk scores and balance sheets of all 37,961 pubs and bars across the UK. It found that 7,445 establishments (20% of the total) have negative net assets, meaning they are technically insolvent. Among these, 4,310 pubs are categorised as having a Maximum Risk score, up from 3,380 a year earlier.

U.K. grocery inflation ticked up slightly after August’s fall, according to the latest report from research firm Kantar, the Wall Street Journal reported. Annual grocery inflation increased to 2% for the four weeks to Sept. 29, up from 1.7% recorded in the month prior. The data comes ahead of the government’s Autumn budget and shows consumer spending remains tight. Spending on promoted items continued to rise, increasing by 7.4% in September as households sought to manage their finances. In comparison, full price sales rose by just 0.3%.

China said it’s confident in reaching its economic targets this year and promised to further support growth, although it held back in unleashing more major stimulus in a disappointment to investors looking for more fuel for a world-beating stock rally, Bloomberg News reported. Officials in the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s economic planning agency, said Tuesday they would speed up spending while largely reiterating plans to boost investment and increase direct support for low-income groups and new graduates.

Mexico wants to reduce its dependence on imports from China and is asking some of the world’s biggest manufacturers and tech firms operating in the country to identify Chinese products and parts that could be made locally, the Wall Street Journal reported. The administration of leftist President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office last week, wants U.S.

The Reserve Bank of Australia remains concerned about a resurgence in inflation, which is likely to prevent it from joining the global rush by central banks to lower interest rates, at least in the near term, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Insolvencies among retail businesses jumped in the third quarter as business advisory giant PwC warned of a fresh spike in both retail and hospitality insolvencies in early 2025 amid ongoing stresses in the two sectors, the Irish Times reported. The retail sector now accounts for one in four of all insolvencies so far this year, PwC’s quarterly insolvency barometer found, with 76 retail businesses becoming insolvent in the three months to the end of September on top of 43 in each of the first two quarters.

The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) to release the transit rent of a cancer patient who vacated his premises in 2013, but had not been paid the transit rent for the last seven years as insolvency proceedings were initiated against the builder, Darshan Developer, the Free Press Journal reported.

China’s top economic planner will hold a press briefing on Tuesday to discuss a package of policies aimed at boosting economic growth, as investors look for more stimulus measures from President Xi Jinping’s government, Bloomberg News reported. The briefing, which is scheduled to start at 10 a.m., will include five senior officials from the National Development and Reform Commission, including Chairman Zheng Shanjie, according to a notice from the government on Sunday.