Around the world

CMPort invests in Australia

China Merchants Port Holdings Co (CMPort) announced on Wednesday that it had entered an agreement with China Merchants Union Ltd and Gold Newcastle Property Holding to acquire their interest of 50 percent in Australia's Port of Newcastle for a total consideration of A$607.5 million ($478.35 million).

The remaining 50 percent interest in Port of Newcastle is held by TIF Investment Trust, an independent third party.

The acquisition of Port of Newcastle is the first step for CMPort to invest in Oceania, and it would complement the firm's current trading network.

Stake in Bangladesh exchange

A consortium of China's Shenzhen and Shanghai stock exchanges is the front-runner to buy a 25 percent stake in Bangladesh's Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) for about 9.92 billion taka ($128 million), Bangladesh news site newagebd.net reported on Wednesday.

The DSE board of directors on Tuesday agreed to reach a deal with the Chinese consortium, it said.

DSE shareholder-director Rakibur Rahman said the consortium had submitted a tender offering 22 taka per share for the stake. Out of the total shares, 25 percent will be sold to strategic partners.

Huawei procurement in the UK

Huawei said on Tuesday it will spend a further 3 billion pounds ($4.2 billion) on procurement in the UK as the world's largest telecom equipment maker seeks alternatives to the US.

Huawei said its chairperson Sun Yafang made the pledge in a meeting last week with UK Prime Minister Theresa May during a trade mission to China that resulted in deals worth 9.3 billion pounds.

The procurement deals would include the global risk management and foreign exchange trading operations it runs out of London as well as patent licensing fees that Huawei pays out to British technology firms.