the bottomline

DUBAI:

Bahrain’s Al Baraka Banking Group has launched a $400 million Tier 1 sukuk with a 7.875 percent profit rate, a document issued by one of the banks leading the deal showed on Tuesday.

Initial price guidance for the perpetual Islamic bond, which is non callable for five years, was set in the low-to mid-8 percent area earlier on Tuesday.

Standard Chartered Bank is the global coordinator for the transaction, joined as bookrunner by Bank ABC, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD Capital, KFH Capital, Noor Bank, and QInvest. (RTRS)

WASHINGTON:

The US government has filed a civil lawsuit accusing Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV of using software to bypass emission controls in diesel vehicles, the Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday.

The US Justice Department suit is a procedural step that may ramp up pressure on Fiat Chrysler. The suit could ultimately help lead to a settlement, as in an earlier probe of rival Volkswagen AG that will cost VW up to $25 billion, but which affected a much larger number of vehicles.

VW admitted to intentionally cheating while Fiat Chrysler denies wrongdoing. It did not immediately comment on Tuesday.

Fiat Chrysler shares fell 3 percent in the minutes after Reuters’ report of the suit and were last down 2.4 percent at $10.50 in midday US trading. (RTRS)

NEW YORK:

Elliott Management will add three members to the board at Arconic, and one will have a say in naming the next CEO.

Elliott owns more than 13 percent in Arconic Inc and has pushed for management changes, complaining of underperformance at the New York-based maker of aluminum parts for the aviation and automotive industries. Arconic was created after Alcoa Inc was split in two last year.

As part of the agreement announced Monday, one of Elliott’s board members will also be added to the CEO search committee. And Elliott’s replacement choice — Former Spirit AeroSystems CEO Larry Lawson — will be considered. (AP)

INDIANAPOLIS:

Carrier Corp. is releasing a timeline for eliminating 632 jobs at the company’s Indianapolis factory — work that will be outsourced to Mexico.

Company officials said in a letter released Monday that 338 jobs would be cut by July 20. Another 290 will be out of work by Dec 22.

United Steelworkers Local 1999 Vice President Robert James says it’s “cold” to put people out of work just days before Christmas.

President Donald Trump made the plight of 1,400 Carrier workers a major campaign theme. Under pressure from Trump, Carrier announced last November that it would keep some operations in Indianapolis, sparing about 800 workers. (AP)

LONDON:

UDG Healthcare Plc could spend up to $600 million for acquisitions, its chief executive said, after the company raised its full-year earnings estimate as a recent acquisition helped prop up profit in the first half.

The healthcare services provider on Tuesday reported a 19 percent jump in pretax profit for the first six months ended March 31, sending its shares up 6 percent to a record high of 812.50 pence.

“We’ve looked at acquisitions — small $20 million ones right up to $200-$300 million — and in total, the consideration we could use is $500-$600 million,” Chief Executive Brendan McAtamney told Reuters. (RTRS)

LONDON:

British buy-to-let mortgage lender Paragon Group of Companies Plc reported a marginal fall in first-half profit, but said its buy-to-let pipeline had more than doubled as full-year lending volumes topped its expectations.

Paragon, which has been diversifying its business from its core buy-to-let mortgage market, made a pretax profit of 69.4 million pounds ($90.1 million) in the six months ended March, down from 69.5 million pounds a year earlier.

The company raised its interim dividend by 9.3 percent to 4.7 pence per share. Its return on tangible equity, a key measure of profitability, improved to 13.5 percent from 12.7 percent a year ago. (RTRS)

AMSTERDAM:

US-based coatings firm PPG said Tuesday it preferred negotiating a multi-billion-euro takeover of AkzoNobel, the world’s leading paintmaker, as disgruntled shareholders seek to push the Dutch firm to consider the buyout offer.

“PPG remains very interested in persuing a consensual, privately negotiated, substantive deal with AkzoNobel,” PPG’s chief executive Michael McGarry told journalists in Amsterdam.

“That has always been our desire and that remains our current desire,” McGarry said, a day after a group of disgruntled AzkoNobel shareholders, including activist fund manager Elliott Advisors, clashed with Akzo managers in an Amsterdam business court. (AFP)

MUMBAI:

Indian carmaker Tata Motors Tuesday reported a 17 percent fall in quarterly profits, as the pound depreciated against the rupee following Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.

The company’s consolidated net profit for the three months ending March fell to 43.36 billion rupees ($668.72 million) from 52.11 billion rupees a year earlier, the Mumbai-based company said in a statement.

Revenue fell 2.6 percent to 789.81 billion rupees.

Jaguar Land Rover, one of Tata Motors’ key products, relies heavily on the UK market for its revenue and sales. (AFP)

WASHINGTON:

Banamex, the Mexican affiliate of US banking giant Citigroup, will forfeit $97.4 million after admitting to having a weak anti-money laundering program, the US Justice Department announced Monday.

The penalty resolves a criminal probe at Banamex USA after investigators found that from 2007 through 2012, Banamex conducted fewer than 10 investigations on more than 18,000 alerts involving more than $142 million in potentially suspicious transactions totalling more than $142 million, the Justice Department said.

The Justice Department signed a nonprosecution agreement with Banamex USA after it agreed to invest in remediation and cooperated with the criminal probe, the agency said.

The penalty is on top of $140 million in civil fines Banamex paid to US and California agencies over a separate bank secrecy act probe. (AFP)