S&P Global Ratings has withdrawn its A- long-term and A-2 short-term issue ratings on The Bank of East Asia's (HKG:0023) $2 billion multi-currency medium-term note program, according to a recent release.
The issuer, through its Singapore branch, requested the withdrawal, according to S&P.
The MTN program rating's retirement does not impact the bank's issuer credit ratings, S&P said.
Contact Energy (ASX:CEN, NZE:CEN) said the stake of Infratil (ASX:IFT) and Infratil Investments in the firm fell to 9.081% as of Monday from 14.081% previously, according to same-day filings with the Australian and New Zealand bourses.Infratil Investments signed a deal with Macquarie Securities (NZ), under which Infratil Investments appointed Macquarie Securities to underwrite, sell, and manage the disposal of 53.5 million ordinary shares in the firm held by Infratil Investments. The shares were allocated to investors at a sale price of NZ$9.25 per ordinary share.Infratil now holds 97.2 million shares of the firm.Contact Energy's shares rose nearly 1% in recent trading on Monday.
(Updates with comments from National Australia Bank in the last two paragraphs.)National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) intends to hire over 1,000 additional employees in India and Vietnam following a doubling of its headcount in both countries over the last three years, the Australian Financial Review reported Monday, citing an anonymous source inside the bank.The company has roughly 5,000 staff in India and around 2,000 in Vietnam, representing about 18% of its total workforce, according to the report.The reported overseas hiring plans come amid tensions over Australian banks reducing their domestic headcount."The notion that Australia lacks enough skilled workers, especially in technology and engineering, is laughable, given these are the exact types of jobs being targeted in sweeping job cuts happening across the finance sector as we speak," AFR cited Finance Sector Union national assistant secretary Nicole McPherson as saying.In a statement to, National Australia Bank said its overall workforce in Australia has increased over the last five years, while some of the growth in Asia is due to "insourcing capability that NAB had previously outsourced over a number of years.""Our workforce continues to evolve to ensure we can help customers more consistently at the times they need us, and to help us access great talent in key markets," the bank said.(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)
Australian Clinical Labs (ASX:ACL) said the Commonwealth Bank of Australia's (ASX:CBA) voting power in the company rose to 8.31% from 7.29% as of May 22, according to a Monday Australian bourse filing.The bank now holds 15.6 million ordinary shares of the firm.