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KKR is expanding its operations to target more takeovers in the UK, as the record-breaking pursuit of British companies by private equity firms reignites a debate over the role of the buyout industry in the economy. One of the world’s largest private equity firms will set up a new team of five dealmakers to focus

Beijing has broadened a crackdown on tech platforms, targeting more US-listed companies after ordering the removal of ride-sharing group Didi Chuxing from Chinese app stores in a move that sent tech shares tumbling. The Cyberspace Administration of China on Monday announced it was investigating Boss Zhipin, an online recruitment company, and Chinese truck-hailing apps Yunmanman

Hackers began a global ransomware attack on Friday, hitting more than 1,000 companies, and forcing Sweden’s Coop grocery chain to close hundreds of stores. In what appears to be one of the largest supply chain attacks to date, hackers compromised Kaseya, an IT management software supplier, in order to spread ransomware to the managed service

Opec and its allies failed to reach an agreement on raising oil production on Friday as talks hit a deadlock for a second day, with the UAE remaining opposed to a deal that does not address concerns over its own output target. As oil prices traded close to the highest level in three years, around

The world’s leading economies have signed up to a plan to force multinational companies to pay a global minimum corporate tax rate of at least 15 per cent following intense negotiations in Paris at the OECD. The historic agreement among 130 countries will ensure the largest companies, including Big Tech, pay at least $100bn a

The US and Japan have been conducting war games and joint military exercises in the event of a conflict with China over Taiwan, amid escalating concerns over the Chinese military’s assertive activity. US and Japanese military officials began serious planning for a possible conflict in the final year of the Trump administration, according to six

The EU’s justice commissioner has vowed to fight back against a proliferation of legal challenges and rulings by member states that have attacked the supremacy of EU law, warning that they could destroy the union itself. In an interview with the Financial Times, Didier Reynders said that this increased questioning of the primacy of EU

German finance minister Olaf Scholz has dismissed calls for reform of German and EU fiscal rules, saying they provide enough flexibility to overcome crises such as the pandemic. But in an interview with the Financial Times, Scholz, who is also the Social Democrat’s candidate for chancellor in September’s federal election, said Germany must continue its

China’s strengths as a cyber power are being undermined by poor security and weak intelligence analysis, according to new research that predicts Beijing will be unable to match US cyber capabilities for at least a decade. The study, published on Monday by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, comes as a series of hacking campaigns

US president Joe Biden has walked back his threat to refuse to sign a $1tn bipartisan infrastructure deal unless it is accompanied by a larger and more comprehensive spending package, in a sharp U-turn by the White House just two days after reaching the landmark cross party deal. The abrupt shift from Biden came after

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to more than 22 years in prison on Friday for the murder of George Floyd, whose death became a watershed moment in the national debate over race and policing.  The 270-month sentence handed down by Judge Peter Cahill was 10 years longer than state guidelines had suggested,

US President Joe Biden said he had reached a deal with a bipartisan group of senators on an infrastructure spending package worth about $1tn, a major step towards enacting one of his top economic priorities. Biden announced the agreement to reporters outside the White House on Thursday, after meeting with the moderate senators who forged

Germany and France have called for a new EU strategy of closer engagement with Russia to build on discussions with Moscow in the wake of US president Joe Biden’s Geneva summit with Vladimir Putin.  Diplomats said Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, wants the EU to consider inviting the Russian president to a summit with EU

Morgan Stanley employees and clients who have not received their Covid-19 vaccine will be barred from entering the bank’s New York offices, according to an internal memo seen by the Financial Times. “Starting July 12 all employees, contingent workforce, clients and visitors will be required to attest to being fully vaccinated to access Morgan Stanley

Global shares sank as a sell-off ignited by a hawkish shift in the US central bank’s stance on inflation deepened in Asia on Monday. Japan’s Topix index dropped 2.6 per cent in early trading in the region while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 1.9 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.4 per cent and

The Delta coronavirus variant that swept the UK has become dominant in Portugal and appeared in clusters across Germany, France and Spain, prompting European health officials to warn further action is needed to slow its spread.  While the new strain, which first emerged in India, still only accounts for a fraction of the total coronavirus

Ebrahim Raisi, a conservative cleric, was set for a landslide victory in Iran’s presidential election that would give regime hardliners complete control over all branches of the state for the first time in almost a decade. Raisi’s two main rivals conceded on Saturday and congratulated the 60-year-old who many Iranians believe is the favoured candidate

Stocks on Wall Street had their worst week in nearly four months after comments from Federal Reserve policymakers that signalled the US central bank was acutely aware of budding inflationary pressures. The benchmark S&P 500 slid 1.3 per cent on Friday, taking its losses for the week to 1.9 per cent. Roughly 90 per cent

Global stocks continued a steady descent from record highs reached earlier in the week and the dollar strengthened after the US central bank brought forward the anticipated timing of its first post-pandemic interest rate rise. The FTSE All-World index of developed and emerging market stocks, which hit a closing record on Monday, headed for its

Federal Reserve officials expect to start raising interest rates in 2023, earlier than previously forecast, according to new economic projections that predicted faster growth and sharply higher inflation this year. At the end of its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday, the US central bank kept its main interest rate on hold at the rock-bottom range

US president Joe Biden has tapped Lina Khan, a prominent critic of the power of large technology companies, to chair the Federal Trade Commission, according to a person familiar with the matter. Biden’s decision elevates the 32-year old Columbia University Law School professor to a powerful antitrust role in his administration, as lawmakers in Congress

The Biden administration is considering an investigation into whether imports of rare earth magnets made largely in China pose a national security threat that could warrant the imposition of tariffs. The White House said the commerce department would examine whether to probe neodymium magnets, which are used to manufacture everything from smartphones to electric vehicle

Bill Ackman has already once tried — and failed — to redefine the Spac. Now he is trying again. The hedge fund manager’s special purpose acquisition company, Pershing Square Tontine Holdings, which raised $4bn last year, was not just the largest blank-cheque vehicle ever launched. It did away with some of the perks for founders,

The surge of trading in offbeat stocks is duping inexperienced investors in to high costs and a battle with Wall Street that they cannot win, according to the founder of one of the largest trading firms in the world. Zero-commission trading helps to build an illusion that amateur investors have never had it better, Alex

Americans love pick-up trucks. Carmakers hope they will get a jolt of excitement from electric ones too. When Ford unveiled the F-150 Lightning last month, it became the latest US carmaker to unveil a product to compete in a segment that comprised about 20 per cent of the US auto market’s 14.4m sales in 2020.

Brussels has warned that it is ready to intensify retaliation against the UK if Boris Johnson further postpones applying the two sides’ deal on Northern Ireland, in another sign of strained relations ahead of talks this week.  EU Brexit commissioner Maros Sefcovic, writing in the Daily Telegraph, warned that “unilateral action” by the UK to

Narendra Modi, Indian prime minister, has announced that his government will offer Covid-19 vaccines to all citizens for free, reversing a much-derided policy requiring India’s states to buy their own jabs at higher prices. India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, has for weeks been battling a severe shortage of jabs. Thousands of British tourists are

Europe risks falling behind the US and China in efforts to decarbonise unless it legislates for a radical expansion of renewable energy, said leaders of the bloc’s chemicals and wind power industries. This would require a shake-up of national planning rules, and greater coherence in energy investment across the EU, according to Martin Brudermüller, chair

Biogen’s decision to price its newly approved Alzheimer’s treatment at $56,000-a-year has reignited the debate over the high cost of drugs in the US, the world’s largest and most profitable healthcare market. Shortly after securing US approval on Monday for the first new Alzheimer’s medicine in almost two decades, the Massachusetts-based biotech group announced a

Kamoa-Kakula in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a rare commodity in the modern resources industry: a high-grade copper mine that one day could produce enough metal to satisfy more than 5 per cent of China’s annual demand. Surrounded by small villages, the mine employs around 7,000 workers and has its own road for trucks