Mongolia and Cuba to cooperate in healthcare, agriculture and sports sectors www.akipress.com

AKIPRESS.COM - President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga welcomed Ambassador of Cuba Raul Delgado Concepcion for a bilateral meeting on October 20, Gogo Mongolia reported.

First Russian IPO in London since sanctions to test Western investor sentiment www.rt.com

Russian metals tycoon Oleg Deripaska would like to see a valuation of at least $8.5 billion for his aluminum and hydrocarbon business in the first Russian IPO in London since 2014.

The EN+ listing will test investor sentiment toward a major Russian company since relations between the Kremlin and the West deteriorated. The company is planning to raise $1.5 billion for 18 percent of its shares in the IPO in November and has priced the shares at $14 to $17. The $8.5 billion valuation would put En+ among Russia’s 30 biggest public companies.

Hedge fund sues Barclays Bank for £650M over alleged copper market rigging www.mining.com

Red Kite, the largest metals hedge fund in the world run by UK Conservative Party donor Michael Farmer, is alleging that Barclays Bank attempted to rig the copper market through insider dealings with the London Metal Exchange.

Noble Group to sell oil liquids unit to Vitol, flags $1.2 billion loss www.reuters.com

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Struggling commodities trader Noble Group agreed to sell its Americas-focused oil liquids business to Vitol for about $580 million as part of a debt-cutting strategy, and warned of a big loss for its third quarter.

Monday’s move came after Reuters reported late on Friday that Vitol, the world’s largest oil trader, was nearing a deal to buy Singapore-listed Noble’s oil liquids unit.

Once Asia’s biggest commodities trading house, Noble is slashing jobs and selling assets to reduce its debt and win support from its lenders after a crisis-wracked two years. In July it agreed to sell its smaller gas and power business to Mercuria as it focuses on its core Asian coal trading and LNG businesses.

Annisa Lee, Nomura’s head of Asia ex-Japan’s flow credit analysis, said the asset sale was expected and the “longer-term concern” was the ongoing operating losses.

“I guess the question is when are they going to basically turn around their business, which is quite key. If they can actually provide more details, what sort of assets they can still sell, that would be great,” she said.

Hong Kong-based Noble was plunged into crisis in February 2015 when Iceberg Research questioned its accounts, and then the company was hit by a commodities downturn.

While Noble has stood by its accounts, the upheaval triggered a share price collapse, credit downgrades, a series of writedowns, as well as fund raising and management changes. Noble’s market value has plummeted to less than $400 million from $6 billion in February 2015.

Noble warned of a total net loss of $1.1 billion to $1.25 billion in the three months ending September, citing non-cash losses and underlying trading results. This follows a $1.75 billion net loss reported in April-June.

In July, it announced an up-to-$1 billion disposal plan for assets outside North America over the next two years as Chairman Paul Brough, a restructuring specialist appointed in May, sought to tackle Noble’s more than $3 billion of debt.

“Conservative liquidity management and constraints placed on the group’s access to trade finance lines led to disruption costs and prevented the group from taking advantage of profitable trading opportunities,” the company said.

Its stock fell 10 percent on Monday, extending losses to 80 percent this year.

NEGOTIATIONS WITH LENDERS

Noble has been locked in negotiations with its core lenders to support a $2 billion credit facility, secured on its inventories and working capital.

“Whilst no assurance can be given as to the outcome of these discussions, the group believes that these are open and constructive, and are moving forward,” it said.

Noble said the gross proceeds from the proposed sale of its oil liquids business would be $1.4 billion, and after deducting indebtedness of about $836 million, the cash proceeds would be about $580 million.

In August, ratings agencies S&P and Moody’s cut their credit ratings on Noble, citing high default risks.

Noble is a big player in the global physical oil market, trading crude and refined products. But its operations shrank this year due to higher prices and liquidity constraints. The company has blending and wholesale capabilities in North America and the Caribbean, alongside long-term storage leases globally.

A purchase of Noble’s oil liquids business will reinforce Vitol’s position as a leading oil trader.

Tesla Strikes Deal With Shanghai to Build Factory in China www.wsj.com

Electric-car maker Tesla Inc. TSLA -1.91% has reached an agreement to set up its own manufacturing facility in Shanghai, according to people briefed on the plan, a move that could help the company gain traction in China’s fast-growing EV market.

The deal with Shanghai’s government will allow the Silicon Valley auto maker to build a wholly owned factory in the city’s free-trade zone, these people said. This arrangement, the first of its kind for a foreign auto maker, could enable Tesla to slash production costs, but it would still likely incur China’s 25% import tariff.

Tesla is currently working with the Shanghai government about details of the deal’s announcement, such as timing, one of these people said. The effort comes as President Donald Trump, who has been critical of China’s trade policies, prepares to visit Beijing early next month.

A Tesla spokesman didn’t have a comment beyond reiterating the company’s previous statement in June that it planned to “clearly define” production plans in China by year’s end. The Shanghai government didn’t reply to a request for comment.

China’s electric-vehicle market—already the world’s largest—is primed for growth. The Chinese government is targeting seven million EV sales a year by 2025, up from 351,000 last year, and in September it ordered all auto makers already operating in China to start producing EVs by 2019. Officials have also said they are working on a plan to ban gasoline cars.

China had previously circulated a proposal that would allow electric-car makers into the country without local partners if they were to locate in the so-called free-trade zones. The government set up the country’s first such zone in Shanghai in 2013, and has since approved 10 more around the country.

Until now, foreign auto makers have built cars in China through joint ventures with local manufacturers. That allows them to avoid the 25% tariff on autos, but also forces them to split profits, and potentially share technology, with the local partner—something that has tripped up Tesla’s previous efforts to expand there.

Under current rules, the cars Tesla builds in the free-trade zone would still count as imports and incur the tariff. Auto analysts in Shanghai doubt the Chinese government has any incentive to give Tesla special treatment.

“Government regulators examine every deal and try not to set a precedent,” said Bill Russo, chief executive of Automobility, a Shanghai-based consultancy, and a former Chrysler executive. “Whatever deal Tesla gets, others will want it too.”

A plant in Shanghai’s free-trade zone still has clear benefits, Mr. Russo said. It would give Tesla a base from which to export to the region, while offering proximity to the Chinese supply chain, thereby lowering production costs and the sale price of Tesla cars sold there. Today, a Tesla costs roughly 50% more in China than it does in the U.S.

Manufacturing in Shanghai would also put Tesla in good standing with the Chinese government, said Michael Dunne, an auto-industry consultant who spent years in Asia. Having Tesla cars built on Chinese soil would please Beijing officials, he said, which “in turn, will give Tesla goodwill leverage to negotiate better China market-access terms in the future.”

The auto maker reported more than $1 billion in revenue in China for 2016 on sales of roughly 11,000 imported vehicles, representing about 15% of total revenue. Sales in China were up from about $319 million in 2015.

In June, Tesla revealed it was in talks with the Shanghai government about the possibility of opening a factory and reiterated that it aims to define its China production plans by year’s end. A month earlier, Chief Executive Elon Musk cryptically had told analysts that a change in China rules would be “good timing.”

Mr. Musk has said Tesla could cut prices in China by one-third by reducing shipping costs and avoiding import duties.

Mr. Musk has previously signaled a desire to expand manufacturing capabilities in China and Europe. The company, which manufactures its vehicles in Fremont, Calif., does final assembly at a facility in Tilburg, Netherlands, for the European market.

Fremont is currently under pressure to expand manufacturing capacity to meet Mr. Musk’s ambitious goals of making 10,000 Model 3 sedans a week by the end of next year. The Model 3, priced starting at $35,000, is part of his vision for expanding the auto maker beyond selling luxury niche vehicles.

While the cost of introducing the new vehicle has left the auto maker with little cash to spare, investors’ enthusiasm for Mr. Musk’s vision has helped push shares of the company up more than 50% this year so far, propelling Tesla’s market value to rival General Motors Co.’s .

Chinese internet company Tencent Holdings Ltd. acquired a 5% stake in Tesla in March, giving Mr. Musk a powerful ally in China.

China helps Myanmar in development of monetary services: Banker www.xinhuanet.com

YANGON — The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has been helping Myanmar in development of the country's banking and monetary services by nurturing skilled banking personnel, He Biqing, general manager of ICBC's Yangon branch, has said.

Push to protect two of central Asia's rarest species www.gulf-times.com

Two of Central Asia's rarest species, Przewalski's Horse and the Gobi Bear, should be protected with stricter conservation measures, experts said ahead of an international conference in Manila.

Mongolia and ADB sign agreements to develop health, education master plans www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Mongolia signed two technical assistance (TA) agreements totaling $1.6 million to support the preparation of the country’s health and education sector master plans on October 20.

The Ministry of Finance’s Director General Dorjsembed Batsengee, and ADB Country Director Yolanda Fernandez Lommen signed the agreements at a ceremony in Ulaanbaatar. Additional co-signatories and witnesses included First Secretary Hiroshi Fukasawa of the Embassy of Japan in Mongolia, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Sports’ State Secretary J. Bolormaa and the Ministry of Health’s Director General D. Tumurtogoo.

“The projects will help the Government of Mongolia develop a long-term plan for the health and education sectors to realize the goals established in Mongolia’s Sustainable Development Vision 2030,” said Ms. Fernandez Lommen. “Ensuring all major stakeholders are engaged in the development of new health and education sector master plans is one of the key objectives of the projects. The projects are consistent with ADB’s 2017-2020 Mongolia country partnership strategy, which aims to help the government provide better social services.”

The two projects are financed by the Government of Japan through the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR), which has supported 50 projects focused on poverty alleviation, livelihood improvement, and environmental protection in Mongolia over the past 18 years.

The TA on the health sector will assess previous master plan and major sector reforms, define core strategies in priority areas, establish a stakeholder’s consultation and coordination mechanism, and develop a midterm expenditure framework, financial, and investment plans.

Under the project, the Institutional and Human Resource Capacity Building Program will provide formal and on-the-job training to help officials at the Ministry of Health and local governments improve policy planning and implementation coordination.

The education sector TA, meanwhile, will help the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science, and Sports and associated institutions manage and coordinate the process of developing, implementing, and monitoring an education sector master plan.

The TA will draw on in-depth education sector studies in Mongolia and reviews of international experience and lessons. Stakeholders and development partners will jointly review and discuss progress in the sector and identify priority policy and reform actions, physical investments, and institutional capacity development.

ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, ADB is celebrating 50 years of development partnership in the region. It is owned by 67 members—48 from the region. In 2016, ADB assistance totaled $31.7 billion, including $14 billion in co-financing.

JPMorgan partners with data start-up to boost fixed-income trading www.reuters.com

NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co has partnered with data analytics start-up Mosaic Smart Data to help its fixed-income sales and trading business become more profitable.The bank, whose fixed-income trading revenue slumped last quarter, has signed a multi-year deal to use Mosaic Smart Data’s technology division globally, the companies said in a joint statement released on Sunday.

Rio Tinto wants out of Grasberg now www.mining.com

While Phoenix-based Freeport McMoRan remains at loggerheads with the Indonesian government over selling a majority stake in its Grasberg mine in the remote Papua province, Rio Tinto is reported to be seeking an out sooner rather than later.