Asia

As well as the UK’s largest and most recognisable airport, Heathrow Airport Holdings also owns Stansted, Southampton, Glasgow and Aberdeen airports. The deal will see CIC pay £450 million for its stake.

The deal represents CIC’s second major investment in UK infrastructure following its purchase of 8.68 percent of the firm behind Thames Water back in January 2012.

Despite rising wages in China, where most of its factories are based, Hon Hai announced that net profit for the first nine months of 2012 rose by 24 percent, to $1.9 billion, compared to the same period in 2011.

The announcement comes as a time when global airlines have been increasing their levels of cooperation in the face of rising fuel prices. Reacting to the news, analysts state that it shows that Singapore Airlines, the second biggest airline in the world, is backing Virgin to counter the threat Qantas poses in Asia’s lucrative aviation market.

Chief executive officer Greg Young discusses the ways in which the company is helping transform Sri Lanka into an information and telecommunications hotspot.

The bank’s purchasing managers index (PMI) rose to 49.1 this month, its highest level in three months. Aided by an increase in new orders, the figure is the latest in a long line to suggest an improvement in fortunes for the world’s second biggest economy.

Owned by the Tata Group, IHC is India’s biggest hotel operator. The offer for Orient-Express stands at $12.63 per share for the 93 percent of the US-listed company that it does not already own. This represents a 40 percent premium on Orient-Express’ closing price on Wednesday.

The last month of the quarter in particular brought with it an acceleration in industrial output, retail sales and fixed-asset investment, highlighting that the momentum of the economy was especially strong in September.

Key economic indicators released on the same day show that China’s industrial production rose by 9.2 percent in September from a year earlier. Retail sales during the same month were 14.2 percent higher, signalling that domestic consumption is on the rise.

Despite a slight slowdown in Chinese growth, Coca-Cola’s profits increased by four percent compared to 2011, with Asia continuing to represent a key component of the firm’s success.

Particular areas of substantial growth during this period have included Thailand, where sales have jumped by 19 percent, and India, which has experienced a 15 percent rise. This growth comes after the company has already unveiled plans to increase its investment in the region in a bid to boost its market share.

The latest release of customs data shows China’s exports grew 9.9 percent compared to last year and by 2.7 percent compared to the month of August. At the same time the country’s import figures have shown a growth of 2.4 percent following three consecutive months of declines.

According to the data, China’s exports to the US increased at their fastest pace in three months, while copper imports rose to a four month high. Meanwhile, purchases of iron ore were the biggest since January 2011.