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The sovereign wealth fund will offer a 5 percent stake in the Middle East’s most profitable mobile-phone operator. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is set for what could be the biggest secondary offering of the year in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa as it looks to fund a huge investment program to diversify the oil-dependent economy. The Public Investment Fund plans to raise as much as $3.1 billion through the sale of shares in Saudi Telecom Co., offering a 5% stake in the Middle East’s most profitable mobile-phone operator, according to a statement to the stock exchange. A total of 100 million shares in STC, as the company is known, will be offered between 100 riyals ($26.70) to 116 riyals starting Dec. 5. The STC stake sale is set to eclipse the $2.8 billion share placement by Germany’s Siemens Healthineers AG in March, data compiled by Bloomberg show. STC’s shares are offered at a discount to Sunday’s closing price of 116.20 riyals. The stock has climbed over 6% this year,

The Former Japanese prime minister had warned of the serious consequences of Beijing taking the ‘wrong path’ over the self-ruled island. China’s foreign ministry summoned Japan’s ambassador in Beijing for an “emergency meeting” on Wednesday evening after former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said neither his country nor the United States could stand by if China attacked Taiwan. Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Hua Chunying called Abe’s remarks “erroneous” and a violation of basic norms of relations between China and Japan in the meeting with ambassador Hideo Tarumi, according to a statement from China’s foreign ministry. Abe’s comments “openly challenged China’s sovereignty and gave brazen support to Taiwan independence forces”, it cited Hua as saying. Speaking during a virtual address with the Institute for National Policy Research, a think-tank in Taiwan, Abe on Wednesday warned of the serious security and economic consequences of any Chinese military action against Taiwan and

Manufactory output improves amid an easing of critical supply bottlenecks. Japan’s factory activity grew in November at the fastest pace in nearly four years, as manufacturers’ output and order books improved with an easing of critical supply bottlenecks. Businesses, however, said cost pressures remained an issue as materials shortages and delivery delays caused input prices to surge the most in 13 years. The final au Jibun Bank Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) in November rose to 54.5 on a seasonally adjusted basis, marking its fastest pace of expansion since January 2018. The figure, which compared with the prior month’s 53.2 and a 54.2 flash reading, also marked the 10th straight month of expansion in manufacturing activity. “The Japanese manufacturing sector continued to see an improvement in operating conditions midway through the fourth quarter,” said Usamah Bhatti, an economist at IHS Markit, which compiles the survey. Bhatti said manufacturers reported a sus

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says big tech firms have a responsibility to ensure their platforms are safe. Australia will conduct a wide-ranging parliamentary inquiry into the behavior of the world’s largest technology companies and the need for new legislation, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday. Australia has led global efforts to rein in the powers of the likes of Alphabet and Facebook, installing legislation that has been heralded as a model for others to copy. Raising the possibility of additional regulation, Morrison said on Wednesday that the new inquiry will have a wide scope, including asking the committee lawmakers to investigate the algorithms used by social media platforms, how the companies verify identification and age, and the extent to which restrictions on these are being enforced. “Big tech has big questions to answer,” Morrison told reporters. “Big tech created these platforms, they have a responsibility to ensure they’re safe.” New laws The announcemen

Israel’s Tel Aviv has leapfrogged Hong Kong and Singapore to become the world’s most expensive city to live in, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The Israeli city climbed from fifth place last year to top the Worldwide Cost of Living 2021 report for the first time, pushing Paris down to the joint second place with Singapore. Zurich and Hong Kong rounded out the top five.  The soaring shekel and price increases for goods including groceries and transport were the main factors in Tel Aviv taking the top spot, according to the EIU. It said prices for goods and services studied across cities had risen 3.5% year-on-year in local currency terms, compared with 1.9% last year. The inflation rate was the fastest recorded for the past five years. Cost increases were the biggest for transport as higher oil prices boosted the price of unleaded petrol by 21%. Other key findings in the study include: Rome saw the biggest drop in the ranking from 32nd to 48th place Tehran leaped fro