Falling paper prices hurt HK scavengers

By Anna Timone:What has been perhaps the most significant factor in the European Debt Crisis for the currencies markets has not been the actual event itself, but the reaction of global central bankers. The rounds of quantitative easing that have been used to combat falling asset prices have engendered profound consequences not previously considered. Certainly among those roiling the markets has been the detachment of gold from its traditional link to fiat currencies.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong businessman Richard Li, the younger son of Asia's ri

Every morning Kong Kit Tam raids rubbish bins for paper and cardboard. He's one of Hong Kong's 10,000 scavengers who are struggling to get by as the European debt crisis depresses demand for boxed goods.

Manulife Financial Corp., Canada’s largest insurer, agreed to buy an office building in Hong Kong from a unit of Wheelock & Co. for HK$4.5 billion (US$580 million). The Toronto-based insurer will buy the 512,000-square-foot Kowloon East building, scheduled for completion in 2015, from developer Wheelock Properties Ltd. the two companies said in a joint statement. Manulife will use the 21-story building as its Hong Kong headquarters, they said.

A Hong Kong tycoon is facing prosecution for alleged bribery and money laundering in connection with a government land sale on the Cotai casino strip in Macau, his company said.In the latest corruption scandal to hit Hong Kong's business elite, Chinese Estates Holdings said its chief executive Joseph Lau denied attempting to bribe a jailed former senior official over the land tender.Lau, 61, is ranked fifth on Forbes magazine's list of richest people in Hong Kong, Asia's banking and financial centre, with a fortune estimated at $6.5 billion.

By ChinaBio Today: Deals and Transactions