Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc met privately with key Seven & i Holdings Co shareholders as the Canadian firm ramps up pressure on the operator of 7-Eleven convenience stores to engage in takeover talks.

Seven & i signs confidentiality pact with Canada’s Couche-Tard

Seven & i Holdings Co said it’s engaging with Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc on ways to ease antitrust concerns over a potential combination of the retailers while denying conflict-of-interest allegations raised by a major shareholder.

Shareholder push Seven & i to engage with Couche-Tard

Seven & i Holdings Co shares were stuck in choppy trading after the company denied a media report that it was rebuffing a US$47 billion (RM210 billion) takeover offer from Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.

Seven & i shares fall amid report it may reject buyout offer

Seven & i Holdings Co will appoint board member Stephen Dacus as the chief executive officer to replace Ryuichi Isaka, the Nikkei newspaper reported citing unidentified sources, in changes seen as a renewed effort to prevent the Japanese retailer’s takeover.

Japan's Seven & i to appoint first foreign CEO, Nikkei reports

Seven & i Holdings Co’s profit declined 24% on broader retail weakness despite some signs of recovery at its convenience stores in Japan and North America, which could make it harder to stave off investor pressure to engage with a takeover approach from Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.

Seven & I profit drops despite recovery in convenience stores

Top Glove Corporation Bhd (KL:TOPGLOV) will likely turn in smaller-than-expected profits for fiscal 2025, analysts said while flagging rising risk from Chinese rivals.

Top Glove faces rising risks from Chinese rivals, analysts flag after weaker-than-expected 2Q

Australia's dominant supermarket chains have benefited from wider profit margins at a time of rapidly increasing shelf prices, the competition regulator said in a new report on Thursday, and called for measures to make the industry fairer.

Australia's supermarkets grew profit margins as living costs soared, says regulator

Laksana Amanbina Sdn Bhd (Laksana) has won the design and build infrastructure tender in Penang Science Park South (PSPS) at a contract sum of RM125 million from Penang Development Corp (PDC).

Laksana Amanbina gets RM125 mil design and build infrastructure contract in Penang Science Park South

China plans to add to its strategic reserves of key industrial metals this year, an effort to boost the resilience of critical minerals supply at time when energy-transition demand is increasing and geopolitical tensions are running high.

China to add cobalt, copper in boost to state metal reserves

For months, President Prabowo Subianto’s moves to chip away at Indonesia’s long-established economic guardrails have stoked anxiety in markets. This week’s sudden rout suggests investor patience is wearing thin.

Prabowo faces investor revolt over Indonesia’s economic path

South Korean chemicals companies are racing to tap new markets after racking up hundreds of millions of dollars in losses in the face of a deluge of capacity from China, their biggest market.

South Korean plastics giants struggle as China becomes a rival

Shares of Lim Seong Hai Capital Bhd (KL:LSH) fell 17% on its first-ever trades on the ACE Market after the construction firm raised RM168.08 million as part of its transfer from the LEAP Market.

Lim Seong Hai Capital opens 17% lower on ACE Market debut

From the Philippines to Senegal, billions of people are finding it easier to feed their families now that rice prices have plunged off 15-year highs.

Rice price drop brings relief to billions, risk for farmers

Japan's core inflation hit 3.0% in February and an index stripping away the effect of fuel rose at the fastest pace in nearly a year, a sign of broadening price pressure that reinforces market expectations of further interest rate hikes.

Japan's core inflation hits 3% in February, keeps alive BOJ rate-hike bets

MORNING CALL: 21/3/25

Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd (KL: CMSB) has initiated legal action against its deputy chairman Datuk Seri Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib over alleged breaches of trust and fiduciary duties in relation to a failed enterprise resource planning (ERP) system under the company’s digital transformation project.

Cahya Mata Sarawak sues deputy chairman Abu Bekir Taib, five others over failed project

Here is a brief recap of some business news and corporate announcements that made the headlines on Thursday.

Salcon, Scanwolf, Reservoir Link, Pharmaniaga, IJM, Lagenda Properties, Land & General, Hextar Global, Top Glove, Cahya Mata Sarawak, Iskandar Waterfront City

Asian equities were primed to track declines on Wall Street as traders weighed the impact of a trade war against robust US housing and jobs data.

Asian stocks poised to fall as trade fears return

Shares of Lim Seong Hai Capital Bhd (KL:LSH) fell 17% on its first-ever trades on the ACE Market after the construction firm raised RM168.08 million as part of its transfer from the LEAP Market.

The Bank of Thailand, which has long resisted interest-rate cuts despite immense political pressure, may end up having to embark on the region’s most aggressive easing cycle as a sluggish economy takes a turn for the worse, according to analysts.

Thailand may yet embark on Southeast Asia's most aggressive rate cuts

Oil advanced after the US ramped up measures to hobble Iran’s crude exports, increasing pressure on Tehran amid a push for a new nuclear accord.

Oil advances as US ramps up sanctions against Iranian crude

A fresh bout of instability gripped the stock market as concern around the potential impacts of a trade war outweighed the latest housing and jobs data showing the world’s largest economy is still holding up.

US stocks halt Fed-fuelled rally as trade fear lingers

Micron Technology forecast third-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates on Thursday, signaling strong demand for its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in AI models, sending its shares up 2% in after-hours trading.

Micron forecasts upbeat quarterly revenue on strong AI memory chip demand

Lloyd’s Register, the maritime society formed in a London coffee house in 1760, has put its modern glass headquarters up for sale as it prepares to move back into the property built to house it more than a century ago.

Lloyd’s Register to sell modern tower and return to Victorian HQ

Apollo Global Management co-founder Marc Rowan will be called to testify for the defence in Charlie Javice’s trial on charges that she defrauded JPMorgan Chase &amp; Co in the bank’s US$175 million (RM775.75 million) acquisition of her student-finance startup, Frank.

Apollo’s Rowan to be first defence witness at Javice fraud trial

For months, President Prabowo Subianto’s moves to chip away at Indonesia’s long-established economic guardrails have stoked anxiety in markets. This week’s sudden rout suggests investor patience is wearing thin.

CoreWeave Inc, a cloud-computing provider that’s one of the hottest startups in artificial intelligence (AI), and some of its investors are seeking to raise as much as US$2.7 billion in an initial public offering (IPO).

AI cloud hosting firm CoreWeave launches US$2.7 bil IPO

A safety warning system went off in a Delta Air Lines regional jet before it landed and flipped belly-up at Canada's largest airport in February, indicating a fast rate of descent, the country's Transportation Safety Board (TSB) said on Thursday in a preliminary report on the accident.

Fast descent warning triggered on Delta jet that landed belly-up in Toronto

Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino said on Thursday that he didn't place any value on reports the US military is looking into options for ensuring full US access to the Panama Canal, since these reports came from unnamed sources.

Mulino dismisses reports of US military evaluating Panama Canal options

South Korean chemicals companies are racing to tap new markets after racking up hundreds of millions of dollars in losses in the face of a deluge of capacity from China, their biggest market.

From the Philippines to Senegal, billions of people are finding it easier to feed their families now that rice prices have plunged off 15-year highs.

Japan's core inflation hit 3.0% in February and an index stripping away the effect of fuel rose at the fastest pace in nearly a year, a sign of broadening price pressure that reinforces market expectations of further interest rate hikes.

（吉隆坡21日讯）从杰出企业家加速器平台（LEAP）市场转至创业板上市的林上海资本（Lim Seong Hai Capital Bhd）（KL:LSH）出师不利，开盘下跌17%。

转战创业板出师不利 林上海资本下跌17%

China plans to add to its strategic reserves of key industrial metals this year, an effort to boost the resilience of critical minerals supply at time when energy-transition demand is increasing and geopolitical tensions are running high.

Australia's dominant supermarket chains have benefited from wider profit margins at a time of rapidly increasing shelf prices, the competition regulator said in a new report on Thursday, and called for measures to make the industry fairer.

Kanoko Matsuyama