MILAN (Reuters) - UniCredit, Italy's second-biggest bank, has received European Central Bank authorisation for its 14 billion euro all-share offer to buy smaller rival Banco BPM. UniCredit's offer for BPM is one of several hostile bids rocking Italian banking, which underwent a painful clean-up after the 2008-2012 crisis years but has recently enjoyed record profits due to high interest rates....

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese state media on Saturday criticised Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison's ( CKHUF ) plan to sell its ports near the Panama Canal to a BlackRock ( BLK )-led group, a day after China's market regulator launched a probe into the deal. Port operations were critical infrastructure and there were significant national interests involved in the transaction,...

BEIJING, March 29 (Reuters) - Chinese state media on Saturday criticised Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison's ( CKHUF ) plan to sell its ports near the Panama Canal to a BlackRock ( BLK )-led group, a day after China's market regulator launched a probe into the deal. Port operations were critical infrastructure and there were significant national interests involved in...

PARIS (Reuters) - The Trump administration has written to French companies holding U.S. government contracts ordering them to comply with an executive order banning diversity, equity and inclusion programmes, two people familiar with the matter said. The companies have been told to confirm their compliance in a separate questionnaire entitled Certification Regarding Compliance With Applicable Federal Anti-Discrimination Law. Reuters has...