Top foreign and local news at 3pm

Branson unveils plans for ‘boutique’ cruise line: Virgin Cruises will launch its first luxury liner in 2020 from Miami, British tycoon Richard Branson announced yesterday, placing his bets on medium-sized “boutique” ships. A joint venture with Bain Capital, the cruise line will be the latest addition to 64-year-old Branson’s Virgin Group, which includes an airline, railroad, bank and cable operator among its more than 400 holdings. The amount invested in Virgin Cruises was not disclosed. — AFP

Ad agencies under the gun from major contract reviews: An unprecedented number of blue-chip companies have put their advertising contracts up for review this year, underlining the growing pressure on ad agencies as online marketing threatens their traditional role and profit margins. About US$27bil (RM101bil) in media planning and buying contracts across television, radio, print, text and online are up for grabs, according to Ad Age, more than in the past three years combined. — Reuters

EU ministers to thrash out Greek debt deal: Eurozone finance ministers are set to hold new talks today to thrash out the details of a Greek debt deal, with officials terming the next 48 hours “decisive” as the clock ticks on a deadline for Athens to avert default. Hopes were high going in to the talks that Greece and its creditors can strike a deal with less than a week to go, but those could fade as the Greek premier must convince his anti-austerity party to approve concessions needed to unblock bailout funds. — AFP

Australia to join China-backed infrastructure bank: Australia said it will join the new Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as a founding member, contributing A$930mil (US$719mil) as paid-in capital over five years. The AIIB, to be based in Beijing, has 57 prospective members, and will have a total paid-in capital of US$20bil, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Treasurer Joe Hockey said in a joint statement. Hockey will seal the agreement in Beijing on Monday. The AIIB is expected to be operational later this year, but has been shunned by the United States and Japan. — AFP

China allows direct issue of yuan bonds in Taiwan: Chinese regulators will allow mainland financial institutions to directly issue bonds in Taiwan, sources said, in another step to towards deepening the pool of offshore yuan in Taiwan and reinforce financial relationships between Beijing and Taipei. Under previous regulations, only foreign branches of mainland financial institutions were allowed to issue yuan-denominated bonds. Now yuan bonds can be issued and backed directly by mainland banks, some of the world’s largest financial institutions by market capitalisation. — Reuters

US firms fear financing drought as deadline looms for Ex-Im Bank: A battle in Congress that could shut down the US Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank next week is causing headaches for small exporters as they try to stop customers from defecting to foreign competitors and as export financing starts to freeze up. If the 80-year-old export credit provider loses its operating authority, its proponents argue that thousands of US exporters will suffer and that Washington will lose international economic influence. — Reuters

Indonesia considers tax amnesty for financial crimes: Indonesia’s tax office is considering a tax amnesty for financial crimes, in a move that could bring back at least 100 trillion rupiah (US$7.5bil) to the state coffers, the director-general of taxes said. Under the tax office’s proposal, the perpetrators of financial crimes including corruption and money laundering can pay 10% to 15% tax on the assets they bring back to Indonesia, in return for a pardon from criminal prosecution, Sigit Priadi Pramudito told reporters. — Reuters

Supermarket operator Ahold to buy Belgium’s Delhaize: Dutch-based supermarkets operator Ahold said it is to buy Belgian peer Delhaize in an all-share merger, with Ahold taking a 61% stake in the new company. In a joint statement, the two companies said the combination will have 54.1 billion euros (US$60.6bil) in sales, with complementary operations in the United States and Benelux. — Reuters

Top local news

KNM orderbook rises to RM4bil, eyes RM13bil contracts: Process equipment maker KNM Group Bhd has an orderbook of RM4bil, including about RM2bil worth of jobs in the United Kingdom. It is bidding for over RM13bil worth of jobs, of which RM4bil to RM5bil are from Pengerang’s downstream development. - StarBiz

Crest Builder to focus on property development: Construction outfit Crest Builder Holdings Bhd, with an external orderbook of RM350mil, intends to focus on property development to improve its profits. - StarBiz

Sona confident of a deal this year: Sona Petroleum Bhd is confident of securing a qualifying asset (QA) by the year-end after having identified potential assets in Asean and Africa. Managing director Datuk Seri Hadian Hashim said the special purpose acquisition company was eyeing offshore and shallow water deals in those regions. — StarBiz

More Australian firms choose Malaysia as export destination, says council: More Australian companies are choosing Malaysia as their preferred export destination compared with other key players in South-East Asia and neighbouring regions, says Malaysia Australia Business Council. The council said latest data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that in 2013-14, a total of 3,801 Australian companies exported their goods and services to Malaysia compared with 3,659 firms in 2012-13. — Bernama

Towards safer mobile banking: Hong Leong Bank Bhd has developed a prototype for the next-generation biometric authentication security system for its mobile banking platform. General manager for digital innovation & transactional banking (retail), Galvin Yeo, said the system will undergo rigorous testing to ensure that it is the safest and most secure solution for customers in terms of security and protection of their interest and financial assets. — Bernama