Company news in brief

Steinhoff sells Blue GroupScandal-hit South African retailer Steinhoff International said on Friday it had sold Blue Group, owner of Bensons for Beds and Harveys Furniture, to Alteri Investors for an undisclosed price.Steinhoff, which has been grappling with the fallout of an accounting scandal worth an estimated US$7 billion since revealing holes in its accounts in 2017, said in August its only way to survive was to slim down and sell assets.The company, which added the transaction was subject to regulatory approvals, did not disclose its value. Blue Group was a relatively minor part of Steinhoff's operation, contributing just under 5% of revenues in the six months ended March 31.Alteri Investors, a specialist investor focused on European retail, was launched in 2014 as a joint venture between Alteri's management and funds managed by affiliates of alternative investment manager Apollo Global Management.Its founder and CEO Gavin George said the purchase was exactly the kind of opportunity it was launched to find – a trusted brand with strong management and the potential for profitable growth. – Nampa/ReutersSAA hold talks with unions over strikeSouth African Airways on Saturday held a first round of mediated talks with unions, one day after its workers launched an open-ended strike that forced the embattled airline to ground hundreds of flights.More than 3 000 workers - including cabin crew, technical and ground staff - started striking on Friday to demand higher pay and to protest against restructuring plans involving heavy job losses.The walkout forced South Africa's cash-strapped flag carrier to cancel more than 300 domestic and regional flights between Friday and Monday."No agreement at this stage," SAA spokesman Tlali Tlali told AFP at the end of the day, adding that a new date would be set "to continue with negotiations".Tlali told AFP the airline was losing R52 million per day due to flight cancellations.International flights were scheduled to resume yesterday, said the airline, while regional and domestic flights remain cancelled until today. – Nampa/ReutersJudge reduces J&J opioid payoutAn Oklahoma judge on Friday said Johnson & Johnson must pay that state US$465 million for fuelling the opioid epidemic through the deceptive marketing of painkillers, down from his original award of US$572 million.The decision by Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman in Norman, Oklahoma, came in the first case to go to trial out of 2 700 nationally by states, counties and cities seeking to hold drug companies responsible for the deadly epidemic.Balkman reduced the amount he had awarded in August by US$107 million after agreeing with New Brunswick, New Jersey-based J&J that he had made a math error. J&J said it will appeal, and that the award and finding of liability were "neither supported by the facts nor the law."Opioids were involved in almost 400 000 overdose deaths from 1999 to 2017, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.Last month, J&J and four other companies proposed a US$48 billion settlement framework to resolve all of the opioid cases they face, with J&J paying US$4 billion. Lawyers for the local governments have opposed the proposal. – Nampa/ReutersAlibaba gets strong demand for HK listingAlibaba's order books for its US$13.4 billion Hong Kong share sale have already been covered "multiple times," sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Friday, as the ecommerce group kicked off its campaign for the secondary listing in the city gripped by protests.The Chinese e-commerce giant plans to list its shares in Hong Kong from November 26, where it is hoping to raise up to US$13.4 billion, and it is marketing the deal to investors around the world.The sources said potential investors had been told that the "quality of demand is high" and that there "continues to be very strong feedback" about the deal. An Alibaba spokeswoman declined to comment.Pricing of the shares for institutional shareholders will be set on November 20, a prospectus lodged with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange shows. Retail investors will not pay more than $HK188 per share.In a first for the Asian financial hub, Alibaba said the listing would be fully automated and paperless to reflect its environmental standards, confirming an earlier Reuters story. – Nampa/ReutersBoeing: Timing of 737 MAX return depends on regulatorsBoeing moved on Saturday to ease tensions with regulators over the return to service of its 737 MAX, saying it was up to the US Federal Aviation Administration and its global counterparts to approve changes to the jet in the wake of two accidents.The FAA told its staff last week to take whatever time was needed to review the grounded plane after Boeing said it expected the FAA to certify the 737 MAX in mid-December."We put some targets out that still line up to December ... type certification," Stan Deal, chief executive of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, told reporters."The FAA has said they are not going to put a time frame on it and we are going to track behind them on this," he told a news conference ahead of the Dubai Airshow. – Nampa/Reuters

Company news in brief

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