16/05/2016 World Business Report

She enjoys her horses, I wonder if Sally does!

Crisis in Venezuela, President Maduro threatens to seize

closed factories that have stopped production after he declared

One of the oldest names in telecommunications, Cable

Wireless, is being snapped up in a multi-billion dollar deal by one

But is this good news for its customers?

Also in the programme...

More news on China's slowing growth, we will fill you in later.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has threatened to seize factories

that have stopped producing goods, and to jail their owners.

The country is in the grip of a severe economic crisis.

In a speech to supporters in the capital Caracas,

he said Venezuela had to recover the means of production,

Well, it has the world's largest oil reserves but

its economy has been severely hit by the fall in global oil prices.

The International Monetary Fund estimates that this year

Venezuela's inflation will rocket to 720%, that is more than double

the previous year and no surprise then that the

There are now severe shortages of food, medicines and basic goods.

Our South America correspondent Daniel Gallas has more.

Average Venezuelans have grown used to getting by without some staple

food items and also some essential things such as toilet paper. But now

they are having to ration out water and electricity as well. The

government of President Nicolas Maduro says the producers are the

ones to blame. They are according to him trying to sabotage the economy

by halting production and trying to drive prices up. That's why

President Nicolas Maduro is threatening to seize many of these

companies and get them back to producing but the producers on the

other hand say the government is the one to blame with currency controls

and its price freeze. One example is a beer company, Poehler, which has

halted its production of beer. The government says it is trying to

sabotage its economy but Poehler says it can't import some necessary

ingredients. Venezuela is one of the wealthiest countries in the world

because of its oil resources but due to the fall in global oil prices,

now this economy is on the verge of a catastrophe. Daniel Gallas, BBC

News, Sao Paulo. You can follow Daniel on Twitter and

also online. Lots more on that story on the BBC website.

Cable Wireless, one of the oldest names

in telecomunications, with roots going back to 1852, is being bought

Liberty Global have snapped up what ammounts to the remaining part

of C, a business with a strong presence across

Its an acquisition vital to Liberty Global's media ambitions.

But who are they, and what do they hope to achieve?

Liberty Global is already the world's largest international

cable company, with 27 million customers in 14 countries.

It's controlled by billionaire Chairman John Malone.

Nicknamed the Cable Cowboy after a string of

complex deals in the telecoms and media sectors in the US.

Liberty Global is one of the world's largest broadband

It has many subiduary companies around the world, including Virgin

Media in the UK, and Ziggo, the largest cable operator

in the Netherlands and Unitymedia in Germany.

The firm is also looking at a potential bid for the mobile network

O2 after its takeover by rival operator Three was blocked by the

With me is Andrea Salvato, head of mergers and acquisitions

Good morning. Good morning, Sally. A big day for you as a company,

finally getting hold of the assets of Cable Wireless in Latin America

and the Caribbean, explain why you wanted to move in? Multiple

reasons. Primarily it's a very high-growth business which is very

well positioned to meet pent-up demand for its services across the

region. Secondly it adds tremendous scale to our existing businesses in

the region, we have to our existing businesses in the region, we have

two in Puerto because in today's environment it's necessary to do

that to innovate and invest for customers. You are getting bigger

and sprawling across the globe in a more prevalent way, many customers

watching might think is that better for me all worse for me? In terms of

the competition, is their strong competition? Very strong competition

and for our customers hopefully it is exciting news, when we have made

these acquisitions we have tended to accelerate innovation and

investment. Virgin Media is a good example in the UK, shortly after we

bought it we announced a ?3 billion investment programme to expand the

network to 4 million homes. Hopefully we can do the same. Strong

competition is important because it allows you to get through into a

market where there is a lot of regulation and competition issues. I

think if you step back and look at it, the primary Route one reason for

doing this is the region has a lot of pent-up demand for our products.

When you look at the number of people who have pay television, it's

much lower than the equivalent in Europe so over time you would hope

that an broadband would converge. 02 and Three cannot team up because of

their merger being blocked, now owe to a possible acquisition from your

point of view? I wish I could comment but I can't. We are very

happy with our mobile strategy in the UK. That's all you're going to

say on that. Unfortunately. Fair enough. Is Europe one of the most

difficult markets in the world to penetrate in terms of the

competition and tight regulation? I don't know, I can't compare it to

every country around the world but Europe is very competitive. It's

important to understand that competition doesn't just come from

the traditional providers, it also comes from the likes of Netflix,

Google and Apple. We will be watching closely. Thank you for

coming in from Liberty Global. A company on the move.

A few more signs of slowing growth in China. Figures from the weekend

showed industrial output dropping 6% in April compared to one year ago,

down from March. Sharanjit Leyl has the latest in Singapore. What is

going on? As you say, you mentioned industrial output, a whole load of

other figures out, retail sales, fixed asset index, they all grew

much more slowly than expected in April, which is another strong

indicator China's economy remains weak. Some of the stats, retail

sales and fixed asset income, all of that up over 10%, they sound

impressive but they have missed forecast and policy measures don't

appear to be working to help give those numbers a boost. The

government has cut interest rates six times since late 2014, they have

lowered reserve requirements, which is the proportion of funds banks

must try to put aside to boost the economy. We also saw the fall in

industrial production, that is due to mining and steel production

either stalling or going backwards in April. It all suggests, Sally,

the massive financial stimulus package China unleashed earlier this

year appears to be losing its being. We will keep an eye on that.

Thank you, Sharanjit -- lose its thing.

Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the largest in the world, plans

legal action against Volkswagen over its emissions scandal.

Norges Bank Investment Management is one of the VW's biggest investors.

The fund says the legal action will take place in Germany.

Nigerian unions have called for an indefinite general strike to

begin on Wednesday unless the government reverses

The slump in crude prices has hurt Africa's biggest oil producer

causing a severe shortage of foreign currency which is needed

There are reports the investor Warren Buffett is backing

a consortium which is bidding for Yahoo's core internet assets.

The head of Berkshire Hathaway is among a group that includes

Dan Gilbert, the billionaire founder of Quicken Loans.

Last month the search company, which has been hit

by falling advertising, shortlisted about ten potential buyers.

A brief look at the markets in Asia so you can see how the trading week

has begun. The news out of China not phasing

investors at all in Asia. Japan up strongly, as is Hong Kong. The price

of oil, nearly $49 a barrel, that has really boosted the energy stocks

today. That's everything from me for the

time being. I will see you in a few minutes for the papers.

More than half of those seeking a diagnosis for dementia have delayed

going to their GP by at least a year according to a survey carried

The charity says nearly two thirds of people fear a diagnosis