:00:12. > :00:27.The American food giant Kraft Heinz walks away from its proposed merger
:00:28. > :00:34.deal with Unilever. And a nose for talent. India's perfume industry on
:00:35. > :00:40.the unique hiring push. Welcome to Asia Business Report. Now, the
:00:41. > :00:45.biggest potential merger deal in corporate history is now not
:00:46. > :00:50.happening, and that is after the American food giant Kraft Heinz said
:00:51. > :00:56.it was dropping its bid to buy rival Unilever. The Anglo Dutch company
:00:57. > :01:03.which makes marmite, Lipton tea and Dove soap rejected a bid from Kraft
:01:04. > :01:07.Heinz on Friday. Kraft Heinz has said it has amicably agreed to scrap
:01:08. > :01:14.the plan. For more, here is our business reporter. I calculate that
:01:15. > :01:17.within 55 hours of the bid being submitted it has been withdrawn
:01:18. > :01:20.entirely and this will have brought together some major global brands
:01:21. > :01:26.that you and I know in our households such as Philadelphia and
:01:27. > :01:34.Kraft Heinz beings. It would have brought together Coleman 's mustard
:01:35. > :01:39.and Magnum ice cream. It would have made Unilever a huge player but it
:01:40. > :01:44.is no more. And what has happened is basically it has become very clear
:01:45. > :01:48.that it was never going to work, and that Kraft Heinz would have to
:01:49. > :01:51.launch a hostile takeover bid for Unilever, which would have cost it
:01:52. > :01:56.an awful lot more money than it was prepared to pay, and it would not
:01:57. > :01:59.have made the deal worthwhile. Also it wouldn't have been a friendly and
:02:00. > :02:03.amicable divorce which we read about today, because there are thousands
:02:04. > :02:07.of people working for Unilever at the moment who are breathing a sigh
:02:08. > :02:12.of relief because Kraft Heinz is controlled by a Brazilian outfits
:02:13. > :02:17.called 3G, and they have a deserved history for cost cutting, taking
:02:18. > :02:26.sides to factories and jobs at the companies they take over. -- taking
:02:27. > :02:35.a scythe. They would have decided that many areas had to go. In other
:02:36. > :02:39.business news, Samsung's group chief JY Lee was questioned by prosecutors
:02:40. > :02:42.for two days in a row over the weekend after being arrested on
:02:43. > :02:47.bribery charges in connection with an investigation into South Korea's
:02:48. > :02:52.President Park. The questioning focused on allegations JY Lee gave
:02:53. > :02:57.$36 million worth of rights to a friend of the President, in exchange
:02:58. > :03:04.for backing a restructure at Samsung companies. Samsung has denied all
:03:05. > :03:08.the allegations. Chinese coal futures are rising after the nation
:03:09. > :03:13.stopped coal imports from North Korea. It is a move which
:03:14. > :03:17.effectively cuts the secretive regime's exports in half. The ban
:03:18. > :03:21.will remain in place until the end of the year, in a bid to ramp up the
:03:22. > :03:29.pressure on John Yang after its missiles test last weekend. --
:03:30. > :03:35.Pyongyang. It rejected a shipment of North Korean coal, the country's
:03:36. > :03:39.biggest export. And a loan from the International Monetary Fund is aimed
:03:40. > :03:44.at bailing out the commodity reliant economy which has been vulnerable to
:03:45. > :03:49.highly variable prices, helping Mongolia avoid missing a $580
:03:50. > :03:55.million debt repayment due next month. Once a national icon, it is
:03:56. > :04:02.now up for sale. The bidding process is under way for Malaysia's
:04:03. > :04:06.automaker Proton. The Chinese company could emerge as the top
:04:07. > :04:12.suitor for 51% stake. Proton was established 1983 but by the late
:04:13. > :04:19.1990s it was losing market share at home and abroad due to poor
:04:20. > :04:24.production quality. I asked an audit analyst if the takeover would be a
:04:25. > :04:28.good one. As the Chinese domestic market slows down we are going from
:04:29. > :04:35.6% growth in 2016 to probably around 2% growth, Chinese automakers are
:04:36. > :04:42.looking abroad for growth, and Southeast Asia, which is still a
:04:43. > :04:47.very fast growing market, the Asean ten countries are a fast-growing
:04:48. > :04:51.market and companies like this are interested in trying to figure out
:04:52. > :04:55.how to enter that market. An acquisition which is being
:04:56. > :05:00.contemplated could be that route. Some reports suggesting that the
:05:01. > :05:04.Peugeot parent PSA might make a benefit, it is one of several
:05:05. > :05:09.contenders looking at trying to acquire Proton. How do you compare
:05:10. > :05:14.these various potential marriage is? They are quite different. Geely is a
:05:15. > :05:19.much smaller and one could say much nimbler automaker or competitor, and
:05:20. > :05:24.they are very aggressive in terms of coming up with an innovative way to
:05:25. > :05:30.enter markets. Take their acquisition of Volvo as an example.
:05:31. > :05:36.This was a big surprise in 2010, when they purchased that European
:05:37. > :05:42.automaker, in order to gain technologies. Their strategy here
:05:43. > :05:48.could be to use Proton as a platform for export growth to other
:05:49. > :05:54.south-east Asian countries. Very quickly, Geely was famous for having
:05:55. > :05:59.bought out Volvo's car business, so how long will this integration take
:06:00. > :06:04.if indeed this marriage does happen? Proton doesn't really produce very
:06:05. > :06:09.many cars today, fewer than 100,000, so I think it might take two to
:06:10. > :06:16.three years for Geely the digests, and to build a platform for growth
:06:17. > :06:21.in Proton Malaysia as well as other parts of Southeast Asia. It is a
:06:22. > :06:25.brand-new trading week, but there will be a lack of direction somewhat
:06:26. > :06:30.early this week due to a market holiday over in the US. Here in
:06:31. > :06:34.Asia, all eyes will be on a number of earnings due from global
:06:35. > :06:40.corporate giants such as mining firm BHP Billiton and HSBC. A market
:06:41. > :06:44.strategist, Michael McCarthy, explained how the earnings reports
:06:45. > :06:49.could affect regional markets. Both very important bellwethers for the
:06:50. > :06:51.market, focusing on BHP we know there has been a big improvement in
:06:52. > :06:58.the underlying commodity prices, copper, oil, coal, iron ore, all
:06:59. > :07:02.doing better in comparison to the big sell-off we saw at the beginning
:07:03. > :07:06.of 2016. We have seen production reports and we know the realised
:07:07. > :07:10.prices so the numbers themselves are pretty straightforward. We think BHP
:07:11. > :07:14.will report 62 cents per share but the key will be what they will do
:07:15. > :07:16.with the money that is flowing into their accounts from those improved
:07:17. > :07:19.commodity prices. And shareholders in particular will be looking for
:07:20. > :07:25.announcements around capital initiatives and perhaps an improved
:07:26. > :07:30.dividend return. India has among the largest number of blind people in
:07:31. > :07:33.the world. More than 5 million, according to government numbers. The
:07:34. > :07:38.country has few employment opportunities for them, but now a
:07:39. > :07:41.private firm is training blind people to work in perfume and
:07:42. > :07:51.fragrance companies using their sense of smell. Our correspondent
:07:52. > :07:56.reports from Mumbai. This man became blind at the age of three due to a
:07:57. > :07:59.smallpox infection. Like most visually impaired people in India,
:08:00. > :08:05.finding work has always been a struggle for him. One year ago, he
:08:06. > :08:11.got a job with a company that makes fragrances. His role, to ensure the
:08:12. > :08:18.aromas that go into the perfumes are pure, I smelling them. TRANSLATION:
:08:19. > :08:21.I feel proud. I earn my own money, and because of that my children are
:08:22. > :08:28.progressing. I am living with dignity, and people respect me at my
:08:29. > :08:32.workplace. You can identify that note? It is in a class like this one
:08:33. > :08:37.that Ravi Vanniyar was trained. The course was started three years ago
:08:38. > :08:40.by a private company which found that people who can't see at a
:08:41. > :08:44.keener sense of smell than the general population. In India there
:08:45. > :08:47.are laws that mandate that a small percentage of government jobs should
:08:48. > :08:52.be reserved for people with disabilities. But they are often
:08:53. > :08:58.difficult to get, and there is not enough of them. That is why,
:08:59. > :09:01.perhaps, the solution lies with the private sector, and new
:09:02. > :09:05.opportunities like this one that are being created. Initially, Ravi
:09:06. > :09:09.Vanniyar's employer hired individuals like him for corporate
:09:10. > :09:15.charity but the company now said it also makes good sense. Still,
:09:16. > :09:19.finding suitable jobs for all these students has been tough. Literally
:09:20. > :09:23.we have to go door-to-door and ask the industry to kind of employ them.
:09:24. > :09:27.They wonder how they are going to be getting to work, what kind of
:09:28. > :09:30.support they need to give, what the surroundings are going to be like,
:09:31. > :09:36.how they are going to adjust to other people. Ravi has a long
:09:37. > :09:41.commute to work on public transport that is not very easy for him to
:09:42. > :09:52.use. But the promise of a salary at the end of each month is enough to
:09:53. > :10:00.make him go the distance. And a lot more coverage of this issue on BBC
:10:01. > :10:05..com/ disability, and on Twitter. A quick look at the markets, as I
:10:06. > :10:09.mentioned a holiday in the US, it is Presidents Day. In Asia, markets not
:10:10. > :10:16.looking too good. In Japan, shares are up 2% on a report that Japanese
:10:17. > :10:22.companies Softbank would give up control of Sprint if the merger took
:10:23. > :10:27.place. And Toshiba shares are rebounding somewhat today, up 3%
:10:28. > :10:30.after sharp falls on Friday. That's it for this edition of Asia Business
:10:31. > :10:31.Report. Thank you for