Company news in brief

Nestle to buy coffee from ZimbabweNestle's Nespresso arm expects to buy nearly all of Zimbabwe's top-end coffee crop from small farmers this growing season and will help the beleaguered local industry get back on its feet, the Swiss group said."Nespresso expects to buy more than 95% of the high quality coffee production of Zimbabwean smallholders this season. The coffee will be available to global consumers in 2019," it said in a statement.Nespresso is also working with farmers for the next harvest, when volumes are set to increase."Zimbabwe's coffee sector is in danger of disappearing as the result of a sharp decline in production over the past 18 years, following a series of economic shocks affecting many of Zimbabwe's agricultural industries," the company said.Nespresso will provide training and technical assistance to 400 smallholder coffee farmers over the next five years in a campaign to boost the country's output of quality sustainable coffee.It was working with TechnoServe, a non-profit organisation that promotes business solutions to alleviate poverty. – Nampa/ReutersMTN faces possible Moody's downgradeMTN Group was under review by Moody's for a possible credit rating downgrade after the South African mobile phone operator said it was being asked to pay a total of US$10.1 billion by authorities in Nigeria, the ratings agency said.Africa's biggest wireless phones group said on Tuesday the Nigerian Attorney General (NAG) was seeking US$2 billion in taxes incurred over the last decade, days after an order from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that MTN's Lagos-based unit hand over US$8.1 billion that it said was illegally sent abroad.MTN, whose debt stands at around US$3.7 billion), has said the CBN's allegations are without merit and it would hold talks with authorities to defend its position.Moody's, which already has junk rating on MTN debt at Ba1, said without the demand for the refund and the potential tax shortfall MTN would be able to repay approaching debt maturities over the next 12 to 18 months. – Nampa/ReutersEU clears Apple's purchase of ShazamThe European Union approved Apple's planned acquisition of British music discovery app Shazam on Thursday, saying an EU antitrust investigation showed it would not harm competition in the bloc.The deal, announced in December last year, would help the iPhone maker better compete with Spotify, the industry leader in music streaming services. Shazam identifies songs when a smartphone is pointed at an audio source.The European Commission opened a full-scale investigation into the deal in April, emblematic of its recent worries that companies may buy a data-rich rival to mine it for information or drive others out of the market.Reuters last month reported sources saying that Apple was set to win unconditional EU antitrust approval for the deal following the probe requested by seven European countries including France, Italy, Spain and Sweden. – Nampa/ReutersArcelorMittal reaches Ilva deal Steel giant ArcelorMittal reached a deal on Thursday with trades' unions over its planned purchase of Ilva, opening the way for the contested takeover just days before the Italian steelmaker runs out of cash.ArcelorMittal signed a preliminary agreement last year to buy Ilva, which has the largest steel-producing capacity in Europe, but Italy's new government questioned the validity of the contract after it took office in June.However, with funds set to run dry later this month and thousands of jobs on the line, deputy prime Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Thursday he would no longer oppose the takeover following the union accord.Under the deal, ArcelorMittal agreed to take on 10 700 of the current 13 500 workforce at Ilva, some 500 more than it had originally proposed. The firm also promised a 250-million-euro (US$290-million) fund to offer layoff incentives to workers.Ilva took root in the heel of Italy's boot in the 1960s as part of a drive to industrialise the impoverished south. – Nampa/ReutersFerrari to build a future with new CEOUnder new CEO Louis Camilleri, Ferrari is determined to be as successful as it was under his predecessor Sergio Marchionne, the chairman of the Italian supercar maker told a shareholder meeting to approve Camilleri's appointment."Sergio Marchionne strengthened the foundations of Ferrari, now we can build on that for the future, which will be a bright future," John Elkann said on Friday."Under the leadership of Camilleri, Ferrari is determined to build a future that is as good as its past," he added.Camilleri's appointment won the backing of 98% in a shareholder vote. – Nampa/Reuters

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