Company: Corporate News

AirAsia is studying a potential $4 billion deal to buy another 50 Airbus A320 passenger jets, its founder told Reuters on Thursday, extending the budget carrier's dramatic growth, months after it placed a record order for 200.

Yuanta Financial said on Friday it has pulled out of talks to buy Carlyle Group backed Taiwanese bank Ta Chong, dealing a blow to the private equity firm's long-planned exit from a sluggishly performing investment.

Shares of Hong Kong developer Chinese Estates Holdings slid 8 percent in resumed trade on Friday after the company said its chairman and chief executive would face prosecution in a Macau court over alleged bribery and money laundering.

The euro zone debt crisis will continue to dominate European stocks in 2012, with even well-run companies in danger of being sucked into the morass, according to S&P Capital IQ.

Tiffany & Co. lowered its fiscal-year sales and profit forecasts on Thursday, citing slowing economic growth in many countries and weakness in its home U.S. market, while rival Signet Jewelers also issued a disappointing forecast.

BMW, the world's biggest premium carmaker, was fined for preventing Swiss residents from buying its cars abroad in euros after the strong Swiss franc made prices in Switzerland up to a quarter higher.

Europe's second-highest court on Thursday threw out MasterCard's challenge of a European Union ban on its cross-border credit card fees.

Costco Wholesale posted a higher quarterly profit on an 8 percent increase in net sales.

British insurer Aviva is putting its South Korean and Sri Lankan businesses on the auction block, sources with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday, as part of a wider retreat from sub-scale Asian markets in a deal that could fetch around $150 million.

The funding crisis for mainland Chinese property developers is intensifying, ratings agencies say, with real-estate builders facing spiking borrowing costs and a limited ability to raise cash at a time when sales and economic growth are slowing.

Macau gaming stocks have fallen out of favor, with the major names sliding an average of 20 percent since the beginning of May on worries about a sharp slowdown in gambling revenues. But, according to analysts at Nomura, the correction may be close to an end and the recent drop could present an attractive buying opportunity.

State Street Chairman Jay Hooley has sent a not-so-subtle message to European banks: He's ready to buy their custody and trust operations.

British luxury brand Burberry posted a 26 percent jump in profit as expected and said it would invest up to 200 million pounds ($316 million) in new outlets and expanding existing stores in London, Chicago and Hong Kong.

Mazda Motor is in talks with Fiat to form a business tie-up, a source said, as the loss-making Japanese automaker seeks a revival path after losing its strategic partnership with Ford Motor.

Singapore has enticed Trafigura, one of the world’s biggest commodities trading houses, to move its legal headquarters from Switzerland to the Asian city state, highlighting the attractions of its low-tax regime and proximity to China. The FT reports.