more importantly the firms with specific ties to anbang including those in which anbang has a stake in are taking it in stride a few traders say because there could be fears about a fire sale if this takeover did not go through. so we are seeing some relief in these firms tied to anbang >> nancy, thank you very much. nancy mentioned anbang's purchase of the waldorf astoria in new york. that's interesting when you look at u.s. regulators blocking the sale of an american company selling semiconductors to a chinese firm the committee on foreign investment in the united states refused to grant permission for the purchase citing concerns that xcerra sells things to chip manufacturers that supplies the u.s. government. after the u.s. government stopped the sale of monogram to ant financial also >>> the u.s. defense department is weighing in on the issue of global trade saying it would prefer targeted tariffs on steel and aluminum instead of blanket in a memo mattis said he would recommend the u.s. government pause before taking further steps on aluminum. the u.s. commerce department sittinge

anbang? they are taking on anbang. taking control. regulators have been in the business since june of last year since the chairman was to change. has been pushed out of his position. he will face prosecution for economic crimes. as a reminder, and bank was one of the most aggressive acquirers amongst china's conglomerates. they have assets worth about $320 billion including strategic and resorts and insurance companies in the netherlands and korea. they say the financial risks have been built up in anbang. companies in the netherlands and korea. commerzbank economist say they are creating a systemic risk. thets will be sold off in future preventing any buying opportunities. anna: this leads the wider risk story. will this have any impact on the annual meeting in march? tom: it puts it squarely in people's the national congress kicking off in march. we expect new officials for thes for example at insurance regulator as well as the new committee being set up to oversee financial risks in the country. we will get a clearer direction on w

the government seizing control of anbang saying its chairman has been prosecuted for economic crimesoining me is tom hancock from "the financial times." update us on this breaking story. so the ceo has been arrested what else can you tell us? >> we should say the ex-ceo, because the message that came out of the china insurance regulator early this morning says that he had been removed from his post. according to prosecutors in shanghai he's accused of criming including fund-raising fraud and embezzlement, which could bring a potential life jail sentence it's a significant move by the regulators to actually take control of this company for a year, they say though it will be kept in private hands, the big transactions for the company will be controlled by a government-led working group for the next year. >> remind us of the scale of what anbang insurance does and its size, not just in china but international interests as well. >> anbang has been one of the companies along with others like hna that have burst on to the global scene through a series of big acquisitions over the last year

it is looking not only at anbang insurance, but some other large companies. of these companies come in for closer scrutiny. a lot to look out for. they give very much indeed. now let's brief you some other business stories. the troubled japanese firm takata has reached a settlement with 44 state attorney—generals in the us into claims it concealed dangerous defects in its exploding airbags. takata's airbangs have been linked to more than a dozen deaths and more than 100 injuries worldwide. aianb is now moving to target wealthier travellers as it goes after the luxury travel market. the accommodation site says it will now offer a dedicated section for boutique hotels, bed and breakfasts and unusual locations like treehouses and boats. the move follows clashes between airbnb and regulators in a number of countries around the world. the us defence department has voiced support for restrictions on steel and aluminium imports. earlier this month the commerce department recommended steep curbs on imports from china and other countries. president trump has yet made

upheaval at anbang. the chinese government seizes control. minister.k. prime reins of our cabinet after an epic brexit forum. good morning, everyone and welcome to bloomberg surveillance. i am francine lacqua in london. we see little bit of a lack of direction when it comes to stop. the stoxx 600 is pretty much flat, moving sideways. there has been quite a lot of movement in the u.s. 10 year yields. this week we have been looking for the 3% mark. we have not gotten there yet. investors are trying to figure out exactly the monetary policy. and you have a little bit of movement in the euro sck. in the meantime, you can see the andmberg dollar index coming up, we talk brexit and trade. later, david bloom from hsbc gives us his forecast. e talk gun0 p.m., w control. now, let's get straight to the bloomberg first word news with nejra cehic. nejra: theresa may held an eight hour brexit session in an attempt to win anonymous backing for her divorce plan. she went to give european rules in many areas, while breaking away partially or fully with others. the europ

as anbang a bad company? analysts say no. ubs says this could be a viable company if you strip out the high risk her kisses -- purchases. 11% of the company is high risk. lisa: there is a big question, are these properties going to be worth what anbang pace for them? liquiditye not, that mismatch is a huge problem. think about the siv's during the crisis. states, in the united we may companies and shareholders pay for these things, or taxpayers have to do it. in china, the taxpayers are going to do it. no question the government will print the money to make this work out in the long run. they put some people in the jail. maybe the founder will have to go to jail. in general, they feel they can get through this. they want to avoid an aig moment, the thing we saw here. that is the take away from this, if you want to buy yourself a hotel. alix: clearly. u.s., we are taking a look at steve mnuchin. you canin an interview, have wage inflation and not necessarily inflation concerns in general. how valid is this? you are laughing. m

new york to california acquired in a global shopping spree by anbang. might want to bring in bloomberg's executive editor for global television, jason kelly. thank you so much. i am surprised at this. i was surprised to see this news because i took a triple be worrying about a decline in commercial property values given this potential fire sale by anbang, they have picked up on high prices. but instead, people are excited. jason: in part because you have this huge competitor that seemingly is on the sidelines. at least for now. ins had such a magnificent some ways affect on the whole commercial real estate market for a long time. joe: put it in context. how much of a player at its peak was anbang? jason: so they went on a $13.4 billion buying spree. the property that everyone knows obviously is a walled off her .tory a -- the walder many of us walk by it every day. nothing is happening with it. lisa: makes me sad. jason: what we hear is blackstone may end up buying it back. a lot of buyers are right there. lisa: at what price? not $1.5m guessing, billio

this is the man in charge of anbang insurance.r the company for a year. removed as chairman and facing prosecution for the --sons the prosecution prosecutors gave, anyway. more on that story. former trump campaign manager paul manafort and associate indicted on new bankes, including tax and fraud. let's bring in jodi schneider. it seems that the moment the screws are tightening. is that the real significance? this is a fresh legal attack against mr. manafort and his associate, deputy, rick gates. these are tax and bank fraud charges added to the october indictment. what is interesting is this actually removes or supersedes some of the charges in the earlier indictment, which had to do with money laundering and failing to register under the foreign agents registration act, thinking this will make it easier for prosecutors to prove their case against them if there are not any money laundering charges, which are harder to prove. haidi: in terms of the specific charges, what are we looking at? >> bank and tax fraud charges. the allega

chinese regulators say they're taking over anbang insurance for a year — and that its former chairmanchinese regulators say they're taking over anbang insurance for a year — and that its former chairman will face prosecution. —— 300 billion. the bbc‘s tim mcdonald has been following the story from singapore. this is a bit unusual, the company is in the hands of the chinese regulators who have taken it over and will hold onto it for a year, and there are former chairman has been charged with what is described as economic crimes. the overseas spending sprees are something that the chinese regulators are concerned about, they say that foreign purchases, first violate insurance regulation and secondly severely impairthe regulation and secondly severely impair the ability of anbang insurance to pay back debts, they have a whopping 316 billion of assets, in addition to trophy assets, in addition to trophy assets, such as overseas insurers, hotels, retirement homes... it made a bid on star would, the hotel chain, and the chinese gottman is worried about the amount of money heading offshore.

anbang's case is one step toward that.hat way, sending a strong signal they are going to tackle the debt problem in china. you mentioned the regulators. not only regulators in china, but i'm curious what kind of impact you think this will have on regulators in other countries that are pending approval on many deals that companies have made between their home country's companies and china? what kind of impact do you think that is going to have? >> for china, for the financial system in the year term, they will continue to overhaul the financial system and preventing further regulatory change. [indiscernible] -- local government debt and household debt. yvonne: you could say the crackdown so far has been low hanging fruit. the real test will be rules implemented on asset management products in the coming weeks. >> exactly. this will create some short-term turbulence for the market, and i , i don'ticymakers think they want to create huge shocks. they want to make the system safer longer-term. yvonne: what does this mean for p

a me get your thoughts on the anbang fiasco. -- let me get your thoughts on the anbang the us go is thishe government can deal with these issues? daryl: that is a good question. whether you are privy to would happening the behind-the-scenes, but what we have been reading in the press and seeing happen, there has been a lot of push from the government for these big private conglomerates to divest. we have seen that with hna to a certain extent. it has been selling off assets to raise financing and cash. the question is whether the company starts to unwind these positions. it is likely they will. it is hard to determine whether there is systemic risk. or not the financial sector within china is exposed to these private conglomerates, but you can imagine the government probably is aware of what is happening and trying to control the fallout. it is probably one of the reasons they stepped into -- they stepped in. is a bit of pressure on asian bonds over the last week or so. could be a default. the question is whether they could selloff enough assets to stave off a potential risk of a collaps

upheaval at anbang. the chinese government seizes control. minister.k.pic brexit forum. good morning, everyone and welcome

haslinda: china is to take control of anbang, removing the chairman and prosecuting him.t do we know? >> what we know is that regulators say that they will be taking control of anbang as of today for one year. as you said, the chairman will be pushed out of his post, and he will be prosecuted for economic crimes, is what they are saying. they also said that the reason they have to step in is because illegal operations at the company were testing and putting pressure on the solvency of the company. anbang has been one of the biggest swaggering conglomerates in the last five years or so, spending billions of dollars in acquisitions overseas. it has about $320 billion worth of assets. including those not just the flagship ones, in new york, but strategic hope tells and resorts and also and resorts, insurance companies in countries ranging from the netherlands to korea. and they paid in many cases, for many people, skyhigh valuations and skyhigh prices for some of those assets as well. so, it will be a long process of trying to unwind some of these problematic purchases for t

now, anbang also bought strategic hotels and resorts group in 2016.d new york's essex hotel, it included the famous hotel coronado in san diego and the four seasons hotel in d.c. now, anbang was just one of several companies that used cheap money to buy american trophy assets in recent years. and now they're scrambling to sell as all their fortunes have turned china's hna group trying to offload office buildings in new york, san francisco that it bought less than two years ago as part of its $40 billion spending binge it also owns the radison hotel chain in part of the hilton worldwide chain. another company to watch bought amc theaters, bought hollywood studio legendary entertainment, now they're in selling mode. it's trying to unload a $1 billion condo project in beverly hills. and it's shopping around the vista tower in chicago that's a big project that was a $900 million project now under construction then if you look at their chairman once china's richest man, he sold off his theme parks in china and real estate in australia. so a lot of assets n

china's government has seized control of the anbang insurance group.lated lies that may seriously endanger the solvency of the company. they gained national recognition with the $2 billion purchase at the waldorf astoria and 6 5i7b$.5 billion with another group. 2018 looks like another big year for merger activity. the top fees earned on big ticket deals have increasingly gone to independent advisers and boutique firms joined by two of the top groups. blaire efron and ralph schlosstein is president of evercore and one of the co-founders of blackrock let's start with something that i saw, and becky will be talking to this gentleman on monday, but i saw an article and the headline was warren has $100 billion with nothing to buy. now i don't know whether -- >> such problems. >> yeah, such problems no, but i think that highlights that, you know, he only highlights things that are going to be a great return do you have empathy for that headline, blaire, at this point or -- >> joe, valuations are expensive. that said, what we're seeing a lot of is strategic

blackstone group sold waldo first doria to anbang insurance.he firm may get the chance to on the landmark again. according to people family with the matter, blackstone has talks about bidding for the waldorf and other anbang assets. the sale is being overseen by china's government. broadcom has lined up one of the biggest debt commitments ever to fund its proposed $121 billion takeover of qualcomm. 12 lenders have agreed to provide $100 billion worth of credit facility and bonds affiliated with silver lake and cbc capital will provide $6 billion to convertible notes. qualcomm seems poised to reject broadcom's offer all the same. in italy, the high-speed train operator had a surprise takeover bid from a new york investment firm and called it a vote of confidence. the ceo spoke with bloomberg tv. >> i'm not pessimistic at all. it means that somebody coming from the united states with a huge amount of money that they believe in italy. vonnie: it accepted the $2.4 billion offer last week. that is the latest bloomberg business flash. let's get a che

vonnie: a great story on anbang. thank you for talking to us about this private equity breaking news. u.s.: breaking news on the , counts against rick gates in a new filing, the u.s. has final conspiracy counts against rick gates and a new filing, he is the trump campaign aid. we are hearing from media reports he may plead guilty in the investigation into russia's interference in the 2016 election. rick gates was the advisor, the longtime political consultant who once served under president trump's deputy campaign german -- chairman. the u.s. is filing a conspiracy and lying count against rick gates and the criminal information filed is in federal court in washington. more details as we get them. vonnie: coming up, the present wraps up his speech to the conservative political action conference and double down on his proposal to arm teachers in the classroom. plus additional sanctions against north korea. ♪ ♪ vonnie: this is bloomberg markets. i am vonnie quinn shery: breaking news and a robert mueller probe as lying

representatives for kushner companies and anbang declined to comment.t received a response from the qatari investor. >> kara, thank you so much for that exclusive reporting. >>> i want to bring in our guests to discuss this and the previous story, jamegentlemajam. you heard kara's reporting but let's talk about jessica's reporting in front of the courthouse where this lawyer is going to be charged. what is the significance of bob mueller charging this lawyer? >> it is another example of bob mueller finding the lower level guys in the deal, and trying to use them to get more information about what other people are doing, right. now you got another associate of gates, gates is right in pressure, reports he may be cooperating. and it is all done to put pressure on manafort to not fight the indictment, to plead and to cooperate with special prosecutors so that mueller can keep working his way up the chain to try and get more information about everybody else involved in the things he's investigating. >> looking at jared kushner's basic lobbying investors, th

they have taken control of anbang insurance saying it was in illegal operations that could endanger the company's chances of staying in buness. >> volkswagen saw its profits double despite the fallout from ssions scl e the automaker benefitted from strong sales and cost cutting at its flagship vw brand. the ceo did warn of challenges, including more competition and big bets on electric vehicles and self drivingrs >>> speaking of which, ever since the jetsons were on televisionn the 1960s, people thought it would be cool to some day zpip around in a flying car. now some companies and tech firms are racing to make that a reality. how close are they to talking off? phil lebeau takes a look for us tonight. >> reporter: this is the vahana air taxi a prototype built by airbus which made a bef b successful first flight last month in oregon. after years of building traditional planes airbus is exploring the idea s ofll aircraft carrying one or two people short di iances. boei doing the same thing though its prototypes are not ready for humans to climb on board. that's not the case for hitty haw

we had the anbang takeover last week.are heading into an important few days of meetings where they are going to sign off on big personnel changes ahead of the party conference at the start of march. and of course we have the top china economic advisor to mr. xi going to washington for talks on trade. we are getting these big headlines out of china and it looks like xi is taking his opportunity to send home how powerful he is and to reinforce that he's going to be with us for some time. francine: what does that mean for the economy? does it mean if he has a good handling of the economy, it can be stable for longer, or are there any words of warning for business communities? >> people are saying today that it really reinforces the near-term agenda of tackling pollution, cutting down on debt, and of course continuing the innovation, the push to move china up the value chain. near-term it is probably where we were. we hear about the need to curb risk. they may tolerate a slower pace of growth. mean that china will be retreati

. >> we talked about how anbang is being taken over by the regulators. and take you over. this company tried buying starwood a few years ago. marriott came in and outbid them. they own the waldorf astoria. this is pretty big news. >> maria: when anbang first acquired the waldorf astoria, a lot of people said this is where heads of states stay, this is where president obama stays. he he actually changed where he stays. it's the chinese government owning the waldorf astoria, they're probably listening in on everybody's conversations. >> we'll see what happens to them. they were trying to overhaul it, turn some into condos. we'll have to he see what happens. >> maria: the insurance regulator is taking over anbang. >> they took over anbang because the chairman was arrested and detained back in june. >> different topic. the black rock comment, what do these gun manufacturers do right now? what are they expected to do? >> maria: black rock is saying they're putting gun makers on notice. what are they on notice for? they sell guns. what are they going to do? >>

there is an element of country risk involved, so will be interesting to see what happens to the anbangrice. david: let's go back to north korea, we had an announcement from steven mnuchin about new sanctions on north korea and we had ivanka trump going to korea and were told today she was -- read on the sections on the sanctions. right now i think the two pronk approach by the administration is the right direction. i would bef -- what doing now, and given that evidence of sanctions and right forit is secretary mnuchin to ratchet up pressure by bringing in these additional sanctions. on the other hand, i think it is directly important and significant that there is a channel for dialogue which is i don't know what the role by president trump's family will be. but i think general mcmaster will have his own channels as well, but i would sublease say that this channel of diplomacy should be kept open, at the same time, sending a clear message that the united states and its allies are not be messed with on the question of north korea's continued policy of nuclear proliferation. shery: i'm gu

>> reporter: the meetings is that these are meetings that have to do with chinese investors anbang.mpany was looking to invest in the property, there was talk between kushner company and this chinese investor. there is also a qatari investor and we are told that deal fell through. we are told this is why mueller is asking questions about it. >> and do we know what mueller might be focusing in on based on the types of questions he is asking. >> we are told it was explained to us as mueller is exploring. the idea is to see if there were any promises made to any companies, any investors, once kushner got into the white house. this was during the transition as kushner was getting ready to come into the administration. >> appreciate it. adam entis joining me. >> adam, in your piece, you write that jared kushner is their dream come true or lucky charm. >> what happened was chinese were trying to find ways to influence trump campaign and later during the transition and later as a president and they used an entry point through henry kissinger who made the introduction. and they wanted to ge

>> reporter: the meetings is that these are meetings that have to do with chinese investors anbang.s a chinese insurance company that owns the wald orf astoria. and as the company was looking to invest in the 666 property, there were talks between the kushner company and this chinese investors. and during this transition when they were close to getting a deal done, it fell through. there is also a qatari investor and we are told that deal fell through. and that happened during the transition. we are told this is why mueller is asking questions about it. >> and do we know what mueller might be focusing in on based on the types of questions he is asking? >> we are told it was explained to us as mueller is exploring. the idea is to see if there were any promises made to any companies, any investors, once kushner got into the white house. keep in mind this was during the transition as kushner was getting ready to come into the administration where obviously he's had a pretty prominent role, especially dealing with foreign nations and foreign contacts. >> particularly china. adam entis j

. >> how is the news of anbang that we got on friday play into economic reform? >> in terms of economic reform >> the government taking over an insurance company, for example >> yeah, that was surprising so, we've seen something like that happen in the past with some smaller players, but i think what it's an indication of is that the state is going to continue to play a sizable role in the economy, despite a lot of the talk that was surprising to see that in it was such a major -- it's just such a major move to do it. but, yeah, the fact that he disappeared. or the fact that there were charges against him that really wasn't that surprising. >> a lot of things to continue to watch yu thank you, eunice, michael, appreciate it. >>> just about a minute left in the show let's set you up with three big things to watch. we're watching new home sales. a leadership group in the markets last year. faltered a little bit this year. we'll see how it responds to higher interest rates. >> a lot of focus, home prices rising inventory dropping. higher rest rates. >>> and keep an

last week we did our story about questions concerning anbang, a chinese insurance company that offered help with 666. that bank, that insurance company, the chinese insurance, has been on the fbi's radar for quite some time out of concern for counterintelligence issues. they own the waldorf-astoria, former president obama no longer stayed at that hotel because there was concern the chinese could be spying on the president so certainly all those concerns have been with the u.s. government, have been with the fbi, they've been asking questions of other people who appear there before mueller about other countries and it's not necessarily as we now know that he has done anything wrong. it appears they're focusing on counterintelligence, how these countries were trying to influence jared kushner and were they trying to in a way hold something over him in their future so that in the white house or future dealings just to hold something over them with their offers of help. >> that's one of the reasons individuals don't get security clearances, if a foreign company could manipulate them they h

from blackstonethey want to see if ty was to repurchase some of these asset as anbang again, as well david: tom, thank you so much for that wrapup. let us have a look at markets across china right now. hong kong is entering the lunch break, 30 minutes left here. it is a good day, although we are not getting a lot of volume market, as we head into the lunar year. topre about 1/5 back to the week drought.two we hope it continues. this is bloomberg. ♪ retail. under pressure like never before. and its connected technology that's moving companies forward fast. e-commerce. real time inventory. virtual changing rooms. that's why retailers rely on comcast business to deliver consistent network speed across multiple locations. every corporate office, warehouse and store near or far covered. leaving every competitor, threat and challenge outmaneuvered. comcast business outmaneuver. the, 1.4% to the upside in new york. we are also looking north of a couple points here, that we were in the red for most of the asian morning session. it is 10:30 there, so for those of you still up and partying, go

. >> so, not anymore, but back in 2015 and 2016, they had hoped to work with anbang, a big chinese insurancem, to knock down the building at 666 fifth avenue, the one with the $1.2 billion debt. we reported on the deal terms at the time. it was massive. $4 billion to knock the building down, build another twice as tall in its place, and it called for a $400 million cash out re-fi to the kushners. a lot of people said it seemed unusually favorable. the deal fell apart after we reported those deal terms. >> this guy knows a lot about this. >> he does. >> again, might be interesting to the viewers to know how many buildings along the strip in midtown have chinese investors. another thing that happens. again, they're not partnered with somebody who is the son-in-law of the president of the united states. caleb melby, thank you very much. >> it is important to know when a chinese company comes in to make a u.s. investment, they have to get approval from the government. jared knows people in the government. >>> mitt romney thanking president trump for endorsing his senate run. two years ago, romne

one of those has to do with meeting that kushner had with anbang insurance, a chinese conglomerate.hey report they met with kushner and others one week after the election and discussed financing for 666 fifth avenue. those conversations continued into the president's first term and we understand no financing took place. another investor that special counsel mueller asked questions about is a very prominent qatari business man. those conversations began during the campaign and continued through the administration. again, no deal was ever reached in either of those. kushner previously had declined comment. and we have been unable to reach the qatari. >> so what would mueller, special counsel, be seeking to try to figure out in asking these kinds of questions about kushner and his business dealings. >> certainly the question of whether he was mixing his personal business with his work, as an incoming administration official. certainly that would be something perhaps mueller would want to ask questions about. we know that there have been several meetings that the special counsel has ask

investment, it's really the chinese government at that moment making the investment we have to know about anbangies, insurance companies, they spent more than $50 billion shopping around the world for trophy assets. they bought the waldorf astoria hotel, the hotel coronado in san diego, they bought a lot of commercial buildings in chicago, new york, los angeles. and these were companies that gr grew from very small insurance companies to these massive conglomerates, at least with a company like geely you're making a strategic investment in another carmaker these companies that are now sort of in sales mode, i.e., the waldorf is probably going to come back on the market. it was sold for just under $2 billion in 2014. the most expensive hotel ever sold all these properties are now -- they're scrambling to sell them. what's interesting is we really don't know why why did the chinese government basically allow/fund these companies to go out and spend all this money for years, very quickly now pulling them in, taking over the companies and selling them. >> chairman wu, who was taken away in june, nob

haidi: what did you make of anbang and the sudden seizure of control by the chinese government, the chairmanowhat just one example of quickly the tables can turn and how beijing can and will when it wants to bend companies to their will? >> definitely. this is not the first example. it has happened before. top-down policy perspective, leadership remains focused on addressing one of the biggest challenges, which is debt creation, and addressing or making those companies which are fueling their growth by just raising debt, just targeting those kinds of names. what we see here is another example. we are not saying this is the end or the beginning. you could see these companies come to the market, and therefore it is important to ground footprint in china to make sure that we are insulated from these kinds of shocks. just continue to do your hard work, due diligence, not just from a what is coming in macro perspective, but also looking at other indicators and trying to avoid shocks that can suddenly hit us. there could be something coming out more, but it is not a surprise i think. look at inves

the central government is not stepping away at all and we saw that with the takeover of anbang last weekly described best as kind with their own characteristics. tom: thank you, gina martin from bloomberg intelligence. what does it say about global portfolios? gina: global portfolio managers are tending with a lot of currency movements right now. the u.s. is outperforming so much and a lot of that has to do with the dollar. it is depressing some other opportunities overseas. this is not just another publication. as the u.s. trade deficit continues to grow, we got more news of that yesterday, this administration will continue to fight back on that and that confidence matters for investors that are looking for other opportunities. tom: i am thrilled you brought that up. i'm going to make a chart for that. eisman willteve join us and i will talk about alternative investment and volatility out there. also, jerome schneider will join us from pimco and his knowledge of the two year space. stay with us. this is bloomberg. ♪ taylor: this is bloomberg surveillance and i am taylor riggs. sales are