October 19, 2020 - Biz in 60

Eurozone's budget deficits to widen tenfold this year The eurozone's budget deficit will rise tenfold from last year's levels as governments spend heavily to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. Draft budget plans indicate the 19-country bloc will slide into a fiscal deficit of nearly 1-point-1 trillion dollars this year. The European Central Bank forecasts the eurozone's economy shrinking 8-percent in 2020. Ant Group wins key approval for Hong Kong IPO plan Jack Ma's Ant Group has reportedly won a key approval from Chinese regulators for the Hong Kong leg of its blockbuster initial public offering. The fin-tech company is expected to raise about 35-billion- dollars from the dual listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai. The listing could be one of the biggest ever offerings, topping the 29-billion- dollars raised in Saudi Aramco's IPO last year. ConocoPhillips agrees to buy rival Concho for $9.7B US oil producer ConocoPhillips has agreed to buy rival Concho Resources for about 9-point-7 billion dollars. The acquisition will make Conoco the largest US oil independent, pumping 1-and- a-half million barrels per day. The all-share deal comes as the energy sector continues to consolidate amid lower fuel prices and demand due to the pandemic.