Rejecting criticisms from Lufthansa’s supervisory board over the proposed 9 billion-euro ($10 billion) rescue of Europe’s largest airline, Margrethe Vestager said Friday she isn’t “creating extra hurdles” by requiring cutbacks when the state takes a stake in companies.

“Lufthansa is indeed a very impressive company and they have market power,” Vestager told reporters at a Brussels press conference. “There is a high risk that if you hold market power” that “competition will be disturbed,” especially when state recapitalizations strengthen a company.

The supervisory board said May 27 that it was concerned about the weakening of its hubs at Frankfurt and Munich airports after the EU asked it to cede airport slots to rivals. That effectively shut down progress on a bailout package the company agreed on with Berlin earlier this week by delaying indefinitely a shareholder meeting scheduled to approve it.

Airport slots that determine when airlines can fly routes from airports are “a very valuable resource” and “often become the center of the debate because in order to fly to to an airport you need two slots,” Vestager said. Competitors “need to have slots in an airport.”

Vestager’s comments come as Lufthansa’s labor unions urged her in a letter not to push for measures that would dent the company’s competitiveness and lead to job losses. Representatives of Lufthansa’s cabin crew, ground staff and pilots unions said surrendering slots to airlines that didn’t offer the same level of pay and conditions as the German airline would be unfair.

Lufthansa labor representatives control half the voting rights on the airline group’s supervisory board, a body that still needs to vote on the deal in the days ahead. While the deal wasn’t voted on at the last meeting, passing the package would be difficult without labor union support.

“Neither workers or other European citizens will understand if tens of thousands of jobs are lost, not to covid-19, but due to terms set by the European Union,” the employee representatives said in the letter.

EU regulators are under strain to police huge subsidies governments are showering on companies to help them survive the coronavirus crisis. Germany’s aid to business far outweighs any other EU country, leading to fears German companies will survive the crisis while others founder.

A Lufthansa spokesman declined to comment on Vestager’s press conference.

“Just the fact that you have the state on board as a shareholder may also trigger more trust in your viability,” she said. “And in particular, if you are a company with market power and the recap is more than 250 million euros.” She said there is “such a big risk” to competition “that you will have to remedy this.”

She said getting an agreement “is high priority” and that officials “are in in very close contact” with the German authorities. “I can tell you that, but I can not tell you when we will be done.”

The German government is holding “intense talks” with the EU on the aid package which “meets the needs of the company as much as those of taxpayers, and the employees of Lufthansa who depend on the continuation of a strong business,” government spokesman Steffen Seibert said at a press conference in Berlin.

News of the green light for the IPO was confirmed today (May 29) in Siam Cement’s filing to the SET.

SCGP, along with its financial adviser and joint lead underwriters, are now assessing current conditions, including macro-economic trends, money markets and equity capital markets, as well as the confidence level of both Thai and international investors. The date of the IPO will be set accordingly.

The 98-year-old tycoon fathered 16 recognized children with four women he considered wives. Outside the hospital in front of cameras and journalists, it was Pansy Ho – the 57-year-old eldest daughter of his second wife – who was given the honor of announcing his passing as they flanked her.

Ho, a former socialite, is already chairman of one of Macau’s biggest conglomerates and co-chairman of casino operator MGM China Holdings Ltd., having become her father’s favored successor years ago.

With the death of the trailblazer who catapulted Macau past Las Vegas to become the world’s gambling epicenter, the pressure is now on her to unite the interests behind the Ho family’s $15 billion fortune, rejuvenate an aging casino franchise and lead the empire through the coronavirus pandemic that’s caused gambling revenue to plunge by more than 90%.

And with a fractious family held in check only by a delicate balance of power, Ho will need to chart a careful path forward.

“While Stanley was alive, things were in limbo – it would have been disrespectful for someone to take the helm,” said Ben Lee, Macau-based managing partner at gaming consultancy IGamiX. “Now that he has gone, what we’ll ultimately see is one person leading a reincarnated Ho empire. This paves the way for Pansy.”

A significant new alliance created last year gave Pansy Ho and her allies control over the family’s core casino franchise, SJM Holdings Ltd. None of the other children or three surviving wives have publicly contested the agreement, though investors and analysts remain wary of internal tensions.

“It is generally difficult for the second generation to follow the footstep of their father because the time frame and the geopolitical circumstances are all different,” Ambrose So, SJM’s chief executive officer, said in a message in response to Bloomberg inquiries Thursday. So said it was Ho’s concern for society and his personality traits – including charisma, humor, approachability and nose for business – that’s led him to stay at SJM for more than 40 years.

With her father’s passing, Pansy Ho is now expected to consolidate control over a complicated network of business interests, which include 20 casinos under SJM’s umbrella, the Chinese arm of American casino operator MGM Resorts International, and even the ferry and helicopter routes that link Macau and Hong Kong.

That would be a challenge in boom times. But Macau is now in the midst of a historic free-fall due to the pandemic, with basically empty casinos losing more than $1 million a day.

Gaming revenue plummeted by a record 97% last month compared with the same period a year ago, and a recovery is unlikely as long as virus containment measures prevent Chinese travelers – the enclave’s lifeblood – from entering the territory.

With the outbreak seemingly curbed in mainland China, Macau and Hong Kong, analysts are hoping that border and visa restrictions will be eased starting next month, followed by a summer recovery.

But with casinos now desperate to regain lost ground, competition will be fiercer than ever, and SJM had already been losing market share to more dynamic operators before the pandemic.

The industry will try to relaunch in a slow reopening that may start with a “travel bubble” of tourists to ease movement between Macau and neighboring Hong Kong and China’s Guangdong province, said Glenn McCartney, a professor at the University of Macau’s Faculty of Business Administration.

SJM’s complex division of power – holdings are split between three branches of the family, including Pansy’s – has made it slower-moving than rivals and it’s steadily lost market share. It was the last among Macau’s six operators to build a casino on the territory’s swanky Cotai strip and has had to delay the opening of that new project, the $5 billion Grand Lisboa Palace, to March next year from end-2020.

Internal maneuvering is also a constant distraction. Angela Leong, Ho’s fourth and latest wife who’s seen as a competitor to Pansy, holds an 8% stake in the holding company that controls SJM, a possible future flashpoint.

In 2018, Daisy Ho, Pansy’s sister from Ho’s second wife, joined SJM as chairman. At 55, she’s the youngest board director and came with no casino experience, leading many to presume that she’s allied with Pansy, said Lee of IGamix.

SJM has an “entrenched management” and is steeped in “dysfunction” trying to placate various interests, wrote Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Vitaly Umansky in a note Tuesday.

Investors are now looking to SJM’s June 9 annual general meeting – where four incumbent board members including Angela Leong are seeking reelection – for any signs of brewing division.

“SJM is a company in desperate need of a strong, clear leadership and more transparency in terms of its internal power structures,” said Francisco Gaivão, managing partner at G&R Law Firm in Macau that focuses on gaming.

“Sooner rather than later Pansy Ho will have another go at her pursuit of SJM control,” he said. “Being a very sharp and determined businesswoman, she will continue her strategy of alliances with other shareholders in order to get rid of her known fierce internal enemies and get control of the board.”

The second generation will also face challenges in managing the empire as Stanley Ho’s political and business connections may not pass on to his children.

“It is of utmost importance for the new leader of the Ho group to identify new sources of competitive advantage and transform its business and managerial teams that can no longer depend on Ho’s legacy,” said Joseph Fan, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Representatives at Shun Tak Holdings Ltd., a conglomerate Pansy Ho is chairman of, didn’t respond to requests for comment on plans for the family’s various businesses. A spokesperson for SJM also didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lawrence Ho, chairman of another Macau casino franchise, Melco Resorts & Entertainment, and Pansy’s brother, is another potential competitor. He has said he is focused on building his own brand, which is expanding to the Philippines and seeking a resort license in Japan, and stays out of family succession issues. But his high profile and solo business success has meant that some see him as a dark horse in the family race.

“The role of Lawrence is one of the unanswered questions on how the future will look,” said Carlos Lobo, a gaming consultant and Macau lawyer who’s advised the government. “I just don’t see how he fits in such a solution of Pansy being at the helm.”

Although the last public family spat over business control was in 2011 – Stanley Ho accused family members of trying to take over his stake and sued – other smaller disputes are ongoing.

Still, Pansy Ho has earned credibility and respect within the industry and the reins are hers to lose, say analysts.

Educated in the U.S, she has experience managing casinos as well as insight into the tourism, property and transportation industries of the region via her work at Shun Tak, another family business. The company controls ferry and helicopter services between Macau and Hong Kong.

She’s also responsible for striking an alliance with MGM, the American casino operator, whose franchise in Macau operates under a sub-concession – Macau’s term for gaming licenses – under SJM’s primary concession.

Gaming law dictates that a shareholder who holds a 5% share or more in one gaming concession is not allowed to hold more than 5% in another operator, which means that Pansy will need to step away from MGM China if she consolidates control over SJM.

At MGM China, Ho has put her “impeccable taste” into the resort’s interior design, said Jim Murren, former MGM Resorts International chief executive officer. He hinted that people may underestimate her.

“People don’t have the full picture of Pansy, of her having tremendous business insight,” Murren said. “She’s fearless, she’s an incredibly intense business person.”

The coming months will likely see the family make public its full plan for the empire’s various businesses, which should have allocations for every branch of the Ho family tree, said IGamiX’s Lee.

“It looks like family members have realized that the infighting that occurred several years ago wouldn’t benefit any of them individually or collectively,” said Lee. “Having someone strong like Pansy with the ability to reignite the empire would benefit all of them.”

Passengers who hold tickets are considered creditors.

Normally, THAI sells between Bt8 billion and Bt10 billion worth of tickets per month, or Bt130 billion worth of tickets per year. It is estimated that the airline sold tickets worth Bt24 billion between March and May.

Some passengers who bought the ticket during this period have either postponed their flights or cancelled their tickets due to widespread ban on travel brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Central Bankruptcy Court, meanwhile, on May 27 accepted the airline’s application to seek rehabilitation process under the bankruptcy law. As a result, all of THAI’s debt obligations have be put on halt automatically by law, which means THAI has to cease servicing all its debts.

According to a statement released by THAI on Wednesday (May 28), the airline has temporarily suspended all its commercial flights due to the outbreak. It has also helped affected passengers by allowing them to change their flight schedules, extend the ticket validity periods or has converted the tickets into travel vouchers. It has also refunded some tickets free of charge.

However, due to its entry into the rehab procedure, THAI is forced by law to stop refunding tickets, the statement said, adding that the airline has every intention to take care of passengers who have sought refunds and will inform them of their rights under the rehab process.

The licence was granted by the Energy Regulatory Commission, as part of a move to liberalise the gas business by opening up trade to the private sector.

The import and trade will be dealt with by B Grimm LNG Co, a subsidiary wholly owned by the mother company, said B Grimm Power’s president Preeyanart Soontornwata.

She added that the gas would be used to fuel five B Grimm small power producer plants (SPPs) which are expected to begin operating in 2021-2022.

The plants are being built in the Eastern Economic Corridor, where demand for electricity to run factories is growing.

CRC informed the Stock Exchange of Thailand on Wednesday (May 27) that its Central Food Retail (CFR) subsidiary had reached an agreement to buy the remaining 49 per cent of shares in Central FamilyMart (CFM).

CFR bought the 5,757,500 remaining shares from its Japanese partner, which decided to divest its investment in Thailand. CRC subsidiaries SFM Holding and Robinson Plc already held stakes in FamilyMart of 50.65 per cent and 0.35 per cent, respectively.

The acquisition will enable Central to take complete control of the FamilyMart franchise and make changes to meet consumers’ needs in order to expand the business, said CRC.

MUFG said Pairote has been leading Krungsri’s corporate strategy and business planning, and his extensive experience spanned 25 years across multiple fields in retail finance. He has held senior positions in various organisations including Krungsri Auto and GE Capital Auto Lease Plc.

The company said he is among the Krungsri leaders who played a crucial role in driving the bank to become one of Thailand’s Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs).

In this new role as MUFG executive officer, Pairote will continue to serve as the chief strategy officer for Krungsri, strengthening synergies between the two financial groups through knowledge and best practice sharing in order to achieve sustainable business growth, the company said.

BEM managing director Sombat Kijjaluck said that the first project would be the MRT Orange Line (western part) that runs from Thailand Cultural Center to Bang Khun Non. “This project has an estimated value of Bt120 billion and will include the construction and administration of the train system under a 30-year concession contract.”

The second project that the BEM is eyeing is the MRT Purple Line (southern part) on the Taopoon-Ratburana route, a distance of 23.6 kilometres. “This project is worth around Bt100 billion and is the extension of the MRT Bangsue-Bangyai section that the company is currently operating,” added Sombat.

“BEM is confident that we will win the bids for both projects because of our expertise in tunnel boring and the fact that our operational cost will be lower than that of our competitors, as we can use the existing maintenance facilities of the MRT Blue Line,” he added. “We estimate that the two projects will help increase MRT users by 10-20 per cent in the next 5-10 years.”

Sombat added that BEM is strictly employing social distancing measures after the government eased lockdown measures and more commuters started using MRT services since earlier this month. “We have added 49 trains during rush hours in the morning and evening to reduce the crowd; we are alao disinfecting touching surfaces every two hours to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and other germs,” he said.

“The company’s profit from MRT and expressways in the first quarter of 2020 has slightly decreased due to the outbreak, but we estimate that things would improve in the next one or two months,” added Sombat. “Currently around 80-85 per cent of expressway users have returned as people travel more after the lockdown was lifted in several areas.”

This is the fifth licence for the shipping of LNG to be granted. The other four licences are held by PTT Plc, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, Gulf Energy Development Plc and Hin Kong Power Holding Co Ltd (HKH), in which Gulf Energy Development holds a 49-per-cent stake.

The revenue for last year was more than double the company’s tally of about $7.4 billion in 2018, propelled by phenomenal growth in user traffic that’s drawn advertisers away from Tencent Holdings and Baidu. The people asked not to be identified because the financial details are private.

ByteDance has emerged as one of the tech industry’s most surprising success stories, an innovative Chinese company that is challenging the global dominance of U.S. internet giants. It draws some 1.5 billion monthly active users to a family of apps that includes the TikTok short-video platform, its Chinese twin Douyin and the news service Toutiao. This month, the company poached Walt Disney Co. streaming czar Kevin Mayer to become chief executive officer of TikTok.

The company owes much of its success to TikTok, now the online repository of choice for lip-synching and dance videos by American teens. The ambitious company is also pushing aggressively into a plethora of new arenas from gaming and search to music. ByteDance could fetch a valuation of between $150 billion and $180 billion in an initial public offering, a premium relative to sales of as much as 20% to social media giant Tencent thanks to a larger global footprint and burgeoning games business, estimated Ke Yan, Singapore-based analyst with DZT Research.

“None of the Chinese tech companies has achieved this level of success in the global market before ByteDance,” he said, adding neither social media company harbors much debt. “The fact that ByteDance is making profit, if true, and sitting on a $6 billion cash pile means that it is not in a rush at all to come to market to raise capital, and therefore less likely to offer the shares at a more reasonable price for IPO investors.”

ByteDance, led by Zhang Yiming, is becoming a viable rival to the dominant American online behemoths, Facebook and Alphabet Inc. Facebook unit Instagram brought in about $20 billion in advertising revenue in 2019, Bloomberg previously reported. Google said its video unit YouTube recorded $15.1 billion in ad sales last year.

ByteDance representatives didn’t respond to a request for comment.

That success has come despite American lawmakers raising concerns about privacy and censorship. In a rare bipartisan effort in Washington, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., last year urged an investigation into TikTok, labeling it a national security threat.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to regulate or shut down social media companies, tweeting that the platforms attempt to silence conservative voices. Twitter Inc. on Tuesday added a fact-checking link to two of Trump’s tweets to his 80 million followers.

ByteDance is strengthening its operations in newer arenas such as e-commerce and gaming. This year, it kicked off a wave of hiring and envisions hitting 40,000 new jobs in 2020, hoping to match headcount of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. at a time technology corporations across the globe are furloughing or reducing staff.

The company had very preliminary discussions about an initial public offering last year, but is in no rush to go public given its financial performance, people have said. It now has more than $6 billion of cash on hand, the people said.

ByteDance, which is backed by SoftBank Group Corp., General Atlantic and Sequoia, is already the world’s most valuable startup, according to researcher CB Insights. Some private trades recently valued the Chinese company between $105 billion and $110 billion on the secondary markets, Bloomberg News previously reported. It has also traded as high as $140 billion, one person said, making it one of the most highly valued private companies of all time.