France's highest court on Friday removed the final regulatory hurdle to Credit Agricole SA's planned merger with Credit Lyonnais SA, a deal to create the country's largest retail bank.
Ending five months of wrangling on the deal, the Council of State confirmed approval of the 19.5 billion euro (US$22.5 billion) merger, but turned away conditions imposed by France's main banking regulator.
In its verdict, the court ruled that the regulator, CECEI, had the right to approve the merger, but had overstepped its bounds by imposing conditions on it.
Also Friday, France's stock market watchdog said Credit Agricole's 56-euro (US$64.59) per share offer to Credit Lyonnais shareholders will close May 26 -- three months later than the banks had intended.
A counterbid could still be made, but that now seems unlikely after BNP Paribas SA, a rival suitor for Credit Lyonnais, said this week it favors selling its 16.2 percent stake in Credit Lyonnais.
In a landmark ruling in March, the CECEI approved the Credit Agricole-Credit Lyonnais merger, but set conditions that included the sell-off of 85 branches across France and a freeze on opening outlets in one third of the country's 95 administrative districts.
French insurance regulators and the US Federal Reserve Bank quickly approved the merger, but the tie-up was delayed because the CECEI decided to launch a six-week probe into competition concerns.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”