■BANKING
RBS to sell Colombian bank
Britain’s Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is in talks with a potential buyer for its Colombian operations, as it pushes ahead with plans to refocus on core businesses by selling off unwanted assets inherited from ABN AMRO. “We are in discussions with a potential buyer of our Colombian operations. However, due to the confidential nature of the discussions we will not be commenting further,” an RBS spokeswoman said on Monday. RBS, which has mainly investment banking operations in Colombia, does not provide an income breakdown from the unit. Sky News reported RBS was holding talks with Bank of Nova Scotia, Canada’s No. 3 bank, over the Colombian bank. The Canadian bank was not available for comment.
■FERTILIZER
Yara bids for Terra
Yara International of Norway, the world’s biggest mineral fertilizer producer, said on Monday it made a cash offer of US$4.1 billion for US firm Terra Industries. The move signals an attempt by Yara to become a North American giant and a new transatlantic leader in the fertilizer business. “The new company will be the major domestic player in North America in combination with being the largest importer [of fertilizers], which is Yara’s position today,” Yara chief financial officer Hallgeir Storvik said in a presentation on Monday. “The company will have by far the highest market share in North America at around 30 percent,” he added.
■COMMUNICATIONS
Televisa buys Nextel share
Mexico’s Televisa, the world’s largest Spanish-language television network, has purchased 30 percent of Nextel Mexico mobile phone company for US$1.44 billion, the companies said on Monday. “Under the terms of agreement, Televisa will invest US$1.44 billion in cash for a 30 percent share of Nextel Mexico’s capital,” the companies said in a joint statement. The deal opens the mobile phone market to Televisa, which will now be able to offer Mexico’s first bundled, “quadruple play” service that includes cable television, broadband Internet and landline telephone.
■COSMETICS
L’Oreal sees return to profit
L’Oreal, the world’s biggest cosmetics company, on Monday forecast a return to sales and profit growth this year after hard times last year when the French group saw its earnings fall 3.2 percent. “Overall, L’Oreal has emerged from 2009 stronger and has prepared itself well for a return to sales and results growth in 2010,” L’Oreal chief executive Jean-Paul Agon said in an earnings statement. Net profit last year fell to 2 billion euros (US$2.72 billion) from 2.06 billion euros in 2008, while turnover slipped to 17.47 billion euros from 17.54 billion euros.
■AUTOMOBILES
Ex-GM chief to head Tata
India’s leading car maker, Tata Motors, said on Monday it had appointed the former head of General Motors’ European operations as its chief executive officer. Carl-Peter Forster would have “overall responsibility” for Tata Motors’ global operations, including its British-based Jaguar and Land Rover manufacturers, the company said in a statement. At 55, Forster has 24 years of international experience in the car industry, Tata said. Most recently he was the head of General Motors Europe, where he was responsible for Opel/Vauxhall, Saab and the European activities of Chevrolet.
■ENERGY
S Korea to drill for gas
South Korea will start exploratory drilling for gas hydrates off its east coast in April as part of a drive to acquire alternative energy resources, officials said yesterday. The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said the drilling would take place from April 1 through May 15 at a cost of US$37 million. South Korea carried out its first exploratory drilling for gas hydrates in 2007. A drill ship from Britain’s Fugro Synergy will be used for the second operation south of Ulleung Island off the east coast.
■ELECTRONICS
Sony to halt OLED TV sales
Sony said yesterday it would stop selling in Japan an ultra-thin television using organic materials because of sluggish demand, in a setback to its efforts to regain a reputation for innovation. The Japanese giant will halt domestic shipments of organic light emitting diode (OLED) TVs by the end of next month, company spokeswoman Ryoko Takagi said. Sony was the first firm to commercially launch a television using the technology in 2007, but with a price tag of about ¥200,000 (US$2,200), market reception has been lukewarm.
■SOUTH KOREA
Bank maintains low rates
South Korea’s central bank said it would maintain low borrowing costs to support the economy and raise rates once it is confident the recovery is sustained. “We will maintain the accommodative policy trend for the time being, and in future will gradually adjust the easing considering the local and overseas financial and economic conditions,” the bank said in a report submitted to lawmakers in Seoul yesterday. The Bank of Korea last Thursday kept the benchmark interest rate at 2 percent for a 12th month.
■TELECOMS
Nokia, Intel merge software
Nokia and Intel said they were combining their software for smartphones, tablet computers and other Internet-connected devices. The new software, to be released in the second quarter, will be called MeeGo and it will supersede Nokia Corp’s Maemo used in a few high-end phones. It would also replace Intel Corp’s Moblin, which it has been developing with an aim to get its own chips into phones and larger “mobile Internet devices.”
■AUTOMOBILES
EU car sales up last month
New car sales were up 12.9 percent across the EU last month compared with a year earlier, benefiting from ongoing fleet renewal schemes, the European carmakers body said yesterday. While the bloc’s biggest market, Germany, saw a decline of 4.3 percent because of the end of incentives there, Italy, Britain, Spain and France each saw big jumps in the number of new registrations. However, compared with January 2008, before the full effects of the economic crisis kicked in, car sales were down across the bloc by 17.3 percent.
■HOTELS
InterContinental profit dips
InterContinental Hotels Group said yesterday that its net profit dropped nearly 19 percent to US$213 million last year as business travelers stayed at home. “2009 was a very challenging year for the industry,” chief executive Andrew Cosslett said in the group’s earnings statement. “The fourth quarter did show some improvement ... [but] we expect trading to stay tough until business travellers return in greater numbers.” Sales by the group, which owns brands including Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn, also retreated by almost 19 percent last year to US$1.538 billion.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last