OIL
Tullow sells Uganda stakes
British-based oil explorer Tullow Oil said yesterday it had agreed to sell stakes in its Ugandan operations to French company Total and Chinese group CNOOC (中國海洋石油) for US$2.9 billion. Tullow has agreed to sell a 33.3 percent stake in exploration Areas 1, 2 and 3A, around Lake Albert, to each of the companies. Tullow will retain a third share. Tullow said it would be liable for “certain tax related payments” to Uganda following the transaction.
ENTERTAINMENT
Warner Music bid made
German media group Bertelsmann and investment fund KKR want to buy the US company Warner Music for between US$2.5 million and US$3 million, a press report said yesterday. Talks with Warner Music will take place in the coming days in New York, sources close to the matter told the business daily Handelsblatt, with one estimating the chances of success at 60 percent. “Bertelsmann is ready to invest,” Bertelsmann chief financial officer Thomas Rabe said on Tuesday, adding the group had set aside 1 billion euros (US$1.4 billion) to do so.
PULP AND PAPER
IP to buy APPM stake
US-based International Paper (IP) will buy a key stake in India’s Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills (APPM) for up to US$423 million as it seeks a foothold in the booming Indian economy, the companies said on Tuesday. IP said that it would buy 53.5 percent of APPM from parent LN Bangur group for US$257 million in cash and make a public offer an additional 21.5 percent of APPM’s shares for US$104 million. In addition, it agreed to a US$62 million non-compete payment to the sellers, taking the deal’s potential value to US$423 million.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Valeant makes Cephalon bid
Valeant Pharmaceuticals Inc says it has offered to acquire biopharmaceutical company Cephalon Inc for US$5.7 billion in cash. The proposed bid by Mississauga, Ontario-based Valeant on Tuesday amounts to US$73 a share and represents a 27 percent premium over Cephalon’s closing price on Monday. Valeant also intends to commence a consent solicitation process next week in an effort to replace Cephalon’s board of directors with its own nominees. Valeant says it expects to finance the full purchase price.
JAPAN
Production rose last month
Japan’s industrial production climbed for the fourth straight month last month, but the government warned yesterday output would plunge in the coming months owing to production and supply disruptions following the March 11 tsunami disaster. Factory output, a key measure of overall economic activity, rose 0.4 percent from January on the back of strong demand for cars and machinery, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. Last month’s result was better than an average market forecast of a 0.1 percent decline by Kyodo News agency.
SOUTH KOREA
Economy grew 6.2% last year
South Korea’s economy grew 6.2 percent last year, its fastest expansion for eight years, the central bank said yesterday after revising up its earlier estimate of 6.1 percent. The bank also raised its growth figures for 2009 to 0.3 percent from its earlier projection of 0.2 percent. Last year’s growth in Asia’s fourth-largest economy was the largest since 7.2 percent in 2002. The bank expects growth to slow this year, but stuck by its December forecast of 4.5 percent.
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
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
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