INVESTMENT
SinoPac SITC eyes China
SinoPac Securities Investment Trust Co (SinoPac SITC, 永豐投信), an investment consulting arm of Taiwan-based SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控), will team up with Xiamen International Trust Co (廈門國際信託) to set up a fund management company in China. SinoPac Financial said on Friday that the joint company, which will be capitalized at 200 million yuan (US$31.6 million), will open in Xiamen, Fujian Province, with SinoPac SITC to hold a 49 percent stake in the new entity and Xiamen International Trust to own the remaining 51 percent. The joint venture proposal is pending approval from Chinese authorities.
CURRENCY
China, Pakistan do swap
China has announced a currency swap with Pakistan in the latest step to gradually expand use of the tightly controlled Chinese currency abroad. The Chinese central bank said yesterday it swapped 10 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion) for 140 billion Pakistani rupees (US$1.7 billion). It said the exchange would promote investment and trade, but gave no details on how the money would be used. China has carried out currency swaps with Argentina and Kazakhstan and agreed to lend yuan to other countries in case of emergencies.
ENERGY
RWE to sell Egypt assets
German energy giant RWE has put its assets in Egypt up for sale in a bid to raise about US$1 billion, three people familiar with the matter told Dow Jones Newswires on Friday. The assets are shares in two undeveloped oil and gas fields belonging to its subsidiary Dea, it said. An RWE spokeswoman declined to comment, but highlighted the Dea unit was on the group’s list of potential sell-offs. The energy supplier is in need of fresh cash because earnings are being hit by a decision by Germany to phase out nuclear power and a generally difficult market environment.
TRAVEL
Thomas Cook to sell property
Thomas Cook Group PLC, Europe’s second-largest tour operator, agreed to sell office buildings in the Netherlands as part of a plan to reduce borrowings. Thomas Cook will sell the property in Hoofddorp to FN2 BV, a unit of the Fotex Group, for 18 million euros (US$23 million), the London-based company said in an e-mailed statement on Friday. The property is rented to third-party tenants. The sale is part of a plan to dispose of as much as £200 million (US$311.8 million) of “non-core” assets within 18 months, the company said.
ENERGY
Brazil fines Chevron
Brazil’s environment inspector fined Chevron Corp 10 million reais (US$5.4 million) on Friday for breaching the terms of the US oil giant’s environmental license when tackling an offshore spill at a well the firm drilled last month. The fine is on top of a 50 million reais charge the inspector, IBAMA, slapped on Chevron for causing the spill at the Frade field when rock gave way because of a pressure surge. Chevron estimates 2,400 barrels of oil spilled into the sea.
ITALY
Bond sales announced
The Italian Treasury announced a minimum of 40 billion euros (US$52 billion) in bond and note sales in the first quarter of next year, according to an e-mailed statement from Rome on Friday. The Treasury will sell 9 billion euros of two-year notes, 10 billion euros of five-year bonds, 12 billion euros of 10-year bonds and 9 billion euros of three-year bonds.
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