BANKING
US lender to sell CCB stake
Bank of America Merrill Lynch said on Tuesday it had agreed to sell its stake in China Construction Bank (CCB, 中國建設銀行) to the bank, exiting an investment it made eight years ago. The US lender said it will sell approximately 2 billion shares, or 1 percent of all outstanding shares in CCB, China’s second-biggest bank, confirming earlier reports. The statement did not provide the financial details of the sale, but at a reported price range for the shares of HK$5.63 to HK$5.81, the sale would bring in between US$1.45 billion and US$1.5 billion.
CREDIT RATINGS
S&P alleges US retaliation
Standard & Poor’s says the US government sued the rating agency as “retaliation” for its downgrade of the country’s credit rating. S&P, a unit of McGraw Hill Cos, said in a court filing on Tuesday that its opinions were independent and based on a good-faith assessment of the performance of residential mortgages during a tumultuous time in the market. The US Department of Justice filed civil charges against the rating agency in February and is seeking US$5 billion in penalties. In 2011, the rating agency downgraded the US government’s long-term credit rating one notch to “AA+” following a standoff in Congress over whether to raise the US’ borrowing limit. It reaffirmed the country’s “AA+” rating in June and upgraded its outlook to “stable” from “negative.”
INTERNET
LinkedIn plans shares sale
LinkedIn Corp, the world’s biggest professional networking Web site, filed to raise about US$1 billion in a stock sale after a fivefold surge in its shares since its initial public offering in 2011. The company plans to sell 4.17 million shares of its Class A stock, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. While the price has not been determined, LinkedIn estimated it will raise US$1 billion based on a closing stock price of US$240.04 on Friday last week. The Mountain View, California-based company last raised money in November 2011 in a US$701.5 million offering. As in that sale, LinkedIn said the cash will be used for working capital, product development and possibly to make strategic acquisitions or investments.
CHINA
Services hit five-month high
Growth in China’s services sector hit a five-month high last month, underpinned by optimism over government policy measures, a private survey showed, the latest evidence that the world’s second-largest economy may have avoided a sharp slowdown. The Markit/HSBC Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) climbed to 52.8 last month, up from July’s 51.3 and the highest since March, the survey showed yesterday. The data came on the heels of three other PMI surveys this week that pointed to a pick-up in activity at factories and service firms.
COMMUNICATONS
Apple sends invitations
Apple Inc on Tuesday sent official invitations to an event on Tuesday next week at which it is expected to unveil the latest version of the iPhone, possibly in colors other than its trademark black and white. “This should brighten everyone’s day,” the typically cryptic invitation read, under a graphic depicting pastel-colored circles surrounding a stark white Apple logo. Apple said in the invitation it will host a breakfast and presentation at its Cupertino, California headquarters. The company did not specify as to what the presentation will be about.
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