MACROECONOMICS
Japan output contracts
Japan’s factory output in November was weaker than first reported, with industrial production sliding 0.1 percent, revised data released yesterday showed, in the latest sign of slowing growth. The reading — which came after preliminary data had shown a 0.1 percent rise in output month-on-month — also marked the first contraction in three months. However, machinery orders — a key measure of capital spending — jumped 9.3 percent from October to a five-year high, suggesting a pick-up in corporate investment.
SHIPPING
Hyundai starts CSCL contract
South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries yesterday said it had started construction on a Chinese order for the world’s largest container ships. China Shipping Container Lines (CSCL) awarded the contract for the five vessels — each with a capacity of 18,400 TEU (20-foot equivalent unit) container boxes — to Hyundai in May. Since the order was made, Hyundai said the vessels for CSCL had been further upgraded to a 19,000 TEU-capacity at the Chinese company’s request. Hyundai said in a statement that the first ship would be delivered in November. Each ship will boast a 400m long deck, while standing 30.5m high and 58.6m wide.
BREWERIES
AB InBev to buy Oriental
The world’s largest brewer, AB InBev yesterday announced a deal to buy South Korea’s Oriental Brewery Co Ltd (OB) from KKR and Affinity Equity Partners for US$5.8 billion. The deal brings Oriental Brewery, the leader in the South Korean beer market, back into the AB InBev fold after it was sold in 2009 during efforts to reduce the debt incurred in the merger of InBev and US brewer Anheuser-Busch. “We are excited to invest in South Korea and to be working with the Oriental Brewery team again,” AB InBev chief executive Carlos Brito said in a statement. “OB will strengthen our position in the fast-growing Asia Pacific region and will become a significant contributor to our Asia Pacific Zone.”
BANKING
Deutsche surprises with loss
Deutsch Bank, Germany’s biggest bank, announced late on Sunday a surprise net loss of 965 million euros (US$1.3 billion) in the fourth quarter because of litigation costs and weakening revenues. In a statement issued more than a week earlier than markets expected, co-CEOs Juergen Fitschen and Anshu Jain gave the loss figure, which amounted to 1.2 billion euros before taxes. The bank will post an overall net profit of 1.08 billion euros for last year, they said. The bank set aside 2.5 billion euros over the year to address lawsuits by US and EU market authorities over a raft of issues, including the rigging of interbank lending rates and alleged hiding of the risks of US subprime mortgages.
INSURANCE
Aviva, PT Astra form venture
Aviva PLC, Britain’s second-biggest insurer, has formed a joint venture with Indonesia’s PT Astra International, competing with firms, including Prudential PLC, vying for business in Southeast Asia. Astra Aviva Life will provide Aviva products to Astra, Indonesia’s largest publicly traded company, and its subsidiaries, including PT Bank Permata, the London-based company said in a statement on Friday. The deal, subject to regulatory approval, is scheduled to start later this year. Aviva CEO Mark Wilson said the deal underlined Aviva’s commitment to Asia, which contributed about 3.6 percent of operating profit in the first half of last year.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the