INSURANCE
Dai-ichi eyes Protective Life
Dai-ichi Life Insurance yesterday said it would buy US-based Protective Life for US$5.7 billion in a record deal. Japan’s No. 2 insurer said it would pay US$70 per share for the US firm and issue up to ¥250 billion (US$2.4 billion) in new stock to help finance the deal. Dai-ichi said the purchase of Protective Life, a mid-sized firm based in Alabama, was aimed at broadening its overseas business beyond Asia. The buyout is expected to be completed later this year or early next year.
PROPERTY
Frasers bids for Australand
Singapore-based real-estate giant Frasers Centrepoint yesterday made a surprise A$2.59 billion (US2.4 billion) cash offer for Australia’s Australand, as a bidding war broke out. Frasers offered A$4.48 per share for the property developer and office landlord, trumping a share swap bid by Australian rival Stockland last week. Australand, the owner of A$2.4 billion in residential and commercial developments, granted Frasers four weeks to exclusively complete due diligence.
RETAIL
Longchamp opens in Paris
The French designer firm Longchamp is opening its biggest European store on Paris’ high-end shopping street, the Champs-Elysees, the firm said on Tuesday. The brand, which makes women’s handbags, shoes and travel bags, reported sales of 462 million euros (US$630 million) last year, a figure it hopes would top 500 million euros this year thanks to the new flagship store and successes in the Asian market. Chief executive Jean Cassegrain said he hoped the new 500m2 store would attract not only Parisians, but also tourists, especially Asian shoppers.
AUTOMAKERS
GM backs Barra in lawsuit
General Motors Co (GM) officials increasingly believe that chief executive Mary Barra will be cleared of wrongdoing in the recall crisis after a three-month internal investigation, the New York Times reported. GM hired two law firms in March to look into its recall of millions of cars following 13 deaths related to faulty ignition switches. The internal probe, led by Jenner & Block chairman Anton “Tony” Valukas, is expected to name executives, employees and departments within GM responsible for the delayed recall, and recommend broad corporate and personnel changes at the company.
MINING
Iluka plans mine with Vale
Australia’s Iluka Resources yesterday said it had signed agreements with iron ore major Vale to evaluate and potentially develop a large titanium deposit in Brazil. The first phase of the study of the deposit in Minas Gerais state would include geological and technical evaluations, a market assessment and a pilot design for a plant, the Australian firm said. Subsequent phases — including constructing a pilot plant and eventually a commercial scale plant — are dependent on these results.
RETAIL
Tesco Q1 sales decline
Supermarket group Tesco, Britain’s biggest retailer, yesterday reported sliding first-quarter sales, hit by intense competition from foreign-owned outlets and restructuring costs. Total sales, including gasoline, slid 3.7 percent in the three months to May 24, compared with a year earlier, Tesco said in a trading update, hit by a 2 percent drop in Britain. On a like-for-like basis, which strips out the impact of new stores, British sales excluding gasoline sank 3.7 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
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