MEDICAL DEVICES
Medtronic to buy Covidien
US medical-device maker Medtronic PLC will buy its Irish-based competitor Covidien for US$42.9 billion, the company said late on Sunday. The deal would allow Medtronic to take advantage of Ireland’s lower business tax rates — 12.5 percent versus 35 percent in the US. The cash-and-stock transaction is valued at US$93.22 per Covidien share, or about US$42.9 billion based on Medtronic’s closing price of US$60.70 per share on Friday, the statement read. The combined firm will have a broad product portfolio and about 87,000 employees in more than 150 countries.
AVIATION
Airbus, Safran team up
Aerospace giant Airbus Group and French engine maker Safran SA yesterday announced a joint venture on space launchers, as Europe looks to compete with rising US rival Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX). The two companies said in a statement they would team up on production of Ariane rockets for Arianespace SA, which is facing intense competition from low-cost SpaceX in sending up communications satellites. The companies said the 50-50 joint venture would bring together “expertise in the launcher systems from Airbus Group as well as propulsion systems from Safran.”
ECONOMICS
Africa meet touts integration
Africa needs to first rely on internal investment if it is to achieve the infrastructure developments it urgently needs, Senegalese President Macky Sall said on Sunday at a regional summit. Sall also called for greater integration of the economies and infrastructures of African countries, and a “paradigm shift” in the way the resources of the continent are used. The two-day meeting of Dakar Financing Summit brought together the leaders of Mali, Nigeria and Benin, with 300 delegates.
RETAIL
Starbucks offers college aid
Starbucks Corp is rolling out a program that would allow its workers to earn an online college degree at Arizona State University at a steeply discounted rate. The coffee chain is partnering with the school to offer the option to 135,000 US employees who work at least 20 hours a week. The Seattle-based firm says it will phase out its existing tuition reimbursement program, which gave workers up to US$1,000 a year for education at certain schools.
AIRLINES
Wizz Air cancels listing
Wizz Air Hungary Airlines Ltd yesterday abandoned its plans for an initial public offering (IPO), citing current market volatility in the airline sector. The carrier said last month it planned to list its shares on the London Stock Exchange, seeking to raise 200 million euros (US$272 million) to strengthen its balance sheet as it seeks to fund more growth. Wizz Air is central and eastern Europe’s largest budget airline of central and eastern Europe with a market share of 38 percent, and makes money while traditional local airlines have struggled or gone bust in recent years.
COMPUTER SERVICES
Atos to list Worldline unit
Atos SE, a French computer-services provider, will split off its Worldline unit in an initial public offering valuing the business at about US$3 billion, seeking to capitalize on demand for electronic payment. The IPO is set to raise about 610 million euros through a sale of about 255 million euros of new shares and 355 million euros of existing shares, Paris-based Atos, which is keeping 70 percent, said yesterday.
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
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
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure