TELECOMS
NTT looks to buy e-shelter
Japanese telecom giant NTT Communications is looking to acquire German data center operator e-shelter as it seeks to cash in on growing demand in Europe, the Nikkei business daily reported yesterday. Parent company Nippon Telegraph & Telephone is expanding its overseas operations, including operating data centers for data storage and processing, in response to sluggish telecommunications demand in Japan. The purchase is expected to cost more than ¥100 billion (US$836 million), the Nikkei said. Founded in 2000, the unlisted e-shelter operates data centres in Austria and Switzerland, as well as Germany, the Nikkei said.
ITALY
Milan business district sold
Qatar’s sovereign fund has taken control of one of the country’s prime business areas after buying out other shareholders in a move hailed as heralding a new era of inward investment for the recession-bound country. Property group Hines Italia on Friday announced that the Qatar Investment Authority had taken 100 percent control of the Porta Nuova district in Milan, in which it has held a 40 percent stake since 2013. Hines, insurer Unipol and several investment funds were among the selling shareholders in a 25-building development conservatively valued at more than 2 billion euros (US$2.2 billion). Hines boss Manfredi Catella would not disclose how much the Qataris had paid.
PETROLEUM
Pemex posts US$17.7bn loss
Mexico’s state-owned energy firm Pemex on Friday posted a US$17.7 billion loss for last year, hit by falling crude prices, fuel thefts by gangs and the peso’s drop against the dollar. The annual loss was 55 percent steeper than in 2013, the company said in a results statement. In the fourth quarter of last year, the firm posted a US$7.8 billion loss, with crude production falling to 2.36 million barrels per day, a 6.5 percent drop from the same period in 2013.
CYPRUS
Tourism revenue drops 2.8%
The recession-hit country recorded a 2.8 percent drop in tourism revenue last year in the first decline since 2009, official data showed on Friday. Income fell to 2.02 billion euros (US$2.26 billion) from 2.08 billion euros in 2013. That came despite a 1.5 percent rise in arrivals for the year and a 16.1 percent spike in December revenues from 37.6 million euros that month in 2013 to 43.7 million euros. Israelis were the biggest spenders in December last year, at an average of 155.80 euros a day, while Finns were the most frugal at 25.20 euros.
PUERTO RICO
Regulators shut Doral Bank
Regulators shut down the US territory’s Doral Bank on Friday, with Banco Popular taking over most of the operations of what was once the territory’s fourth-largest bank. Doral had US$5.9 billion in total assets and US$4.1 billion in total deposits. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said Banco Popular, the territory’s biggest bank, is to take over eight of Doral’s 26 former branches and work with three other banks to operate the other 18 locations on the island. The deal to take on Doral’s operations will increase its assets by about US$2.5 billion, Popular CEO Richard Carrion said in a telephone interview.
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