AIRLINES
AirAsia plans bond issues
AirAsia Bhd, Asia’s biggest budget airline, plans to raise funds at loss-making associates by issuing up to US$300 million in bonds and may sell planes to help cut group debt, chief executive Tony Fernandes yesterday said in a letter to investors. Fernandes, who has steered AirAsia into a billion-dollar business from a two-plane operation in 2002, said the group plans to issue as much as US$150 million in convertible bonds at each of its Philippine and Indonesian associates. It may also sell and lease back up to 20 aircraft in the group’s fleet this year, he said in the letter. Fernandes’ letter came days after Hong Kong-based firm GMT Research issued a report questioning AirAsia’s accounting practices, saying it used transactions with associate companies to boost earnings. GMT’s report startled investors and lead the airline’s shares to fall to a five-year intra-day low on Friday last week.
INVESTMENT
Europcar Group plans IPO
Europcar Group SA, the auto-rental company owned by French investment firm Eurazeo SA, plans to sell 854.5 million euros (US$956.5 million) of stock in an initial public offering (IPO). Eurazeo and another investor will offer 379.5 million euros worth of the shares, with the rest being sold by the company, Europcar said in a statement yesterday. The shares are being offered at 11.50 euros to 15 euros each, with a price to be set Thursday next week, according to the statement. Europcar will use the proceeds to restructure its balance sheet and reduce debt levels to below 1.5 times this year’s estimated corporate earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, chief executive officer Philippe Germond said in an interview this month. Germond said Europcar’s business has not been affected by the growth in recent months of car-sharing and rental companies such as Autolib and San Francisco-based Uber Technologies Inc.
INVESTMENT
Saudi market opens to FDI
Saudi Arabia’s stock market, valued at US$585 billion, yesterday opened up to direct foreign investment (FDI) for the first time, as the kingdom seeks an economic boost amid low global oil prices. The opening of the Tadawul Saudi Stock Exchange allows companies, particularly those that are not in the oil business, to raise money straight from foreign investors, with the goal of expanding businesses, diversifying the economy and creating more jobs. Foreigners previously only could access the market indirectly, through a local Saudi institution, which was costly and complicated. The stock exchange’s estimated value makes it the biggest in the Middle East. Petrochemical firms make up a fifth of Tadawul, with heavyweights such as Saudi Basic Industries Corp among those listed.
HOUSING
Sales in Singapore plunge
Home sales in Singapore last month dropped 45 percent as developers offered fewer projects. Developers sold 638 units last month compared with a revised 1,167 units in April, according to data released yesterday by Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority. CapitaLand Ltd’s Sky Habitat sold 12 of 139 units marketed in a northern suburb, according to data from the authority, while Wheelock Properties (Singapore) Ltd’s The Panorama condominium sold 44 units of the 60 it offered. Home sales dropped to a six-year low last year as the policies hurt demand. They fell by half to 7,316 units last year from 2013, the lowest since 2008, according to data from the authority.
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