BANKING
1MDB evaluates offers
1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), the debt-ridden state investment company that nearly defaulted earlier this year, said the offers it received for its energy unit are close to the amount it desires. 1MDB expects 16 billion ringgit (US$3.7 billion) to 18 billion ringgit for Edra Global Energy and has received bids close to that figure, 1MDB president Arul Kanda yesterday told reporters in Kuala Lumpur. The company has been the subject of overlapping investigations amid allegations of financial irregularities.
DRUGMAKERS
Pfizer deal expected
Pfizer Inc and Allergan PLC are making progress on the year’s biggest acquisition and are working toward agreeing on a deal as early as this month, people with knowledge of the matter said. The drugmakers are keen on a friendly deal and hope to agree on the terms of the takeover, including who will lead the combined company, by the US Thanksgiving holiday, the people said. While Pfizer is lining up banks to finance a deal, any offer would contain enough shares to allow the company to shift its base to Allergan’s lower-taxed Irish domicile, the people said.
AUTOMAKERS
Porsche to recall vehicles
Porsche on Friday said it would recall close to 60,000 vehicles worldwide due to risks of engine leaks. The luxury arm of beleaguered auto giant Volkswagen said the recall would apply to its Macan S and Macan Turbo models, which could be prone to leaks in a low-pressure fuel line in the engine compartment. A total of 58,881 cars will be recalled, including 21,835 in the US, 3,490 in Canada and 3,641 in Germany, the company said.
BULGARIA
Government unveils budget
The government on Friday unveiled a budget for next year based on expectations of 2.1 percent growth, coupled with a goal to bring the public deficit down to 2 percent of output. The conservative cabinet of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov also revised its budget for this year, increasing the deficit target for this year to 3.3 percent of GDP, or above the EU ceiling, from the previously planned 3 percent. The EU’s poorest member state hopes to wrap up the year with 1.4 percent growth.
ARGENTINA
Judge makes payment ruling
The nation cannot pay some bondholders while refusing to pay US$6.1 billion in claims by creditors who refused to swap their bonds for steeply discounted replacements after it defaulted in 2001 on US$100 billion in bonds, US District Judge Thomas Griesa said on Friday. The ruling means the nation would owe about US$8 billion to creditors who refused the swaps, which were accepted by about 93 percent of bondholders in 2005 and 2010.
BANKING
IMF issues rates warning
The IMF on Friday urged the US Federal Reserve to be cautious on raising rates, warning that tightening too fast could force it to reverse and possibly lose credibility. In a review of the world’s top industrial economies ahead of the Nov. 15 and Nov. 16 G20 summit in Antalya, Turkey, the IMF said the US and the global economy face risks tied to the impending rate hike.
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
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
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