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.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by