REAL ESTATE
Hainan to buy parent’s unit
Hainan Island Construction Co (海南海島建設), a Chinese developer, plans to spend 26 billion yuan (US$4.1 billion) to buy a property unit from its parent as the country’s property market recovers. Hainan Island is to buy the unit with cash and through a share sale to its controlling holder, HNA Industrial Holding Co (海航資本控股), according to yesterday’s filing to the Shanghai stock exchange. Hainan Island also plans to raise as much as 16 billion yuan in another private share sale to support the acquisition. The company plans to focus on infrastructure investment and operations as its main business after the transaction, it said. The shares have been suspended since June 2.
AVIATION
Lufthansa bows to union
German carrier Lufthansa AG, reeling under a series of recent strikes, said on Saturday it had reached a wage rise accord with services sector union Verdi covering 30,000 ground staff. The accord gives a one-off payment of 2,250 euros (US$2,350) and a 2.2 percent wage rise to ground staff and employees of IT subsidiary Lufthansa Systems, Lufthansa Service catering, Lufthansa Technik maintenance and Lufthansa Cargo freight service, the airline and Verdi said. The collective bargaining accord runs to the end of 2017. Lufthansa is looking to slash costs in the face of competition from low-cost rivals and Gulf airlines.
GREECE
No deal on pension reform
The leaders of five of the seven parties represented in the parliament have failed to agree on pension reforms after a six-hour meeting, prompting the prime minister to criticize the opposition for being “irresponsible” and “unserious.” Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had hoped to get the opposition parties to agree on a statement that called for no further pension cuts and present this as a bargaining chip in talks with creditors. The government last summer signed its third bailout deal since 2010, agreeing to deep spending cuts, including on pensions, in return for financial assistance to keep the heavily indebted country afloat.
AUTOMAKERS
India’s Amtek in the red
Amtek Auto Ltd, a cash-strapped Indian supplier of car components, swung to a loss for the year ended September. The company reported a consolidated net loss of 9.87 billion rupees (US$148 million) against a net profit of 8.48 billion rupees last year. Total income slipped 3 percent to 152.13 billion rupees in the year, while finance costs surged 33 percent to 14.70 billion rupees, the New Delhi-based company said in a stock exchange filing. Amtek, which supplies automakers including Ford Motor Co and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, is looking to sell minority stakes in its overseas units to raise funds and cut debt.
INSURANCE
AIG mulls block policy sale
American International Group Inc (AIG), the insurer being pressured by activist investor Carl Icahn to boost returns, is considering the sale of blocks of life policies, according to people familiar with the company’s planning. AIG is weighing the exit of some books of insurance contracts among other options, which could include the sale of life units, the people said. The insurer is seeking to narrow its focus on businesses that can help the company grow most profitably.
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