ONLINE SERVICES
Nixon to sell shares
Simon Nixon, the founder of British price comparison Web site operator Moneysupermarket.com Group PLC, is expected to sell a 5.5 percent to 6.4 percent stake in the company through a placing to institutions, sole bookrunner Credit Suisse said. Nixon owned 12.75 percent of Moneysupermarket.com as of May 19 after he sold a 3.7 percent stake in the company. The placing of about 30 to 35 million shares would be through an accelerated bookbuild and the books would open with immediate effect, Credit Suisse said on Tuesday. Shares in Moneysupermarket.com closed at £3.283 on Tuesday.
CONFECTIONARY
Mondelez mulls Terry’s sale
Mondelez International Inc, the owner of the Cadbury chocolate brand, has hired bankers to explore the sale of a number of confectionery products including Terry’s Chocolate Orange and Terry’s All Gold, Sky News reported. The portfolio for sale includes products and assets in the UK, France, Spain and the Netherlands, Sky News reported, citing people familiar with the process. According to the report, Mondelez has decided that the Terry’s brand is not core to its business. Terry’s popular Chocolate Orange and All Gold chocolates were created during the company’s heyday in the 1920s and 1930s.
STEEL
Tuwairqi seeks buyer
Tuwairqi Steel Mills Ltd, a venture between POSCO and Saudi Arabia’a al-Tuwairqi Group, is seeking a buyer for its two-year-old, non-operational plant in Pakistan, a company official said. The Karachi-based company has hired consultants in the US to value the mill, which was built at a cost of US$340 million, the person said, asking not to be identified because the process is private. Tuwairqi Steel Mills reported a loss of US$18.6 million in 2013, which increased to US$22 million last year, the company said in an e-mailed statement. Tuwairqi Steel never began production as it failed to reach an agreement with the government on the purchase price of natural gas to run the plant, the person said.
FITNESS
Peloton eyes revenue raising
Indoor cycling fitness company Peloton Interactive Inc is raising US$75 million by selling a stake to Catterton, a private equity firm focused on consumer businesses. Peloton’s management plans to use the proceeds to accelerate the nationwide rollout of its store showrooms, founder and chief executive officer John Foley said in an interview. Unlike traditional cycling studios that provide exercise classes, Peloton customers buy a US$1,995 bike equipped with a tablet computer and pay a monthly subscription fee to follow exercise classes streamed live from its studio.
SPORTS RETAIL
Old Mutual buys MoreCorp
Old Mutual PLC’s private-equity unit bought a majority stake in MoreCorp, the largest South African golf-equipment retailer, as the investor bets demand from an expanding upper-middle class will overcome slowing economic growth. The asset manager paid more than 300 million rand (US$20.9 million) for a 70 percent stake in the company that controls more than 40 percent of the country’s golf market with The Pro Shop, World of Golf, and Playmoregolf outlets. MoreCorp also owns Cycle Lab, the nation’s largest cycling retailer, according to the investor. Cofounder Darryl Egdes retains 20 percent and management owns 10 percent, the Old Mutual team said.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”