ACQUISITIONS
ABI raises sufficient funds
Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (ABI) has completed a US$46 billion, seven-part bond deal to help finance the acquisition of fellow brewing company SABMiller PLC, in the second-largest corporate debt offering ever in the US, according to Thomson Reuters. Investors had put in orders for US$117 billion — the biggest backlog of orders ever. The size of the deal fell just short of breaking the record to date, US$49 billion of debt raised in a deal by Verizon in 2013 to finance the acquisition of a 45 percent stake in its wireless unit that was held by Britain’s Vodafone. Investors have rushed for a piece of the investment-grade Anheuser-Busch InBev deal as global stock markets have been turbulent at the start of the year and sinking commodity markets have left investors reeling.
MACROECONOMICS
S Korea cuts growth outlook
South Korea’s central bank yesterday cut its economic growth outlook for this year from 3.2 percent to 3 percent, citing lingering “uncertainties” over a slowdown in key export markets and the won. Despite a sustained US economic recovery, growth in emerging markets including China — Seoul’s largest trade partner — has “continued to slow,” it said in a statement. The Bank of Korea also lowered its inflation projections for this year to 1.4 percent from its earlier 1.7 percent forecast, noting that price rises were expected to remain “considerably short” of its 2 percent target for the time being. The central bank left its key interest rate at 1.5 percent for a seventh consecutive month — after the US Federal Reserve last month announced its first rate hike in almost a decade.
MACROECONOMICS
Most of US registers growth
The US economy grew in most parts of the nation, while the New York and Kansas City regions reported essentially flat growth, a closely watched US Federal Reserve report showed on Wednesday. The Beige Book report said that nine of the Fed’s 12 districts had reported increased economic activity that was either “moderate” or “modest” and the outlook for future growth from persons surveyed was “mostly positive” in six districts. The previous Beige Book — released on Dec. 2 last year — had reported an increase in consumer spending in most districts and “robust” automobile sales. The collection of anecdotal information helps to inform policy decisions by the Federal Open Market Committee.
OIL
Prices slide on glut fears
Brent oil yesterday traded near US$30 per barrel as Iran moved closer to boosting exports and exacerbating a global glut. Futures fell as much as 1.9 percent in London to the biggest discount to US prices in about a year. Brent slid below US$30 per barrel on Wednesday for the first time since April 2004 amid speculation sanctions on Iran might be lifted by Monday, paving the way for increased shipments. US stockpiles gained by 234,000 barrels last week while supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, the US’ biggest storage hub, climbed further to a record, according to government data. Prices pared losses after attacks in Indonesia. Iran, the fifth-biggest OPEC member, is set to increase production by 100,000 barrels per day, or 3.7 percent, one month after sanctions are lifted and by 400,000 in six months, according to the median estimate of 12 analysts and economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six