ENERGY
France gets ‘yes’ on Hinkley
France’s state-owned energy giant EDF is to finally give the green light to the controversial construction of two nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point in Britain in September, French Minister of the Economy Emmanuel Macron said yesterday. French President Francois Hollande “has confirmed France’s engagement” in the project, and “the final decision on investment could be confirmed in September,” Macron said in an interview with weekly newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche. The final decision on investment had been expected next month, but EDF announced a delay on Friday saying it first had to consult with an internal committee as demanded by France’s unions.
BANKING
Citi and Bancorp sell venture
Citigroup Inc and US Bancorp agreed to sell their Brazilian credit-card joint venture to Stone Pagamentos SA, according to an e-mailed statement from the Sao Paulo-based payments company.The deal gives the venture, Elavon do Brasil Solucoes de Pagamento SA, an enterprise value of more than 300 million Brazilian reais (US$84 million), according to a person familiar with the terms of the deal. The figure includes debt and investments. Minneapolis-based US Bancorp sold its 50.1 percent stake in Elavon to Stone, the company said on Friday. Citigroup said the sale is part of its ongoing efforts to allocate resources more efficiently.
MINING
De Beers move UK offices
Anglo American PLC has told staff at its De Beers diamond unit that they will be moved out of the company’s historic London headquarters that’s been the industry’s most important address since the 1930s. An internal memo was sent to staff on Friday informing them that they would be moving from the Charterhouse Street building into the mining company’s Carlton House Terrace offices in London. The relocation is part of a wider restructuring by Anglo as it seeks to raise US$4 billion in asset sales to cut its debt burden.
TAXATION
Former Sprint chiefs to sue
Two former Sprint Corp executives who bought tax shelters from Ernst & Young LLP that were subject to a criminal probe sued the US government over claims they were unfairly forced to resign in 2003 as a result of the scandal and are seeking almost US$160 million in combined damages. Former chairman and chief executive officer William Esrey and former president and chief operating officer Ronald LeMay alleged in a complaint filed on Friday that Ernst & Young “withheld material information” about civil and criminal investigations and that the US Internal Revenue Service also “helped hide information” about the probes from the executives.
EDUCATION
GEMS take massive loan
GEMS Education, one of the world’s biggest operators of private schools, raised a US$250 million loan to build new schools in the Gulf Cooperation Council member states and other countries, according to two people with knowledge of the deal. The Dubai-based company obtained the three-year loan in US dollars and Emirati dirhams, more than 80 percent of which are to be paid at maturity and the remainder over the loan’s life, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is not public. The loan is priced at 480 basis points, or 4.8 percentage points, over the benchmark rate, they said.
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