TRANSPORT
DP World hires banks
Dubai ports operator DP World Ltd has selected more than a dozen banks for its sale of Islamic bonds, two people familiar with the issue said. Fifteen lenders have been hired for the offering of US dollar-denominated, benchmark-sized securities, the two said, asking not to be identified. The maturity of the issue might be as long as seven years, they said. Proceeds from the sale are to be used for a tender offer for the company’s existing sukuk due next year. Shariah-compliant bond sales in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council have climbed 4 percent this year to US$3.1 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. A benchmark-sized issue usually raises at least US$500 million.
REAL ESTATE
Singapore home sales fall
Singaporean developers sold 12 percent less homes last month, as tighter mortgage curbs cooled demand in Asia’s second-most expensive housing market. Developers sold 745 units last month, compared with 843 in March, according to data released yesterday by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. Singaporean home prices have dropped for 10 quarters, posting the longest losing streak in almost two decades, as property curbs dampened demand. The city-state’s government has signaled it is reluctant to lift curbs it began rolling out in 2009 as low interest rates and demand from foreign buyers raised concerns that the market was overheating. Those curbs have included a cap on debt repayment costs at 60 percent of a borrower’s monthly income, and higher stamp duties on home purchases. The government wants to avoid a renewed overheating in the market.
CLOTHING
Weather hurts H&M sales
Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) shares fell after the clothing retailer said sales last month were hurt by unseasonably cool weather in many parts of Europe. The stock dropped 1.9 percent to 260 kroner at 9:03am in Stockhom, extending this year’s decline to 14 percent. Sales rose 5 percent last month at local currency rates. H&M last month reported quarterly earnings that fell the most in five years as the strong US dollar inflated the cost of Asian-made garments.
LIGHTING
Philips eyes US$1.1bn IPO
Royal Philips NV is seeking to raise as much as 970 million euros (US$1.1 billion) from an initial public offering (IPO) of a 25 percent stake in its lighting unit in Amsterdam after a private sale process did not result in a buyer. Philips is planning to sell 37.5 million shares at a range of 18.50 euros to 22.50 euros per share, the Amsterdam-based company said in a statement yesterday. That values the lighting business at as much as 3.38 billion euros. The shares are expected to start trading on Friday next week, the company said. The lighting division reported adjusted earnings before interest taxes and amortization of 547 million euros last year and had 7.47 billion euros in sales.
BANKING
MUFG sets lower target
MUFG, Japan’s largest bank, has set net income target of ¥850 billion (US$7.8 billion) in the fiscal year ending March next year, it said in a statement yesterday. That compares with an average estimate of ¥982 billion made by nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Profit fell 8 percent to ¥951.4 billion last fiscal year, Tokyo-based MUFG said. The company said it would buy back shares for as much as ¥100 billion.
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
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],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained