MYANMAR
GDP growth dips to 7%
The nation’s growth rate, once one of the world’s most impressive, has dipped following heavy floods and an investment slowdown sparked by uncertainty over its political transition, the World Bank said yesterday. The bank estimated that GDP growth during the 2015-2016 financial year was 7 percent — still in the top tier of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a significant dip from the previous year’s 8.5 percent. The bank had previously estimated that GDP would grow 8.2 percent for the period.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Nestle eyes allergy test
Nestle SA agreed to pay DBV Technologies SA, a French developer of therapeutic skin patches, as much as 100 million euros (US$110 million) for the right to sell an experimental test to detect milk allergies, the most common food allergy in children. Nestle is to pay the Montrouge-based company 10 million euros upfront for development of the test, which Nestle would have the right to sell globally pending regulatory approval, DBV said in a statement yesterday. DBV said it would fund development and expects to ask for clearance by 2021.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Jazz to purchase Celator
Ireland-based Jazz Pharmaceuticals PLC is to buy Celator Pharmaceuticals Inc in a deal valued at about US$1.5 billion, to gain access to Celator’s product in development for treating acute myeloid leukemia. Jazz Pharmaceuticals is to pay US$30.25 per share in cash for Celator, the companies said in a statement yesterday. The deal represents a 72.6 percent premium to Celator’s closing share price on Friday last week.
TELECOMS
Saudi mulls sale of towers
Saudi Telecom Co, the nation’s biggest telecom, is considering a sale of its mobile transmitter towers, its chief executive said. Margins for traditional telecom services are not what they used to be, and Saudi Telecom is looking for ways to diversify revenue and boost efficiency, chief executive Khaled Bin Hussain Biyari said in an interview on Bloomberg TV. One way to do that is to create a company that would sell the towers. Saudi Telecom has invested “heavily” in cloud technology, he said.
CHIPMAKERS
Globalfoundries eyes China
Globalfoundries Inc, one of the largest contract manufacturers of semiconductors, is forming a joint venture with the government of Chongqing to get greater access to the Chinese chip market. Globalfoundries is to re-equip an older plant in the Chinese city with production aimed for next year, the company and the local government said on Monday in a statement. Chongqing is furnishing land and the existing facility, while the firm is to provide tools to upgrade it to 300mm from 200mm wafer production, making it more efficient.
AUTO PARTS
Takata rules out bankruptcy
Takata Corp has ruled out using bankruptcy as a way of mitigating liabilities from its record air-bag recalls and is instead seeking buyers that could take a controlling stake and carry the company through its crisis, a person with knowledge of the restructuring process said. Lazard Ltd, Takata’s financial adviser, is to meet manufacturers as well as financial firms with the aim to find buyers by the fall, the person said. Takata’s plan is to remain listed and maintain its core businesses, while selling off its non-core operations, the person 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