RIDE-HAILERS
Uber sets Lyft limit
As Lyft Inc was gauging interest from prospective acquirers, executives from Uber Technologies Inc in the past few weeks told investors that the company would not pay more than US$2 billion to purchase its main US ride-hailing competitor, people familiar with the matter said. Uber did not make a formal offer, the people said. Uber had previously considered purchasing Lyft as far back as 2014, and the two San Francisco companies have discussed the prospect informally, one of the people said. Uber chief executive officer Travis Kalanick has privately said that he would not support such a deal because he believes it would face intense regulatory scrutiny, the person said.
CHINA
Diesel exports rebound
Diesel exports last month rebounded to a record level as severe flooding in some parts of the country curbed domestic fuel demand. The country exported 1.53 million tonnes of diesel last month, a 39 percent jump from June and beating the previous record in May, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs yesterday. While outbound gasoline shipments slipped from a record the previous month, they more than doubled from last year to 970,000 tonnes last month. China’s worst flooding since 1998 caused about US$33 billion in economic losses last month, according to London-based insurance broker Aon PLC.
NICARAGUA
Oil spill contaminates coast
A massive refinery fire caused an oil spill that has contaminated sensitive nearby coastal habitat, a non-profit group said. In the aftermath of the refinery fire at the Puma Energy facility on the country’s Pacific coast, oil has slickened nearly 130 hectares of the nearby water and soil, said Victor Campos, director of the Humboldt Center, an environmental group. Meanwhile, authorities on Saturday said they hope to soon have the fire contained at the facility, the Central American nation’s sole oil refinery.
PUERTO RICO
Bondholders seek reprieve
A lawsuit filed on behalf of University of Puerto Rico bondholders is asking a federal court to stop the commonwealth from diverting US$89 million in tuition and fees that are pledged for bond payments. Officials say they need to use the funds earmarked for bond payments to provide essential services amid a deep fiscal crisis. The lawsuit filed on Friday by bond trustee US Bank Trust National Association seeks relief from a new federal law that stays creditor lawsuits. The University of Puerto Rico has US$431.8 million in outstanding bonds and pays US$42.6 million annually.
PETROLEUM
Pacific creditors mull deal
Creditors of Colombia-based oil producer Pacific Exploration and Production Corp are being offered a larger stake in a restructured company under an eleventh-hour bid from a group that includes Mexican investor Fernando Chico Pardo, according to people who back the offer. Under the proposal, affected creditors would receive 60 percent of the equity in a restructured Pacific, compared with 58.2 percent under a plan from Canada’s Catalyst Capital Group, the people said. Pacific on Friday said that the latest restructuring proposal includes US$575 million in debtor-in-possession financing, while the Catalyst bid includes US$500 million in financing.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in