TAXES
Wendel execs to face trial
Fourteen former and current executives of French investment company Wendel SA are to face trial for tax fraud, while US bank JPMorgan Chase & Co is to be pursued for complicity, legal sources told reporters on Friday. Former Wendel head Jean-Bernard Lafonta and Ernest-Antoine Seilliere, ex-chief of the main French employer’s association, are among those to be tried, the sources said. An investigation opened in 2012 found Wendel executives bought shares at a knockdown price. Lafonta was in December last year convicted for spreading false information and insider trading and fined 1.5 million euros (US$1.6 million), but has since appealed.
PETROLEUM
Maurel & Prom backs buyout
Maurel & Prom Co, a French oil operator that pumps mostly in Africa, on Friday recommended that shareholders accept a planned buyout offer from Indonesian state oil company Pertamina. At the end of August, Pertamina acquired a 24.5 percent stake in Maurel & Prom at 4.20 euros per share as a prelude to making a buyout offer. The acquisition would help Pertamina expand its footprint in Africa. Already present in Algeria, Pertamina would gain operations in Gabon and Tanzania. France’s Financial Markets Regulator said Pertamina had submitted to it a draft for a public buyout offer.
TRANSPORTATION
Caisse, DP World to team up
Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, Canada’s second-largest pension fund manager, is teaming up with Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based DP World Ltd to create a C$5 billion (US$3.76 billion) venture that would invest in ports around the world, including regions such as Asia and Latin America. DP World, which operates ports from China to South America, would own 55 percent of the unnamed venture, with Montreal-based Caisse controlling the remainder, according to a statement issued on Friday. Caisse would begin by buying a 45 percent stake in two of DP World’s Canadian container terminals in Vancouver and Prince Rupert, British Columbia, for C$865 million.
MOBILE
Authorities indict Uber proxy
Danish prosecutors have charged a Dutch subsidiary of ride-sharing service Uber Technologies Inc with “helping to commit illegalities” after an appeals court last month upheld a conviction against a driver for violating Denmark’s taxi laws. Chief prosecutor Vibeke Thorkil-Jensen said the Nov. 18 ruling by the Dutch Eastern High Court established it was an illegal transport service. Last month, the court upheld a ruling, saying the driver lacked a permit to drive as an occupation and his car was not registered or licensed as a taxi. He was fined 6,000 kroner (US$860.14).
FAST FOOD
McDonald’s sells rights
McDonald’s Corp on Friday said it had sold the franchise rights for its restaurants in Singapore and Malaysia to Saudi Arabia’s Lionhorn Pte Ltd as part of a plan to move away from direct ownership in Asia. The fast-food chain said it transferred its ownership interest in 390 restaurants, more than 80 percent of which were company-owned, to Lionhorn on Thursday. McDonald’s did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.
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
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
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