INSURANCE
Aflac likes infrastructure
Aflac Inc, the largest seller of supplemental health insurance, has started betting on infrastructure debt at its US and Japan businesses. The insurer, which pushed into that asset class in the fourth quarter of last year, invested US$13 million in the debt last year at its Japan operation and US$2 million at its US business, according to a regulatory filing on Friday. Aflac is working with a pair of third-party managers in the initiative, said a company spokesman who declined to identify the firms. The Columbus, Georgia-based company said it will continue to boost US dollar-denominated assets to diversify the portfolio and increase returns, according to the filing.
GAMBIA
World Bank offers support
World Bank vice president for Africa Makhtar Diop on Saturday said he had agreed to give the nation US$60 million in budget support after government allegations that former president Yahya Jammeh took tens of millions of US dollars in public money, leaving it heavily indebted. Diop said he had pledged to give US$40 million before June with the remainder to follow later. The World Bank has several projects in the country although direct budget support had previously been suspended over the former government’s alleged manipulation of exchange rates, a finance ministry official said.
CZECH REPUBLIC
Minister retains party chair
Finance Minister Andrej Babis was on Saturday re-elected as chairman of the ANO party, which he founded, and vowed to cut taxes after the fall general elections that his party is projected to win. Babis’ tax plan clashes with that of Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, the Social Democratic chairman, who said last week that his party aimed to raise taxes for top earners and bigger companies. He did not give any further details, leaving it to the party congress on its program, scheduled for the spring.
FINANCE
China Rapid sets IPO
China Rapid Finance (信而富), a Shanghai-based peer-to-peer lender, is planning to raise at least US$100 million in an initial public offering (IPO) in the US, people familiar with the matter said. The company, which raised US$20 million at a pre-money valuation of US$1 billion in November last year, could hold the IPO as soon as this year, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The money will be used to fund expansion in China, one of the people said. The company declined to comment. Founded by Zane Wang (王徵宇) in 2001, China Rapid Finance serviced 1 million borrowers and handled 8.8 million loans as of the end of October last year, it said in November last year.
EQUITIES
Blackstone boss earns big
In an industry whose top executives do not make small change, Steve Schwarzman once again took home the most money among private equity titans for the year. The Blackstone Group LP cofounder received US$378 million in dividends on his stock ownership last year, according to calculations based on the firm’s annual report filed on Friday. Including his cut of deal profits, salary and other compensation, Schwarzman took home US$425 million, down from US$734.2 million the previous year. Schwarzman, who turned 70 this month, started New York-based Blackstone in 1985 with Peter Peterson.
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
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
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],”