BANKING
HK restricts UnionPay cards
Banks are asking Hong Kong property agents to stop accepting China-issued UnionPay (銀聯) cards, as Chinese authorities escalate their crackdown on capital outflows. Ricacorp Properties Ltd (利嘉閣) stopped accepting China-issued UnionPay cards for home purchases yesterday after receiving a verbal notice from banks, a spokesman said. Centaline Property Agency (中原地產) has also implemented the new rule, people familiar with the matter said. China has clamped down on capital flight out of the country as it seeks to stabilize its currency, tightening rules on everything from overseas insurance purchases to corporate dealmaking.
CANADA
EDC sets up in Singapore
Canada’s export credit agency is launching its first global branch in Singapore as the country steps up efforts to boost business ties with Asia following the withdrawal of the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Export Development Canada’s (EDC) branch will allow the agency to facilitate structured finance and corporate finance in local currencies, rather than Canadian dollars, while avoiding delays caused by the time difference, regional vice president Bill Brown told reporters.
MINING
BBIG, Chinese firm ink deal
A state-owned Chinese construction giant yesterday sealed a deal to build a A$6 billion (US$4.6 billion) mining infrastructure project to tap into resource-rich northwestern Australia. Sydney-based BBI Group (BBIG) said the agreement with China State Construction Engineering Corp (中國建築工程) to develop the mine, port and rail project would create a new gateway to the Pilbara region for iron ore exporters. About 3,300 jobs are expected to be created during the construction period from next year, BBIG said, with 900 permanent positions on offer when the facilities are operational. BBIG is majority owned by the Todd Corp, one of New Zealand’s largest companies.
MINING
Chile strike ends
Chilean workers have ended a 43-day strike at the world’s biggest copper mine. The stoppage by about 2,500 workers at the Escondida mine began on Feb. 9 over demands for bonus payments, salary increases and other benefits. Workers on Thursday ended the strike after negotiations failed with majority owner BHP Billiton Ltd. The South American nation’s longest-running mining strike caused an estimated US$700 million in losses.
? AUTOMAKERS
Ford issues profit warning
Ford Motor Co said its profit might fall by half in the first quarter, a bigger drop than analysts predicted, as the automaker scales back production amid a declining US market and deals with rising costs. First-quarter adjusted earnings per share might be US$0.30 to US$0.35, chief financial officer Bob Shanks said on Thursday. Full-year pre-tax profit could slip to about US$9 billion from last year’s US$10.4 billion, with most of the drop-off happening this quarter, Shanks said in a telephone interview.
CONFECTIONERY
Haribo to open in Wisconsin
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker on Thursday said that international candymaker Haribo is to build its first North American plant employing 400 people in the state. The plant in Pleasant Prairie, near Kenosha, is expected to be operational by 2020, Walker said. Germany-based Haribo is known for its gummy candy.
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
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
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