PHARMACEUTICALS
BTG to acquire Roxwood
British drugs company BTG PLC yesterday said it would buy US-based cardiovascular catheter maker Roxwood Medical Inc for up to US$80 million. The deal, which is expected to be accretive to adjusted profit from the second full year of ownership, comprises US$65 million paid on closing and up to US$15 million in potential milestones. Roxwood’s portfolio of anchoring catheters and microcatheters for treatment of complex cardiovascular lesions should leverage BTG’s existing successful EKOS (endovascular system) sales and marketing operation, Deutsche Bank AG said.
SERVICES
US growth hits 12-year high
Growth in the US services sector, a key driver of the economy, hit a 12-year high last month in the wake of back-to-back hurricanes, a survey released on Wednesday showed. The monthly gains surpassed analysts’ expectations and marked 93 consecutive months of expansion, the Institute for Supply Management said. The institute’s non-manufacturing index rose a strong 4.5 percentage points from August’s level to reach 59.8 percent.
GERMANY
Firms told to prep for Brexit
German firms with a presence in Britain or Northern Ireland must make provisions for the possibility of a “very hard Brexit,” the BDI industry association said yesterday, adding that it was concerned at progress in Britain’s divorce talks with the EU. “The British government is lacking a clear concept despite talking a lot,” BDI managing director Joachim Lang said. “German companies with a presence in Britain and Northern Ireland must now make provisions for the serious case of a very hard exit. Anything else would be naive,” he said.
SERVICES
KPMG chief vows reform
Weaknesses at KPMG South Africa are not systemic and reforms are under way to address mistakes made in work it carried out for business friends of South African President Jacob Zuma, the firm’s new local chief executive told parliament yesterday. KPMG sacked a number of South African executives last month after it found work undertaken for firms owned by the Gupta family — a trio of Indian-born businessmen with close ties to Zuma — “fell considerably short” of its standards.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Bain aims to settle chip sale
The investment fund heading the consortium buying the memorychip business of Toshiba Corp yesterday said it would try to reach a speedy settlement with Western Digital Corp, the US joint venture partner of Toshiba that is opposing the sale. Bain Capital Japan head Yuji Sugimoto said the ¥2 trillion (US$18 billion) deal would go ahead, despite litigation by Western Digital. He added that Western Digital remains an important partner and a speedy resolution would benefit both sides.
AUTOMAKERS
Driverless cars in accidents
General Motors Co’s (GM) self-driving unit, Cruise Automation, told California regulators its vehicles were involved in six crashes in the state last month, but said none of the automated vehicles were responsible. The accidents did not result in any injuries or serious damage, GM reports said. A US Senate panel on Wednesday approved legislation that would allow automakers to greatly expand testing of self-driving cars. Some safety groups have objected to the proposal, saying it gives too much latitude to automakers.
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
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],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained