UNITED KINGDOM
Interest rate hike looms
The Bank of England (BOE) will probably raise its economic growth forecasts next week, setting the scene for a potential interest-rate increase within months. In a survey for Bloomberg, all but one of 17 economists expect the BOE to lift its projection for this year on Thursday, with the predictions for the next two years most likely to be left unchanged. The benchmark rate is likely to stay at 0.5 percent next week after officials raised it for the first time in over a decade in November last year, but bets on the timing of the next hike have shifted recently, with a growing number now seeing the next move happening in May.
SPAIN
Consumer spending cools
Consumers have been the key to the Spanish economic recovery, but that might be about to change. There are now signs that consumer spending could cool, replacing Catalonia’s failed independence bid as the biggest risk to the Spanish economy. “Some of the tailwinds are fading,” London-based Oxford Economics lead economist Angel Talavera said. “The pace of job creation is going to slow as the unemployment rate drops, wages have remained stagnant and the savings rate for families is close to a historic low.” Nonetheless, Talavera said growth should still reach 2.8 percent this year, topping the more subdued estimate of 2.4 percent from the IMF.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Glaxo to bid on Pfizer assets
GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC are the only companies to have submitted non-binding bids for Pfizer Inc’s consumer business after rival candidates walked away, people familiar with the matter said. Pfizer plans to open a data room for Glaxo and Reckitt to start due diligence on the assets before submitting final offers in the next few weeks, the people said. The deadline for non-binding offers for the business, which makes well-known brands including the pain reliever Advil, ChapStick lip balm and the dietary supplement Centrum, was Feb. 1.
HONG KONG
Listing rule lures biotech IPO
Shanghai Henlius Biotech Inc (上海復宏漢霖生技), backed by Fosun Group (復星集團), is planning an initial public offering (IPO) that could make it one of the first to take advantage of proposed Hong Kong listing rules aimed at attracting early-stage drug developers, people familiar with the matter said. The subsidiary of Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co (上海復星醫藥) is considering selling shares in Hong Kong as soon as the second half of this year, the people said. The offering could raise at least US$500 million, one of the people said.
HEALTHCARE
Goldman to advise in merger
Saudi Arabian hospital operator Al Hammadi Co for Development & Investment is close to hiring Goldman Sachs Group Inc to advise on merger talks with National Medical Care Co, people with knowledge of the matter said. Al Hammadi could finalize appointing Goldman Sachs in the coming days, the people said. The mandate is not final and the company’s plans could change, they said. National Medical Care is likely to work with JPMorgan Chase & Co, they said. The two companies in August last year said they were in preliminary discussions about a potential merger that would create a company with a combined market value of US$1.9 billion.
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],”