SEMICONDUCTORS
Microchip to buy Microsemi
Microchip Technology Inc on Thursday said it is buying semiconductor rival Microsemi Corp for US$8.3 billion. The boards of both firms approved the deal, worth more than US$10 billion, including Microsemi’s cash and assets. The transaction is subject to California-based Microsemi’s shareholder’s approval and is expected to close in the first half of this year. The combined firm could have more than US$5 billion in annual revenues, and a strong presence in chips and controllers for medical devices, “smart” home appliances, and military-grade and aerospace hardware.
CONGLOMERATES
HNA looking to sell resorts
HNA Group Co (海航集團) has put its US$1.4 billion stake in Park Hotels & Resorts Inc up for sale. The sale could involve some or all of HNA’s 53.7 million shares, with any disposal being subject to market conditions, a regulatory filing in the US said. HNA last year bought a quarter of Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc and two spinoffs — Park Hotels and Hilton Grand Vacations Inc — from Blackstone Group LP for about US$6.5 billion. Those stakes are valued at more than US$9 billion today.
AUTOMAKERS
US sales fall 2% annually
US sales of new cars and trucks tailed off last month as automakers eased up on discounts. Sales fell 2 percent from last February to 1.3 million, Autodata Corp said. Among major automakers, only Toyota Motor Corp, Subaru and Volkswagen AG reported sales gains over last month. The three US auto giants reported sales declines: 6.9 percent year-on-year for General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co, and 1 percent for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s US subsidiary.
RETAIL
Kohl’s teams up with Aldi
US department store chain Kohl’s shoppers are to be able to pick up some groceries while shopping for clothing at select stores. The company on Thursday said it is teaming up with German no-frills grocery chain Aldi to lease space in five to 10 of its stores. The move comes as Kohl’s looks to scale back its footprint, while making its stores more productive. Kohl’s also reported a 6 percent increase in sales at established stores for the critical fourth quarter, the largest gain since 2001.
BRAZIL
Economy returns to growth
The government said the country’s economy last year grew for the first time in three years, aided by strong performance in the agricultural sector. The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics on Thursday said that GDP increased 1 percent last year, after two consecutive contractions of 3.5 percent in 2015 and 2016. The agency said that the 13 percent growth in the agricultural sector was a major driving force of the GDP increase. The corn crop increased 55.2 percent, while the soybean crop expanded 19.4 percent, it said.
MANUFACTURING
GKN could sell car parts unit
British engineering company GKN said it was in talks with US-based Dana Inc regarding the sale of its autoparts Driveline unit as part of a deal that would be effected mainly in equity. GKN already has a plan to demerge its main aerospace and automotive businesses in the middle of next year. The company yesterday said that the potential deal with Dana could provide greater value to shareholders than the demerger plan and it would therefore continue to explore it as an option.
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],”
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
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