INVESTMENT
Japanese units to merge
Daiwa Securities Group Inc and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc have agreed to merge asset management units, people familiar with the situation said. Sumitomo Mitsui would take a 50.1 percent stake in the combined company, while Daiwa would own more than 20 percent, said the people, who asked not to be identified. Reports that the companies were negotiating a deal emerged last week. Daiwa SB Investments Ltd, part of Japan’s second-largest brokerage, plans to complete the merger with Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Co, a unit of the nation’s second-largest lender, in April next year, they said.
AUTOMAKERS
Geely mulls Volvo IPO
Volvo Cars owner Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co (浙江吉利) has selected Citigroup Inc, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Morgan Stanley to advise on an initial public offering (IPO) for the Swedish carmaker this year, people with knowledge of the matter said. Zhejiang Geely and Volvo have discussed valuing the Swedish automaker at between US$16 billion and US$30 billion in a stock sale, the people said, asking not to be identified because the deliberations are confidential. The companies held meetings in Sweden and Hong Kong this month to discuss a dual listing in both venues, they said.
PERU
Tax hike focuses on health
The government hiked excise taxes on sugary drinks, alcohol, cigarettes and polluting cars on Thursday in a bid to tackle public health problems linked to obesity and cancer, while shoring up public resources. The Ministry of Economy and Finance said the tax on cigarettes would rise to 0.27 sol (US$0.08) from 0.18 sol each and drinks with a high sugar content would be taxed 25 percent instead of 17 percent. Beverages with more than 20 percent alcohol content and used cars powered by petroleum-derived gasoline also face higher taxes. Dual-fuel cars, which are run partly on natural gas or other cleaner fuels, would be tax-free, the ministry added.
UNITED STATES
Consumer prices pick up
Consumer prices rebounded last month after dipping in March, driven by a surge in gasoline prices and an uptick in housing costs, but the Department of Labor report on Thursday was tamer than expected. Food prices also rose, as did medical services, but cell phone services — which had been blamed for the bafflingly low inflation last year — were flat after finally rising in March. The consumer price index, which tracks costs for household goods and services, rose 0.2 percent compared to March, seasonally adjusted, and was up 2.5 percent from a year earlier.
AUTOMAKERS
Mazda announces next CEO
Mazda Motor Corp named Akira Marumoto its next chief executive officer to lead a revival in earnings growth in the face of a slowing US market and stiff competition in China. Marumoto, an executive vice president who heads operations in the US, is to replace Masamichi Kogai after the change is ratified at an annual shareholder meeting on June 26, Mazda said yesterday. Kogai is to become chairman following a five-year tenure in which he orchestrated deeper ties with Toyota Motor Corp. Both of Kogai’s most recent predecessors also served five-year terms. Mazda is among Japan’s most export-dependent automakers, with less than a fifth of revenue generated at home.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last