SOUTH KOREA
Exports rise 13.5 percent
The nation’s exports rebounded last month following a surprise contraction in April as shipments of semiconductors hit a record high, a positive sign for global growth. Exports rose 13.5 percent last month from a year earlier, while imports jumped 12.6 percent, leaving a trade surplus of US$6.73 billion. South Korea releases its trade data earlier than most other major economies, making it a bellwether of global demand. The results topped expectations after a stretch of downbeat data had raised concerns about the health of the nation’s economic recovery.
BANKING
Deutsche Bank rating cut
Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) yesterday downgraded Deutsche Bank AG’s long-term credit rating, as Germany’s biggest lender presses ahead with a major revamp aimed at returning to profitability after years of losses. S&P downgraded Deutsche Bank’s long-term credit rating from “A-” to “BBB+.” S&P acknowledged in a statement the bank’s efforts to return to profitability, but the agency said the lender would still have to work hard to recover its edge over its competitors. The downgrade comes a day after the US Federal Deposit Insurance Commission classified Deutsche among its “problem banks.” The US Federal Reserve has also branded the bank as being in “troubled condition.”
REAL ESTATE
PropNex planning an IPO
PropNex Realty Pte, Singapore’s biggest property broker, plans to seek about S$40 million (US$30 million) from a proposed Singapore initial public offering (IPO), people with knowledge of the matter said. The company is targeting a market capitalization of as much as S$250 million, the people said. PropNex is considering launching the offering as soon as next week and aims to list as early as the end of the month, one of the people said. PropNex is considering marketing the shares at S$0.62 to S$0.68 apiece, the person said. Details of the offering could still change, the people said.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
Goldman executive arrested
A Goldman Sachs vice president was on Thursday arrested in California on insider-trading charges filed in a New York court. Steve Jung awaited a court appearance in federal court in San Francisco to face six counts of securities fraud and a conspiracy charge. Manhattan US Attorney Geoffrey Berman said Jung “violated his duty to his company and traded on stolen insider information, over and over again.” Jung, who lives in San Francisco, was accused in court papers of trading the securities of a dozen companies based on inside information. Authorities said he made more than US$130,000 illegally from 2015 to last year.
CHIPMAKERS
Toshiba chip sale completed
Embattled conglomerate Toshiba Corp yesterday completed the US$21 billion sale of its prized chip unit to an investment consortium, a move seen as crucial to keeping the Japanese firm afloat. The deal had been delayed while Chinese regulators examined whether it could violate anti-trust laws, but they finally granted approval in the middle of last month. “Toshiba hereby gives notice that the closing of the sale has been completed today as scheduled,” the group said in a statement. It added that the deal was worth about ¥2.3 trillion (US$21 billion).
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