RESTAURANTS
Yum China rejects buyout
Yum China Holdings Inc (百勝中國), which operates Pizza Hut and KFC restaurants in China, has rejected a buyout offer from an investor group led by Hillhouse Capital Group, a person familiar with the matter said. The proposal to take over the nation’s biggest fast-food operator valued the firm at US$17 billion, or US$46 per share in cash, the Wall Street Journal reported. That represents a 28 percent premium over Monday’s closing price, but it is still lower than an all-time high of US$48.18 reached in January.
GERMANY
Buyers optimistic, cautious
Strong growth has made consumers more optimistic about the economy, a regular poll showed yesterday, but the public remains cautious about their own finances. A monthly survey of about 2,000 people by GfK forecast a 0.1 point fall in its consumer confidence barometer for next month to 10.5 points. Looking at different elements of the survey, GfK said that consumers “see the economy on a solid growth path” after official data showed 0.5 percent sequential growth from April to June.
UNITED STATES
Confidence hits 18-year high
Consumer confidence rose this month to the highest level in nearly 18 years, as assessment of current conditions improved further and expectations about the future rebounded. The Conference Board on Tuesday reported that its consumer confidence index rose to 133.4 from 127.9 last month. It was the highest reading since confidence stood at 135.8 in October 2000. “These historically high confidence levels should continue to support health consumer spending in the near term,” Conference Board director of economic indicators Lynn Franco said.
THAILAND
Rate hike unnecessary
The central bank is under no immediate pressure to raise interest rates like emerging-market peers elsewhere, given the nation’s solid buffers and relatively strong currency, Bank of Thailand Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob said yesterday. The bank is monitoring economic developments closely, including risks to the growth outlook from trade protectionism, Veerathai told Bloomberg Television. While inflation returned to the 1 percent to 4 percent target range, it remains subdued, he said.
BEVERAGES
Coke to buy Moxie brand
Coca-Cola Co is to buy New England cult favorite soda brand Moxie from one of its independent bottlers as it looks to house more of its up-and-coming beverage brands under one roof. The soda giant, which has completed the refranchising of its bottling operations in North America, has inked a deal to purchase Moxie from Coca-Cola of Northern New England for an undisclosed amount. The independent bottler will continue to produce and bottle the favorite, and the distribution footprint will not change under the new ownership.
TURKEY
Credit ratings downgraded
Ratings agency Moody’s on Tuesday downgraded its credit ratings on 20 financial institutions due to the increased risk of a “downside funding scenario” after the collapse of the Turkish lira. Moody’s said the downgrade affected 18 banks and two finance firms. It comes amid persistent concerns over the health of the economy, after the lira lost one-third of its value this month alone. Moody’s had earlier this month cut the debt rating of the government deeper into junk on the same concerns.
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],”