SOFTWARE
KKR courts MYOB Group
KKR & Co offered to buy MYOB Group Ltd in a deal valuing the Australian business management software company at A$2.2 billion (US$1.6 billion). The US buyout firm offered A$3.70 a share in cash for the rest of MYOB, 24 percent more than Friday’s closing price, the Australian company, which simplifies accounting, payroll and inventory, said in a statement yesterday. MYOB’s board is assessing KKR’s offer and shareholders do not need to take any action, the company said.
BANKING
Schroders, Lloyds in talks
Schroders PLC and Lloyds Banking Group PLC said they are in talks to work closely on the wealth management business as the fund manager vies to win a separate, coveted £109 billion (US$143 billion) mandate from the British lender. “Discussions are ongoing and there can be no certainty that these discussions will lead to any formal arrangement,” Schroders said referring to the wealth talks. Lloyds also confirmed the negotiations in a separate statement.
CHINA
FX reserves down on tensions
Foreign-currency holdings fell last month, as heightened trade tensions with the US fueled concerns of capital outflow and further yuan depreciation. Reserves declined by US$22.69 billion to US$3.087 trillion, the People’s Bank of China said on Sunday. That compares with US$3.110 trillion the previous month and the median estimate of US$3.105 trillion in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The small drop in reserves was due to changes in the value of foreign currencies and asset prices, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said in a statement.
GERMANY
Industrial production slips
Industrial production slipped again in August, official data showed yesterday, amid fears that a global trade war could erupt. Production for August declined 0.3 percent from July, well under the expectation of a rebound of 0.15 percent forecasted by analysts surveyed by Factset financial services. However, the fall was less severe than in July, when industrial production dropped 1.3 percent.
AVIATION
Government to shield ADP
France would block any moves by a foreign power to gain control of ADP, the airports company, whose possible privatization has been approved by the government, Minister of Finance Bruno Le Maire said on Sunday. Earlier this month, the lower house of parliament approved plans for the possible privatization of ADP, lottery operator Francaise des Jeux and for a reduction of France’s stake in utility Engie SA. The privatization proposals form part of a broader strategy to raise cash to boost the economy and finance technological innovations in the country.
SUDAN
Local currency devalued
The country on Sunday slashed the official value of its currency against the US dollar by more than half, the third devaluation this year in the face of a mounting economic crisis. The move came just weeks after President Omar al-Bashir replaced the government over its failure to curb economic woes including soaring food prices. The central bank pegged the Sudanese pound at 47.5 against the US dollar. Previously, the official rate was 28 to the US dollar, while the currency had fallen to 45.50 on the black market last week.
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
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