UGANDA
Sugar firms demand zoning
The country’s top three sugar producers have urged the government to reconsider parliament’s rejection of zoning for millers, saying that it would undermine output due to competition for cane. Allowing producers to establish mills within 25km of each other would lead to competition and cause producers to operate below capacity, Uganda Sugar Manufacturers Association chairman Jim Kabeho said yesterday by telephone from Jinja. At least nine factories were established in the past decade, some too close to other plants, according to the lobby that groups Kakira Sugar Ltd, Kinyara Sugar Ltd and Sugar Corp of Uganda Ltd. Lawmakers in the country last year rejected demands for zoning, saying that it would force the government to move millers or to buy land.
ENERGY
Faroe opposes takeover bid
Faroe Petroleum PLC has said its value far surpasses a bid by DNO ASA, citing an independent assessment in a last-ditch effort to persuade shareholders to reject the hostile offer just hours before the deadline. A report prepared by Gaffney, Cline & Associates Inc concluded that the UK oil company is worth US$879 million to US$1.076 billion, exceeding the US$723 million valuation implied by DNO’s offer of £1.52 (US$1.93) a share, Faroe said yesterday. It is a response to repeated criticism from DNO, which is seeking full control after amassing a 30 percent stake. The two companies have engaged in a heated war of words over the past few months, which started after DNO had to abandon an effort to get seats on Faroe’s board. In criticizing Faroe’s corporate-governance culture, share performance, operational abilities and dealmaking, DNO has not endeared itself to the company’s management, which again advised investors to snub the bid.
ENERGY
Iran to invest in India refinery
Iran is to invest about 15 billion rupees (US$214.12 million) to expand a refinery run by Chennai Petroleum Corp in south India, the company’s managing director said, amid US sanctions on the Persian Gulf nation that have severely hit its oil exports. The state-run company is boosting capacity at its Nagapattinam facility by nine-fold to process 9 million tonnes per year and the investment is Naftiran Intertrade Co’s share of the 275 billion rupees expansion plan, managing director S.N. Pandey said in an interview in Chennai last week. The rest of the investment would be through debt and equity, including fresh capital from its main founder Indian Oil Corp. “We will achieve the financial closure in 2019,” Pandey said. “We don’t see any issue in debt raising. We have already talked to many bankers.” While Naftiran’s investment would ease Chennai Petroleum’s fundraising task, it would ensure that Iran maintains its grip in India.
AUSTRALIA
Property market to worsen
The downturn in Sydney’s property market is expected to deepen this year as tighter lending standards and the worst slump in values since the late 1980s cause nervous buyers to sit on the sidelines. Average Sydney home values have fallen 11.1 percent since their peak in 2017, according to CoreLogic Inc data released yesterday — surpassing the 9.6 percent top-to-bottom decline when the country was on the cusp of entering its last recession. Nationwide, dwelling values declined 4.8 percent last year, marking the weakest housing market conditions since 2008, CoreLogic said.
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