INVESTMENTS
KKR co-invests in waste firm
KKR & Co is bringing its impact fund into a deal for an Indian waste-collection firm, seeking to boost sustainability and profitability via a new co-investing strategy. The US$510 million transaction for a 60 percent stake in Ramky Enviro Engineers Ltd closed yesterday, KKR said in a statement. “In this case, the more waste that Ramky is able to responsibly treat, process and recycle, the more money the company’s going to make,” KKR Global Impact cohead Ken Mehlman said in an interview.
CONGLOMERATES
Toshiba may halve forecast
Toshiba Corp is preparing to cut its full-year profit forecast by at least half, hurt in part by higher expenses in its energy business, Nikkei Asian Review reported, without saying where its information originated. Operating profit in the year that ends next month might range from ¥20 billion to ¥30 billion (US$180 million to US$270 million) when the company posts results tomorrow, far below the ¥60 billion it projected in November, Nikkei reported. Toshiba spokeswoman Midori Hara said a decision has not been made on a profit revision.
OIL
Market balance in Q1: UAE
The oil market should reach a balance between supply and demand this quarter, United Arab Emirates Oil Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei told al-Arabiya television yesterday. He said he was satisfied with the implementation of an agreement to cut supply by OPEC members and allies, including Russia, by 1.2 million barrels per day from Jan. 1. Mazrouei said it was premature to discuss compensating crude output losses in some of the exporting countries.
BANKING
UBS changes bonus system
UBS Group AG scrapped variable bonuses for about 10,000 employees at its corporate center and instead would pay them about 1 percent of their annual salary, spokesman Igor Moser confirmed. The change was first reported by newspaper Sonntagszeitung. Employees who would have seen their total compensation fall as a result would have their fixed salary topped up. The corporate center includes functions such as human resources and information technology. Staff who earn between 50,000 francs and 100,000 francs (US$50,000 and US$100,000) are affected by the change.
INDONESIA
Halal label to be mandatory
Indonesia is set to make halal labeling mandatory for consumer products and services this year with the government assuming greater control of the certifying process from the Islamic cleric council. Issuing halal certificates to consumer goods from shampoos to toothpaste and cosmetics may net the government about 22.5 trillion rupiah (US$1.6 billion) in annual revenue, Product Guarantee Agency head Sukoso said. The draft bill is awaiting Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s approval, he said.
LEISURE
Airbnb contests Paris claim
Airbnb Inc said that rules for short-term tourist rentals in Paris are excessively bureaucratic and might breach EU standards, as city authorities seek a 12.5 million euro (US$14 million) fine against the online home-stay firm for posting 1,000 illegal advertisements. The terms set by city hall “are inefficient, disproportionate and against European regulations,” a spokeswoman for Airbnb said in an e-mail on Sunday. Under French law, Paris homeowners must register the business with their local municipality and ads have to bear the registration number.
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],”