INDISTRY
CMEC to aid smelter
China’s state-owned China Machinery Engineering Corp (CMEC, 中國機械設備工程) is to modernize Tajikistan’s flagship aluminum smelter in a US$545 million deal. A representative for Tajik Aluminium Co (Talco) on Friday said that “the contract between CMEC and Talco was signed on April 15.” Talco’s smelter is a key industrial asset in an impoverished and mostly agrarian nation of 9 million bordering China. Annual production of the smelter fell 7.2 percent last year and its Soviet-era equipment is in sore need of upgrading.
CHINA
Petition supports accuser
Hundreds of people have added their names to an online petition in support of a University of Minnesota student who said she was raped in August last year by Richard Liu (劉強東), the CEO of e-commerce retailer JD.com Inc (京東). The student, Liu Jingyao (劉靜瑤), from China, filed a civil lawsuit against Richard Liu in a Minneapolis court on Tuesday, nearly four months after prosecutors declined to press criminal charges against him. The company did not immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment.
SINGAPORE
Fraud suspect extradited
The nation has extradited an Indian national to the US to face charges in a call center operation that allegedly defrauded millions of dollars from people in the US, the US Department of Justice announced on Friday. Hitesh Madhubhai Patel, 42, of Ahmedabad, India, was scheduled to be arraigned on Friday in a Houston, Texas, federal court for his role in a case that was first announced in 2016, charging 60 people with wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.
BANKING
Malayan ends agreement
Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) ended a collaboration agreement with Tuaspring and Hyflux Ltd. The termination of the agreement is expected to have a material impact on the group’s financial performance, Hyflux said in a statement to the Singapore Exchange. Maybank also stated its intention to appoint receivers and managers over the assets of Tuaspring, save for its desalination plant and shared infrastructure, according to Hyflux. The company is saddled with S$2.8 billion (US$2.1 billion) of unsecured claims and default notices.
ENERGY
Reliance denies PDVSA link
Reliance Industries Ltd does not have any arrangement to buy crude oil from Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), for payment in cash to third parties and media reports of such a mechanism are false, the company said in a statement. While releasing quarterly results on Thursday, Reliance chief financial officer V. Srikanth said it was sourcing Venezuelan crude from Russian and Chinese companies. Payment made to them for supplies are adjusted against dues owed by Venezuela to these companies, Srikanth said.
REAL ESTATE
Manhattan sale confirmed
Vornado Realty Trust sold almost half of a US$5.6 billion collection of Manhattan properties to Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, and Crown Acquisitions Inc. The buyers would each acquire stakes of about 24 percent.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure