INDIA
Growth tipped to rebound
The nation expects economic growth to rebound this year from a five-year low as political stability aids a pickup in demand and investments. Real GDP growth for the fiscal year started April 1 is projected at 7 percent, the Ministry of Finance said in its annual Economic Survey report. The upside and downside risks to growth are evenly balanced, with monsoon rainfall seen as tipping the scales, it said. The forecast marks an improvement from the 6.8 percent expansion last year and is the same as the reading of the Reserve Bank of India, which last month lowered its projection by 20 basis points from 7.2 percent.
FINANCE
Osborne linked to IMF bid
Former British chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne is lining up a bid to replace Christine Lagarde as head of the IMF, UK newspapers reported yesterday. Making his interest known to friends, Osborne said the job required a “skilled political communicator and operator ... not a technocrat,” the Financial Times reported. Lagarde, a former French minister of finance, is to lead the European Central Bank, replacing Mario Draghi. Draghi is seen as a strong candidate to become IMF chief, with the lender having always chosen a European to lead it.
LIGHTING
Osram bid launched
Bain Capital and Carlyle Group LP have made a 3.4 billion euro (US$3.8 billion) bid to acquire German lighting firm Osram Licht AG, concluding months of negotiations for the long-sought deal. Osram on Wednesday said that it had a received a binding offer at 35 euros a share and that it would decide “shortly” whether to accept it. Its supervisory board was to meet yesterday to vote on the agreement, a person with knowledge of the matter said. Osram shares surged as much as 13 percent, the most since February, after reports earlier on the bid. They rose 12 percent to 32.25 euros in Frankfurt.
BANKING
Deutsche raids expected
German prosecutors are escalating a money laundering inquiry involving Deutsche Bank AG, including planned raids on wealthy former clients, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told reporters. Frankfurt’s state prosecutors in the coming months are to search the homes of people it suspects of using a company formerly owned by Germany’s biggest bank for tax evasion and money laundering, the person said. The intensified scrutiny of Deutsche Bank comes at a delicate time as the Frankfurt-based bank seeks to revamp its struggling business and repair a reputation ravaged by a series of scandals.
DISTILLERIES
Whiskey lost in blaze
A fire blamed on a lightning strike at a warehouse in Kentucky destroyed 45,000 barrels of Jim Beam whiskey, its parent company said on Wednesday. No one was injured in the blaze, which initial reports indicate “resulted from a lightning strike,” Beam Suntory said in a statement posted on Twitter. Whiskey drinkers can rest easy, as the loss of the 45,000 barrels — a small fraction of the roughly 3.3 million at the company’s warehouses in Kentucky — should not affect supply. The distiller hired a cleanup crew and state environmental officials were coordinating efforts to control bourbon runoff into a nearby creek.
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