BREWERIES
Budweiser tips low-end IPO
Budweiser Brewing Company APAC Ltd — the Asia-Pacific unit of Anheuser-Busch InBev NV — is guiding potential investors that it could price its US$9.8 billion Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) toward the low end of a marketed range. The company stopped taking orders from investors in Asia and Europe at 5pm yesterday in each region and at midday New York time. The firm is offering 1.63 billion shares at HK$40 to HK$47 each. The final price had not been set and the pricing level was subject to change.
INSURERS
Swiss Re suspends debut
Swiss Re AG said that it suspended the debut offering of ReAssure Group PLC, as the plan to raise as much as US$4.1 billion from the sale of its UK unit fizzled due to weak investor demand. ReAssure was offering its IPO shares at £0.28 to £0.33 apiece, implying a market value of as much as £3.3 billion (US$4.1 billion). Swiss Re chief financial officer John Dacey said that the company still aims to reduce its stake in ReAssure.
REAL ESTATE
UK home buying rises
The UK housing market saw an increase in new buyers for the first time since November 2016 last month, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said yesterday. There are several signs that the housing market is starting to stabilize, it said. Sales and new instructions started to pick up last month for the first time this year. A gauge of prices indicated stagnation after four months of declines. Sales are expected to increase over the next 12 months, but the looming possibility of a no-deal Brexit is preventing realtors from becoming too optimistic.
GAMING
Smaller Switch announced
Game giant Nintendo Co has announced the release of a scaled-back, cheaper version of its runaway success Switch console, expected out in September ahead of the key holiday shopping season. Switch Lite, which is to sell for US$199.99, will be a strictly handheld device that cannot be used with television sets. The new edition’s controllers will be permanently fixed on either side of the screen. It is to hit shelves on Sept. 20, the Japan-based company said in a statement yesterday.
AUTO SALES
Chinese sales decline
China’s auto sales fell 7.8 percent last month amid a trade dispute with Washington and slower economic growth. People in the global industry’s biggest market bought 1.7 million SUVs, sedans and minivans, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, an industry group. Total purchases in the first six months of this year fell 14 percent from a year earlier to 10.1 million vehicles, it said.
AIRLINES
Norwegian CEO quits
Low-cost travel pioneer Bjorn Kjos is stepping down as chief executive officer of Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA, just as the discount carrier makes headway toward resolving a debt crisis that was fueled by the rapid expansion he led. Kjos, who helped found Norwegian in 1993, will leave the post immediately, the company said in a statement yesterday. Norwegian Air Shuttle chief financial officer Geir Karlsen is to become interim chief executive officer until a permanent successor is found, it said.
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],”