IPO
Anheuser eyes HK listing
Anheuser-Busch InBev NV is aiming to raise about US$5 billion in a Hong Kong listing of its Asian unit by the end of this month, people familiar with the matter said, reviving a plan scrapped two months ago. The Belgian brewer is gauging investor demand and is to launch the deal as soon as next week, the people said. The company yesterday said that the resumed listing application involves its minority stake in Budweiser Brewing Company APAC Ltd, without its Australian operations, which it agreed to sell to Asahi Group Holdings Ltd for US$11.3 billion.
TOBACCO
BAT to slash 2,300 jobs
British American Tobacco PLC (BAT) yesterday said that it plans to cut 2,300 jobs globally by January next year as its new boss seeks to drive revenues in controversial e-cigarettes. Chief executive officer Jack Bowles said that the jobs cuts, of which more than 20 percent would be senior roles, would see BAT “better placed” to deliver US$6.2 billion in new category revenues by 2024. BAT employs about 55,000 staff worldwide and did not specify which regions would see job cuts.
MEXICO
Pemex to get another boost
The government on Wednesday said it would inject another US$5 billion into struggling state oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex). The company, which is facing massive debt and falling output, said it would use the money to pay down and restructure its debt in three sets of transactions. It plans to buy back bonds due next year and in 2023; refinance its short-term debt by issuing new bonds with terms of seven, 10 and 30 years; and carry out a bond swap aimed at “smoothing [its] due-date profile.”
MALAYSIA
Interest rate held again
The central bank yesterday kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged for a second straight meeting as the economy posts steady growth, despite mounting global risks. The bank held its overnight rate at 3 percent, saying that current policy is accommodative and supports the economy. Sixteen of 24 economists surveyed by Bloomberg correctly predicted the decision, while the rest had forecast a 25 basis-point cut.
HOTELS
Anbang to sell to Mirae
Anbang Insurance Group Co (安邦保險) agreed to sell a luxury hotel portfolio to South Korea’s Mirae Asset Management Co. Mirae posted a 10 percent deposit this week on a sale price of a little more than US$5.8 billion for the portfolio, a person familiar with the matter said. Mirae signed a deal to buy 15 hotels from Anbang, it said in a statement that did not disclose the purchase price. Anbang in 2016 bought the properties’ owner, Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc, from Blackstone Group Inc for about US$5.5 billion.
BANKING
Billions put into ailing banks
Austria spent more than 10 billion euros (US$11.03 billion) on rescuing and winding down banks that were failing after the financial crisis, a study by the central bank and the Fiscal Council showed. Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International AG was by far the biggest culprit after its ill-fated expansion in the former Yugoslavia. Interest payments by Erste Group Bank AG, Raiffeisen Bank International AG and Bawag Group AG for temporary capital support lowered the net costs.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six