ACQUISITIONS
Novartis buys The Medicines
Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG has reached a deal to buy cholesterol drugmaker The Medicines Co for US$9.7 billion. Novartis is to pay US$85 per share for the New Jersey biotech company, a sharp increase over The Medicines Co’s closing price on Friday of US$68.55 per share. The deal is worth US$9.7 billion, including outstanding stock options and convertible debt. The Medicines Co focuses on researching treatments for cardiovascular disease, especially “bad” cholesterol. The deal is expected to close early next year.
ACQUISITIONS
Mengniu buying Lion Dairy
China Mengniu Dairy Co (中國蒙牛乳業) agreed to buy Kirin Holdings Co’s Australian beverage unit Lion Dairy & Drinks for about ¥45.6 billion (US$419 million), the dairy giant’s latest foray into the continent. Mengniu is buying Lion’s milk, yogurt and juice products, while Kirin is to keep Lion’s beer, wine and spirits business, the companies said in a statement yesterday. The deal is expected to close in the first half of next year, they said.
MINING
BHP adds to SolGold stake
BHP Group, the world’s biggest miner, plans to increase its stake in SolGold PLC, the developer of projects in Ecuador, according to people familiar with the proposal. Melbourne-based BHP is to add to its existing 11 percent holding in SolGold and become the developer’s largest shareholder ahead of Newcrest Mining Ltd, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is confidential. BHP and SolGold declined to comment. An announcement detailing the size of the investment could be made within days.
ACQUISITIONS
HP again rejects Xerox
Computer and printer maker HP Inc on Sunday reiterated its rejection of Xerox Holdings Corp’s US$33 billion takeover bid, saying the sum “significantly undervalues” the company. “We reiterate that we reject Xerox’s proposal as it significantly undervalues HP,” the HP board of directors said in a letter. “There continues to be uncertainty regarding Xerox’s ability to raise the cash portion of the proposed consideration.” The offer represents a 29 percent premium to HP’s recent average trading price, Xerox chairman and chief executive John Visentin said last week.
ENERGY
Pemex delaying payments
Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) is delaying payments to suppliers due next month, amid pressure from the Mexican government to reduce spending, a person familiar with the matter said. The move is part of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s effort to end the year with a government-wide surplus and to avoid any possible sovereign downgrade. Pemex faces about US$100 billion of debt, the most of any oil major.
BANKING
SNB not ruling out cuts
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has additional room to cut its already negative interest rate, the central bank’s chief economist Carlos Lenz told the Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag in an interview. “It’s not ruled out, but they cannot fall indefinitely,” Lenz said when asked if rates could decline further. Since 2015, SNB policy has consisted of a deposit rate of minus-0.75 percent plus a pledge to intervene, if necessary, to keep the Swiss franc in check. Rates would eventually turn positive, Lenz said, adding: “But today it’s impossible to gauge when that will happen.”
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to