APPAREL
Anta Sports mulling sale
Anta Sports Products Ltd (安踏體育用品) is considering a sale of its fitness equipment brand Precor Inc after being approached by potential buyers, people familiar with the matter said. The biggest sportswear maker in China is working with an adviser for a potential sale of the US business that could fetch about US$500 million, the people said. A number of companies and private equity funds have shown preliminary interest in acquiring Precor, which designs and makes indoor cycling bikes, treadmills and elliptical machines, they said.
CHIPMAKERS
Intel seeks buyers for unit
Intel Corp is seeking buyers for its connected home division, a unit that makes chips used in home Internet access gear, people familiar with the matter said. The chipmaker has hired a financial adviser and is seeking to sell the unit that has annual sales of about US$450 million, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Intel declined to comment. Intel chief executive officer Bob Swan has said that he is looking at the company’s operations and would explore options for areas where it is not competitive.
CHEMICALS
Showa Denko eyes Hitachi
Showa Denko K.K. said it is considering buying Hitachi Ltd’s stake in Hitachi Chemical Co. The Japanese producer of petrochemicals, resins, ceramics, metals, carbon and electronic materials, said it is not the source of a Nikkei newspaper report saying that Hitachi was going to award it with preferred negotiation rights for the sale of Hitachi Chemical.
PHILIPPINES
Probe urged over China
A senator yesterday urged lawmakers to investigate China’s access to the country’s power grid, warning of a security threat and possible sabotage due to Beijing’s stake in the nation’s only transmission firm. Risa Hontiveros filed a resolution warning of Chinese-engineered power and Internet outages and interference in elections if safeguards remained absent, citing confirmation last week from a power executive that a “hostile third party” had the ability to cause blackouts. The Chinese embassy in Manila did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
MEXICO
Country enters recession
The country registered a recession in the first two quarters of this year and zero growth in the third, revised official data released on Monday showed. The downward revision confirmed the economy’s weak performance under President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who is struggling to deliver on a promise to kick-start growth in his first year in office. The economy contracted by 0.1 percent in each of the first two quarters and stagnated in the third, according to the revised figures from national statistics institute INEGI.
UTILITIES
Hyflux, Utico strike deal
Troubled Singapore water treatment firm Hyflux Ltd has entered a restructuring deal with Middle Eastern utility Utico FZC. Under the agreement, Hyflux would get investment totaling S$400 million (US$293 million) from Utico, an exchange filing said. A court hearing for the debt-laden firm is scheduled for tomorrow. Hyflux, Singapore’s highest-profile debt restructuring, had been looking for a white knight investor after a deal with Indonesian consortium SM Investments fell apart in April.
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