■ Stocks
LSE to open HK office
The London Stock Exchange will set up an Asia-Pacific office in Hong Kong in hopes of attracting listings from mainland Chinese companies, Hong Kong's pro-Beijing Wen Wei Po newspaper reported yesterday. The London market has straightforward listing procedures that are especially suitable for small- and medium-sized Chinese enterprises, the paper quoted the exchange's Asia-Pacific president Zhu Xiaojian as saying. Speaking at an investment forum in Fujian, Zhu said Hong Kong is a good place for the London exchange to tap into the booming Chinese market. Chinese enterprises raised a total of 23 billion euro (US$19 billion) through overseas listing last year. The Hong Kong office will open by early Novem-ber, Zhu was quoted as saying.
■ Semiconductors
Intel lures Samsung VP
Intel announced on Tuesday that it was hiring a top Samsung official as vice president of the world's largest chip maker and leading manufacturer of computer products. Eric Kim, who has extensive branding, consumer and product marketing exper-ience, would be Intel's pointman for marketing operations worldwide, an Intel statement said. His duties would include global branding, advertising, cooperative marketing and market research, as well as Internet and channel marketing programs. The 50-year-old Kim, who will join Intel on Nov. 15, was executive vice president and head of global mar-keting and new business development in the digital convergence area in Sam-sung Electronics Co. During Kim's tenure, Samsung attained the status of the world's fastest-growing brands. In 2002, Time magazine selected Kim for its annual "Global Influen-tials" list.
■ Automobiles
BMW overtaking Mercedes
BMW is on course to overtake annual sales of arch-rival Mercedes for the first time in almost a decade, new figures showed on Tuesday. The day after the Mercedes group said its global sales had fallen just under 5 percent so far this year to 760,300, its south German competitor posted an 8 percent jump in the first eight months of this year to 769,086. The mixed fortunes enjoyed by Ger-many's leading upmarket car makers were highlighted by sales last month in their domestic market, with Mercedes down 18 percent to 24,500 and BMW up 20 percent, despite the sluggish economy. Even though Mercedes sales fell last month for the seventh month this year, the firm said its global sales should approach last year's 1.1 million. But BMW said it expected to surpass last year's total by just under 10 percent. The last time BMW outsold Mercedes was in 1995.
■ Banking
Quattrone faces sentencing
Frank Quattrone, the master dealmaker of the 1990s technology stock boom, faces a likely prison sen-tence, four months after he was convicted of obstruc-ting a federal investigation. The 48-year-old former investment banker, con-victed of two counts of obstruction and a single count of witness tampering, faces 10 to 16 months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines. His sentence was expected to be handed down yesterday. He would be the highest-profile Wall Street figure to face time behind bars since junk-bond king Michael Milken in 1990.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source