■ Retail
Home Depot eyes Orient
Home Depot, the world's biggest fix-it-yourself retailer, is in talks to take a 49 percent stake in Chinese chain Orient Home Co (東方家園) for US$200 million, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The paper said the Orient Group had held discussions with a number of international retailers but Home Depot, which had revenues last year of around US$81 billion, was the favorite. An official at the Orient Group was quoted in the report as saying "the two parties are still discussing all kinds of possibilities for the deal." However, citing people close to the negotiations, the newspaper said no agreement had been signed and parties could still fail to strike a deal. An agreement would give the US group a foothold in China's fast-growing home improvement market, estimated to be worth around US$50 billion. Outside the US the company only has outlets in Canada and Mexico.
■ Banking
Sumitomo's suit rejected
A Japanese court yesterday rejected Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co's suit against UFJ Holdings Inc for scuttling a planned alliance and merging with another company, a court official said. Sumitomo Trust and UFJ had agreed on a broad tie-up under which Sumitomo would take over UFJ's trust banking operations, but UFJ scrapped that and merged with Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc. Sumitomo Trust had demanded ?100 billion (US$850 million) in compensation from UFJ. But Tokyo District Court turned that down, a court official said on condition of anonymity, citing court rules. Sumitomo Trust expressed regret for the court decision and said in a statement that it will decide on a response after studying the ruling carefully.
■ Electronics
Sharp aims for top spot
Sharp Corp, which ceded its position as the top liquid crystal display (LCD) TV-maker in the US to Sony Corp, can win back market share when it begins output at the world's biggest LCD factory this year, said Toshishige Hamano, senior executive director of Sharp's international business division. Sharp's share of the LCD-TV market in the US fell to 18 percent by value in December, about 10 percentage points lower than a year earlier and down from the 25 percent share it held in August, as Sony introduced new LCD-TVs under the Bravia brand name. Sharp also ceded market share in Japan to Sony. In October, Sharp will start up the world's biggest LCD-TV factory in Kameyama, central Japan, which will allow the company to cut more panels from a single piece of glass.
■ Economics
Indonesia outlook lowered
Fitch Ratings yesterday said it has lowered the outlook for Indonesia's sovereign credit ratings to stable from positive owing to risks arising from the country's external balance sheet. Fitch affirmed its other ratings on Indonesia. "The revision to the outlook on Indonesia's sovereign ratings reflects greater concern over risks to the external balance sheet that need to be addressed with greater urgency and importance," said Fitch's sovereign ratings team associate director, Ai Ling Ngiam, in a press release. "The reversal towards a weakening in the current account balance position coincides with a period of heavy public sector" debt settlement, she said.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2