■ Indexes
Google to join S&P 500
Google Inc will be added to the Standard & Poor's 500 Index after a fourfold surge in its shares that valued the world's most-used Internet search engine at more than US$100 billion. "Based on the calendar of publicly announced deals, this was the best time to make the addition," said David Guarino, a S&P spokesman in New York. "The stock price wasn't a factor in our decision." Google is the biggest company ever added to the S&P 500, according to Nicholas Gulden, an analyst at Citigroup Inc in New York. The stock will become the highest-priced among the index's members, surpassing Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
■ Semiconductors
Siemens offloads Infineon
Siemens AG, Europe's largest engineering company, is selling its entire 18 percent stake in Infineon Technologies AG, worth about 1.2 billion euros (US$1.4 billion), in a placement managed by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Munich-based Siemens is selling 136.3 million shares in Germany's largest maker of semiconductors, Goldman said in a statement on Thursday. The sale comes 14 months after Klaus Kleinfeld took over as Siemens' chief executive officer and completes the company's retreat from the chipmaker it spun off in an initial public offering six years ago. Kleinfeld has announced almost 7,000 job cuts, mainly at the telecommunications and computer-services divisions, and has sold the unprofitable mobile-phone unit to Taiwan's BenQ Corp (明基).
■ Banking
Brokerage to buy Tokyo Star
Japan's third-largest brokerage Nikko Cordial plans to buy a controlling stake in a Tokyo bank revived by US private equity fund Lone Star for more than US$1.2 billion, a report said yesterday. Nikko Cordial will soon launch a tender offer to buy up to 50 percent of shares in Tokyo Star Bank, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said, adding the broker aimed to get at least one-third of the shares to become the top shareholder. Lone Star, which holds nearly 70 percent of outstanding shares in Tokyo Star, plans to sell its control over the bank, the economic daily said without naming sources. The acquisition price is likely to exceed ?140 billion (US$1.2 billion), the paper said. The deal between Nikko Cordial and Lone Star would mark the first instance in Japan of a brokerage purchasing a bank, the Nihon Keizai said.
■ Automobiles
GM to sell mortgage arm
General Motors Corp said on Thursday that its finance arm is raising nearly US$9 billion in cash by selling a majority interest in its commercial mortgage division in a move that spruces up the books of the auto loan and insurance business the struggling automaker is trying to sell. General Motors Acceptance Corp is getting US$1.5 billion in cash from an investment group for a 78 percent stake in the commercial mortgage business. In addition, that business, known as GMAC Commercial Holding Corp, repaid US$7.3 billion in intercompany loans. That boosts the total proceeds to GMAC to almost US$9 billion. The announcement comes a day after GM and its major supplier, Delphi Corp, said they plan to offer buyouts to more than 125,000 hourly workers under an agreement with the United Auto Workers. Workers are expected to start leaving GM by June 1.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from