■ MERGERS
Kirin Pharma makes bid
Major Japanese brewer Kirin, seeking to compensate for slack growth in beer sales, announced yesterday a US$1.48 billion friendly bid for pharmaceutical firm Kyowa Hakko Kogyo. Kirin Holdings Co hopes to merge its Kirin Pharma next year with Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co, which has agreed to the offer. Kirin Holdings plans to take over 50.1 percent of Kyowa Hakko's outstanding shares through public bidding and swapping Kirin Pharma with Kyowa Hakko shares, the companies said in a joint statement. Kyowa Hakko will become a consolidated subsidiary of Kirin Holdings in April.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Bridgestone to invest
Japan's Bridgestone said yesterday it would invest US$11 billion over five years to boost production in a battle against France's Michelin to become the world's undisputed top tire-maker. It said it would spend a total of ?1.25 trillion covering the five years from next April, up 14 percent from the preceding five years. Bridgestone plans to put new factories into operation in Mexico, Poland, Hungary and Japan and to expand existing plants in India and Indonesia. "Our goal is to establish the status of being the undisputed world number one tire and rubber company," chief executive and president Shoshi Arakawa said.
■ ENERGY
Bhopal settlement likely
India could reach an out-of-court settlement with US giant Dow Chemical to clean up the Bhopal gas disaster site and end liability claims after more than two decades, a report said yesterday. India's law ministry said the move would clear "legal hurdles" to future Dow Chemical investments in India by setting up a fund to clean up thousands of tonnes of contaminated soil along with other measures to resolve long-running lawsuits linked to the disaster, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported. Thousands of people were killed on Dec. 3, 1984, when a then Union Carbide plant at Bhopal in central India disgorged 40 tonnes of a lethal gas.
■ ECONOMY
Greenspan on subprime
The financial turmoil that erupted earlier this year in the US subprime housing market was "an accident waiting to happen" and could have taken place in any other sector, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said in Washington on Sunday. "Credit spreads across all global asset classes had become compressed to clearly unsustainable levels," Greenspan told an audience at the World Bank's International Finance Corporation. "Something had to give. If the crisis had not been triggered by a mispricing of securitized US subprime [high-risk] mortgages, it would have eventually erupted in some other sector of our market," he said.
■ STEEL
Orissa investment still on
South Korean steel giant POSCO remains committed to its US$12 billion investment plan in India despite protests by local residents and politicians, company officials said yesterday. POSCO's plan to buid a steel production hub in India's eastern state of Orissa -- the biggest foreign direct investment in the country -- has hit a snag due to protests from locals afraid of losing their land. "We are not considering relocating the proposed steel plant," said Yeon Kyung-heum, an official at POSCO's public relations office.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a