■ FINANCE
Royal Bank may raise funds
Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, which reportedly is contemplating going to the market to raise billions of pounds, said yesterday it would make a statement on its plans next week. The Daily Telegraph reported that the bank was looking at a possible rights issue worth between £5 billion (US$9.9 billion) and £12 billion to shore up its position. “RBS notes recent speculation about a possible rights issue,” the group said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange. “RBS confirms that its interim management report covering trading performance and capital will be made next week.”
■ STEEL
POSCO to buy stake in mine
South Korean steelmaker POSCO said yesterday it would buy a 13 percent stake in a South African manganese mine as part of a drive to secure a stable supply of raw materials. POSCO, the world's fourth largest steelmaker, said the investment would from 2010 secure an annual supply of 130,000 tonnes of manganese or a quarter of its annual needs. The investment will be made through Pallinghurst, a consortium led by a British mining firm which owns a 49.9 percent stake in the mine. To buy the stake in the mine and finance other projects, POSCO will invest US$200 million in the consortium by issuing new shares in its subsidiary in Australia, the company said.
■ DAIRY
Aussie firm mulls takeover
Australia’s National Foods, a subsidiary of Japanese brewing giant Kirin, was considering a bid for rival Dairy Farmers, the takeover target said yesterday. Dairy Farmers said National Foods had asked the competition watchdog whether it would object to the takeover, which would give it a dominant share of Australia’s milk and dairy market. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had indicated it would take at least eight weeks to assess the potential deal, Dairy Farmers said in a statement. The statement did not say how much National Foods was willing to pay for Dairy Farmers.
■ FOODS
Steel Partners drops sauce
Japan's Bull-Dog Sauce Co said yesterday that the US investment fund Steel Partners had sold its entire stake in the iconic condiment maker after its defeat in a high-profile takeover battle. Steel Partners sold its remaining shares in the company as of March 31 and removed its name from the list of shareholders, a Bull-Dog spokeswoman said. The fund was at the center of a heated takeover tussle last year with Bull-Dog that set off a legal battle that went all the way to the country’s top court. The sauce maker became the first Japanese company to carry out threats of a “poison pill” defense, a tactic to block takeover bids by issuing new shares to dilute the stake of a bidder.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Chrysler rebuts speculation
Chrysler LLC chief executive Robert Nardelli denied reports on Thursday that the US carmaker was in talks with Italy’s Fiat about a possible alliance. “There are no talks,” Nardelli said after a speech in Detroit, Michigan, rejecting reports in Europe that Chrysler was in talks with Fiat. “I don't know where that came from,” he said. Nardelli, however, said he was continuing to develop a strong working relationship with Nissan-Renault chairman Carlos Ghosn. “We're very pleased to have the special arrangements on products with him,” he said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique