■FINANCE
Goldman to bid for iShares
Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs is working on a bid for iShares, the asset management business being auctioned by British bank Barclays, newspaper reports said yesterday. The Financial Times said the business could be valued at up to US$6.5 billion, while the Daily Telegraph put the figure at US$5 billion. Other bidders include Bain Capital and a consortium led by buy-out firm Hellman & Friedman, they said. Barclays has fared better in the financial crisis than many of its British banking rivals, but said on March 16 it had approached “a number of potentially interested parties” about selling iShares.
■ELECTRONICS
Sanyo predicts loss
Japan’s Sanyo Electric Co said yesterday it expected a loss in the financial year ending this month, scrapping an earlier forecast that it would break even. Sanyo, which is being bought by its bigger rival Panasonic Corp, blamed the worse-than-expected performance on the cost of restructuring its businesses, in particular the ailing semiconductor division. The company now expects an annual net loss of ¥90 billion (US$918 million), compared with an earlier forecast of zero profits. It sees an operating loss of ¥30 billion, against an earlier projection of a ¥30 billion profit.
■ENERGY
Suncor to buy Petro-Canada
Suncor Energy Inc will acquire Petro-Canada for C$19.12 billion (US$15.5 billion), uniting two of Canada’s biggest oil companies as the nation’s energy industry retrenches. If the deal announced on Monday is approved, the combined company would be the largest oil company in Canada and have a market capitalization of about C$48 billion. That’s much smaller than global heavyweights such as Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips, which boast market capitalizations of US$326.6 billion and US$55.97 billion respectively, but the company would have some of the same benefits of scale.
■TRADE
South Korea, EU reach deal
South Korea and the EU have reached a tentative trade deal after almost two years of talks and will try to settle outstanding issues early next month, the two sides said yesterday. They “reached provisional agreement on almost all pending issues” during negotiations which began on Monday, Seoul’s foreign and trade ministry said in a statement. They failed to reach a deal on some contentious matters such as rules of origin for products, it said, adding final agreement would be sought at trade ministers’ talks in London on April 2. When concluded, the agreement would eliminate some 97 percent of tariffs on bilateral trade over the next five years, EU negotiator Ignacio Garcia Bercero told a press conference.
■MINING
Iron ore prices to drop
Iron ore prices are certain to fall this year, the first decline in seven years, but not by the 50 percent suggested by some steel makers, Rio Tinto said yesterday. “We need to recognise the fundamentals of the market and the market would show that it does need a downward adjustment this year,” Sam Walsh, head of Rio’s iron ore division, said on the sidelines of a mining conference. But given the potential for a recovery in industrial demand at some stage and indications from the spot ore market, prices don’t need to drop by half, Walsh said, breaking a tradition of keeping silent on price issues until talks are concluded.
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