■PHARMACEUTICALS
Dow to sell Morton Salt
Having completed its US$16.5 billion buyout of Rohm & Haas, Dow Chemical Co said on Wednesday it would sell Morton Salt to German fertilizer maker K+S Aktiengesellschaft in a deal valuing the former Rohm & Haas unit at US$1.675 billion. The sale is part of Dow’s plan to sell off non-core Rohm & Haas assets to pay down the hefty debt it had to take on to complete the purchase of the chemical maker. “This sale puts us ahead of schedule on our de-leveraging plan post the close of the Rohm & Haas acquisition,” Dow chairman and chief executive Andrew Liveris said in a statement.
■INSURANCE
Reinsurer to slim workforce
Swiss Reinsurance Co said yesterday it would cut 10 percent of its work force this year in a bid to reduce costs and simplify its operations. The world’s second-biggest reinsurance company, which currently has 11,560 employees, also announced the appointment of Agostino Galvagni as new chief operating officer. The company posted an 864 million Swiss franc (US$809 million) loss last year. The Zurich-based company has received a capital injection of SF3 billion from US investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc and said it was looking for another SF2 billion on the capital markets.
■PROPERTY
British house prices rise
British house prices rose for the first time in 17 months last month, a survey by home-loans provider Nationwide showed yesterday. The cost of a home in Britain increased by 0.9 percent last month from February, leaving the average value of a home at just under £151,000 (US$220,000), Nationwide said. The surprise increase also led to a reduction in the annual rate at which house prices are falling — to 15.7 percent from a record 17.6 percent in February.
■RETAIL
Aeon to trade in China
Japanese retail giant Aeon Co said yesterday that it plans to open 200 convenience stores in China over the next five years as it looks for business beyond its recession-hit home market. The supermarket operator has set up a unit for its Ministop chain in Qingdao, Shandong Province, with US$5 million in capital, said a spokesman who asked not to be named. “We aim to open outlets as early as this summer and plan to increase the number to about 200 in Shandong Province in five years’ time,” said the spokesman, citing “potentially huge demand.”
■COMPUTERS
Many Satyam staff quitting
As many as 13,000 employees may have quit India’s graft-tainted outsourcing giant Satyam, with some poached by clients and others leaving to work for rivals or other firms, a report said yesterday. The workforce of Satyam, which has been struggling for survival since its founder admitted to falsifying profits, stood at 40,000 by the end of March, down from 53,000 at the start of the year, India’s Mint business daily said.
■COMPUTERS
Silicon Graphics goes bust
Silicon Graphics Inc, a one-time computer powerhouse that delivered the special effects in many Hollywood hits, declared bankruptcy on Wednesday and was purchased for US$25 million in cash. Rackable Systems Inc, a Fremont, California-based manufacturer of servers and data storage products, announced that it had agreed to acquire most of the assets of Silicon Graphics and to assume some of its liabilities.
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