■FINANCE
SWF eyes more hedge funds
China Investment Corp (CIC, 中國投資公司), the nation’s US$200 billion sovereign wealth fund, may invest as much as US$500 million in hedge funds, including those run by Blackstone Group LP, two people familiar with the matter said. CIC aims to allocate US$6 billion to hedge funds by the end of this year, company adviser Felix Chee said at the GAIM International hedge fund conference earlier this week at Monaco’s Grimaldi Forum. CIC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley earlier this month by buying an additional US$1.2 billion in shares.
■AUTOMOBILES
Prius orders top forecast
Toyota Motor Corp received orders for 180,000 Prius hybrid cars in Japan in just a month, far surpassing its target of 10,000 vehicles, the automaker said yesterday. The third-generation Prius, which rolled out a month ago, has been a big hit in its home country, partly because of tax breaks and other new government incentives that are meant to stimulate growth during the economic downturn. The Prius was the No. 1 selling vehicle in Japan last momth, clinching the top spot in the domestic market for the first time and overtaking Honda’s new hybrid, the Insight, which fell to third after taking the top spot in April.
■INVESTMENT
KKR may delay IPO
KKR & Co, the private-equity firm run by Henry Kravis and George Roberts, said it was still considering plans to go public, almost two years after first proposing an initial public offering. KKR filed to go public in July 2007, days before the credit crisis began. Less than a year later, the firm dropped the project in favor of a plan to issue new stock to its Amsterdam- listed buyout fund. The shares would have begun trading on the New York Stock Exchange once the deal was completed in December. KKR delayed the plan again in November after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc roiled markets worldwide. KKR may push back the plans still further, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, citing unidentified people familiar with the talks.
■INVESTMENT
Google invests in 23andMe
Google Inc loves 23andMe Inc, a biotechnology startup conceived by co-founder Sergey Brin’s wife. In its latest showing of financial affinity, Google said on Thursday it had invested another US$2.6 million in a company that analyzes people’s DNA to detect potential health problems before they occur. Anne Wojcicki, who married Brin two years ago, started 23andMe while the couple was still dating. Google’s decision to invest in a startup near and dear to Brin hasn’t yet raised complaints about nepotism among the Mountain View-based company’s major shareholders.
■SEMICONDUCTORS
Elpida may seek funding
Elpida Memory Inc, Japan’s biggest maker of memory chips, saw its share price rise 3.3 percent in Tokyo trading after Nikkei English News said the company may apply for funding from the Development Bank of Japan. The company may seek as much as ¥40 billion (US$416 million) by selling up to ¥30 billion in preferred shares and borrowing a maximum of ¥10 billion, Nikkei said. The chipmaker is also in final negotiations with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd and three other lenders to borrow as much as ¥90 billion, Kyodo News reported.
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