■MINING
BHP bids for United Minerals
BHP Billiton Ltd, the world’s biggest mining company, yesterday launched a A$204 million (US$188 million) bid for United Minerals Corporation — a takeover that would force the smaller miner to scrap a Chinese deal. Melbourne-based BHP’s offer is conditional on United Minerals canceling its plans to sell an 11.4 percent stake to China Railway Materials Commercial Corp Group. United Minerals is recommending shareholders accept BHP’s offer. BHP’s bid would give the miner access to more of the rich iron ore deposits in the Pilbara region of remote northwestern Australia.
■TRANSPORT
Group eyes National Express
A Spanish-led consortium said yesterday it had ended a bid to buy struggling British rail and bus operator National Express for £765 million (US$1.24 billion). “The consortium has ... decided not to make an offer for National Express,” a statement issued to the London Stock Exchange said. The consortium comprised Spain’s Cosmen family, which owns 18.5 percent of National Express, and the private equity group CVC Capital Partners.
■STEEL
POSCO unveils gas plan
South Korea’s leading steelmaker POSCO yesterday unveiled a US$905 million plan to produce synthetic natural gas from coal for its own use. The world’s fourth-largest steelmaker said it would build a new plant in the southern port of Gwangyang by 2013 to produce 500,000 tonnes of synthetic natural gas a year. POSCO said the cheaper energy would save it about 200 billion won (US$172 million) a year. The company said on Thursday its third-quarter net profit declined 6.3 percent from a year earlier to 1.14 trillion won because of lower world steel prices.
■INSURANCE
ING sells reinsurance unit
Dutch banking and insurance group ING said on Friday it had sold its US reinsurance business to Reinsurance Group of America Inc for an undisclosed amount a day after selling its Asian private banking unit. “ING announced today that it has reached an agreement to transfer its US group reinsurance business, ING Reinsurance US, to Reinsurance Group of America, Inc,” ING said in a statement. “Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.” The transaction is expected to be completed during the first quarter of next year.
■BANKING
Lloyds Banking cuts jobs
Britain’s state-rescued Lloyds Banking Group on Friday said it would cut up to 460 more positions, bringing to about 8,000 the total number of job losses it has announced since the start of the year. LBG said more jobs would disappear as a result of an agreement to sell its loss-making Halifax Estate Agency business to LSL Property Services for the nominal fee of £1.
■MUSIC
US fights Live Nation merger
The US Justice Department is resisting a merger between music industry giants Live Nation and Ticketmaster Entertainment, the Wall Street Journal reported late on Thursday. The proposed all-stock merger of equals, which concert promoter Live Nation and ticket-seller Ticketmaster unveiled in February, would bring the value of the new group — Live Nation Entertainment — to about US$2.5 billion. Negotiations between Justice Department officials and executives from the two entertainment groups were ongoing and no final decision has been reached, the Journal said on its Web site.
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