■FINANCE
PNC outlines payback
PNC Financial Services Group on Wednesday outlined plans to repay a US$7.6 billion US taxpayer bailout, including a stock offering to raise capital. PNC said in a statement that it priced a US$3 billion offering of 55.6 million shares of its common stock at US$54 per share, with an option of offering an additional 8.3 million shares if demand warranted. The bank announced on Tuesday it had reached an agreement with its banking regulators and the US Treasury to redeem the US$7.6 billion in preferred shares held by the Treasury under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Bank of New York Mellon said on Tuesday it would buy rival PNC’s back-office services unit for US$2.31 billion. Once the repayment is received, the Treasury said it will have recovered “nearly 70 percent of taxpayer investments in the banking system.”
■BANKING
Deutsche Bank makes profit
Germany’s biggest lender, Deutsche Bank, bounced back last year with a robust net profit of 5 billion euros (US$6.94 billion) following a loss of 3.9 billion euros in 2008. In the last three months of the year, Deutsche Bank turned in a profit of 1.3 billion euros, a statement said, its fourth consecutive quarterly result of more than 1 billion euros. The bank posted a massive fourth-quarter loss of 4.8 billion euros in 2008 as it cut the estimated value of its assets in the midst of the global financial crisis. In the fourth quarter of last year, Deutsche Bank benefited from a tax benefit of 554 million euros, in large part owing to “the recognition of deferred tax assets in the United States,” the statement said. Meanwhile, the bank more than doubled its provisions against risky loans to 2.6 billion euros as it braced for a surge in defaults. The comparable figure in 2008 was 1.1 billion euros.
■SOVEREIGN WEALTH
CIC to invest in UK equity
China’s main sovereign wealth fund has agreed to invest US$956 million with British private equity fund Apax Partners LLP and might buy a stake in the company, a newspaper reported yesterday. The China Investment Corp’s (CIC) investment in a 11.2 billion euro fund has received British regulatory approval, the China Daily said, citing sources close to the fund. It said the deal also might include CIC buying 2.2 percent of Apax. CIC is also in talks with Italian power company Enel SPA on buying stakes in the company and its subsidiary Enel Green Power, the newspaper said. Apax, based in London, operates funds that invest in technology, telecommunications, retail, media, health care and financial businesses.
■AVIATION
Delta to move aircraft
Delta Air Lines is expected to move more aircraft to the Pacific Northwest to handle service to Asia as it continues to shuffle the departure points for its international flying to adjust to shifting demand. The world’s biggest airline told pilots last week that its Boeing 767ER crew base at the Cincinnati airport would likely close sometime this year, barring a change in network strategy. A company memo and a memo from union representatives to members does not make clear how that might affect Delta’s service from that airport to Paris, the only international destination outside of North America that Delta currently serves nonstop from Cincinnati. A spokeswoman said the Paris service from Cincinnati will continue, possibly by bringing crews from other bases to fly the route.
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