■SEMICONDUCTORS
NXP BV wants to go public
Dutch computer chip maker NXP BV said it would seek an initial public offering of its shares. In a press statement on Saturday, NXP says it has registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to sell shares, a preliminary step toward an IPO. NXP is the former chipmaking arm of Philips Electronics. Philips sold an 80.1 percent stake in NXP to a consortium of private investors led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co for 4.3 billion euros (US$6.3 billion) in August 2006. Since then, the company has slashed jobs and sold operations. NXP says it had 27,000 employees and sales of US$3.8 billion last year. The company has not yet set a target for the size of the share issue. NXP says it will use proceeds from the offering to cut debt.
■PERU
Trade surplus shoots up
The Andean country posted a trade surplus of US$798 million in February, up from US$271 million in the same month a year earlier because of higher prices for its key metals exports, the central bank said on Saturday. Exports during the second month of the year totaled US$2.67 billion, up 47 percent from February last year, the monetary authority said. Imports rose by a slower 21 percent to US$1.87 billion. “This increase in the trade surplus is due to high international prices for the main commodities,” the bank said in a statement. Peru is a leading global metals producer.
■TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
Economy grows slightly
After four consecutive quarters of decline in the oil rich Caribbean nation’s economy, recent data from the country’s Central Bank point to slight growth in the country’s economy. The bank’s latest monetary policy report, which was published last week, suggests that “real GDP increased by 0.8 percent [year-on-year] in the last quarter of 2009.” The latest data showed “available indicators suggest that the small improvement in economic activity recorded in the last quarter of 2009 may have continued into the first quarter of 2010.” Growth for this year is projected at 2 percent. The recovery in the country’s economy is related almost entirely to the “improved output performance of the energy sector, particularly in petrochemicals and natural gas,” the report says.
■MINERALS
China could boost imports
China, the world’s largest zinc producer, could boost imports of the metal ore and concentrate as smelters expand, Li Xialin, vice president of Shenzhen Zhongjin Lingnan Nonfemet Co (深圳中金岭南公司), said in an interview in Beijing yesterday. China’s zinc producers could add 500,000 tonnes of smelting capacity this year and add 600,000 further next year, he said. The country’s total capacity was about 5 million tonnes at the end of last year.
■DUBAI
Market index declines
The Dubai Financial Market General Index declined 2.2 percent, the most since April 8, to 1,776.36 at 12:11pm in the emirate. Abu Dhabi’s measure lost 1.1 and Qatar’s gauge dropped 1 percent. Ahli Bank SAOG gained 1.5 percent, the most in almost a week, to 0.272 rial. The Omani provider of long-term loans for property construction and home purchases said first- quarter profit more than doubled to 3.15 million rials (US$8.2 million), the local bourse said in a statement yesterday.
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