■STOCKS
LSE may list in Shanghai
London Stock Exchange (LSE) Group Plc and Seaspan Corp, a Hong Kong shipper, may seek to list in Shanghai, joining a growing number of foreign companies seeking to take advantage of domestic demand and a stronger yuan. The LSE, the operator of the London and Milan bourses, wants to list in China’s commercial hub by the end of next year, CEO Xavier Rolet said at a financial forum in Shanghai. Seaspan would be interested if the Shanghai Stock Exchange opens to overseas companies, Seaspan CEO Gerry Wang (王友貴) said at the same forum.
■SAUDIA ARABIA
No plans to buy debt: bank
The government has no plans to buy European sovereign debt, the country’s central bank governor Muhammad al-Jasser was quoted as saying by al-Watan newspaper yesterday. The kingdom also won’t implement banking fees proposed by the IMF, al-Jasser said. The central bank also expects no acute inflationary pressure in the second quarter, according to a report released on its Web site.
■LUXURY
Demand rising: De Beers
De Beers, the world’s largest diamond company, said first-half sales were “much stronger” this year, according to executive director Jonathan Oppenheimer. “The extra demand is coming from a sense that people are keen to celebrate special events again,” Oppenheimer said in an interview at the Fortune Global Forum in Cape Town yesterday. He said the option of investing in diamonds as a safe haven is being investigated and he supports the idea of an exchange-traded fund for diamonds “in principle.”
■BANKING
Deutsche Bank still hiring
Deutsche Bank AG boss Josef Ackermann said in an interview yesterday the lender is still hiring hundreds of people for its investment bank. Ackermann said he’s “worried about regulatory arbitrage” and supports a “level playing field” from banking reforms and the G20 meeting in Canada over the weekend.
■INVESTMENT
Losses doubled: Mumtalakat
Bahrain’s government investment company said in a statement on Saturday losses more than doubled last year as the economic slump hurt key businesses. The Mumtalakat fund said losses increased to 183 million dinars (US$485.4 million) from 69 million dinars a year earlier. Mumtalakat is a holding company mostly focused on state-run businesses in the Persian Gulf island nation. It says it spent the last year restructuring some of its holdings. Mumtalakat says the global downturn particularly hurt business at its money-losing airline Gulf Air and at Alba, an aluminum smelting company.
■INVESTMENT
Aabar to go private
Shares of the Abu Dhabi investment fund with the largest stake in German automaker Daimler are down over 5 percent in early trading after its board called for a vote to take the firm private. Aabar Investments said in a regulatory filing posted yesterday that its board approved plans to hold the shareholder vote on July 26. It first floated the possibility of going private early last week. The company says the move is “essential” and will give it “greater operational flexibility” as it pursues additional investments. Going private would allow Aabar to disclose less information than it does now.
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