■ELECTRICITY
Chloride Group accepts bid
British power supply company Chloride Group has accepted an improved takeover bid from a US competitor, Emerson Electric Co. Chloride said yesterday that its board unanimously recommended that shareholders accept Emerson’s offer of £3.75 per share. That values Chloride at £997 million (US$1.5 billion). Emerson clinched the deal after Swiss company ABB Ltd said it had dropped out of the bidding. Chloride’s board had previously backed ABB’s offer of £3.25 per share, until Emerson raised its bid.
■TECHNOLOGY
Disney acquires Tapulous
The Walt Disney Co said on Thursday it acquired Tapulous, the maker of the popular iPhone play-along music game Tap Tap Revenge, to bolster its ability to create mobile games and gain another toehold in Silicon Valley. “It definitely is a strategic move and it highlights the importance we put on mobile,” Steve Wadsworth, president of Disney Interactive Media Group, told reporters. The initial focus will be on making games for Apple Inc’s iPhone, iPad and other emerging mobile platforms, he said. Tapulous already has 30 million users on Apple platforms with games such as Tap Tap Revenge, for which it has put out versions with artists such as Metallica, Coldplay, Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber. A new game called Riddim Ribbon features The Black Eyed Peas.
■LUXURY GOODS
LMVH to buy Sack’s stake
LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, the world’s largest luxury goods maker, said it agreed to buy 70 percent of online fragrances and cosmetics retailer Sack’s to take its Sephora beauty chain into Brazil. Sack’s current management, led by co-founders Carlos Andre Montenegro and Marcelo Franco, will remain in place, Paris-based LVMH said yesterday in a statement, without disclosing the price. Sack’s, based in Rio de Janeiro, offers 270 brands and serves more than 830,000 customers, according to the statement. The 10-year-old online retailer gets 4 million individual Web visits each month, making the e-commerce site one of the top three most frequently accessed in Brazil, LVMH said.
■TECHNOLOGY
Lower price for Kindle DX
Online retailer Amazon.com Inc said on Thursday it is introducing a new version of its higher-end Kindle at a lower price as competition among electronic-book readers intensifies. The new version of its Kindle DX has a better screen that will display sharper images. The large-screen reader, which Amazon hoped would catch on as a textbook substitute at universities, has free wireless over 3G cellular networks. It will be sold for US$379, about 23 percent less than the US$489 Amazon charged for the previous generation of the larger Kindle DX.
■INSURANCE
Ageas to buy Kwik-Fit
Belgian-based insurance group Ageas, formerly known as Fortis, is to buy Britain’s Kwik-Fit Insurance Services for £215 million (US$325.9 million) as part of its ongoing expansion plans in the country. The insurance intermediary, currently owned by Paris-based private equity company PAI Partners, will contribute over 600,000 customers to Ageas, giving it a total of 1.6 million customers in Britain. Ageas chief executive Bart De Smet said in a statement yesterday: “I welcome this acquisition on its strategic and financial merits and as a next step in the execution of our strategy announced last autumn.”
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from