■FINANCE
Soros to buy Bombay stake
Billionaire investor George Soros is close to sealing a US$40 million deal to buy Dubai Holding’s 4 percent stake in the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Financial Times reported yesterday. If the purchase goes through, it would be the latest in a series of strategic foreign investments in India’s stock and derivatives exchanges. Soros Fund Management is planning to pay US$40 million for the stake in Asia’s oldest stock exchange based on a total valuation of about US$1 billion, a person involved in the negotiations told the Financial Times.
■TELECOMS
Telefonica, PT reach deal
Spain’s Telefonica said yesterday it had reached an agreement with Portugal Telecom (PT) to acquire a controlling share in Vivo, Brazil’s largest cellphone company. Telefonica’s filing with market regulators gave no figures. The newspaper El Pais said Telefonica had agreed to pay PT 7.5 billion euros (US$9.77 billion) for its 50 percent stake in Brasilcel, which in turn owns 60 percent of Vivo. Telefonica already owns the other half of Brasilcel. That amount is 350 million euros more than Telefonica’s last offer to PT.
■SEMICONDUCTORS
Infineon posts net profit
German semiconductor maker Infineon Technologies AG reported a net profit of 126 million euros for its fiscal third quarter. Infineon lost 23 million euros in the April-June period last year. It said that revenue rose 59 percent to 1.2 billion euros from 761 million euros. The Neubiberg-based company added that it expected a higher profit margin of more than 10 percent for the full fiscal year and forecast revenue growth of more than 40 percent. Its previous guidance was growth of 30 percent or more.
■AUTOMOBILES
Peugeot returns to profit
French auto group PSA Peugeot Citroen reported a switch into net profit in the first half of the year, with earnings of 680 million euros, compared with a loss of 962 million euros in the same period last year. It said it expected an operating profit of about 1.5 billion euros for the whole year. Sales in the first half shot up by 20.8 percent, or by 15.5 percent on a comparable asset base, to 28.394 billion euros. The group attributed the strong performance to the success of new models and firm global demand, and said that it had gained market share.
■BANKING
Sumitomo profit triples
Japanese megabank Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) yesterday said net profit nearly tripled year-on-year to ¥211.8 billion (US$2.4 billion) for the quarter ended June. Japan’s third-largest bank by assets said this compared with a profit of ¥72.7 billion a year ago as it saw bond trading gains and enjoyed lower credit costs. For the current financial year, Sumitomo maintained its May forecast of a net profit of ¥340 billion.
■ELECTRONICS
Hitachi assures on supply
Japanese electronics maker Hitachi said yesterday it would normalize supply of parts to Nissan Motor from next week, after a supply shortage forced the carmaker to temporarily close plants. Hitachi’s subsidiary, Hitachi Automotive Systems, will be able to offer a regular supply of “engine control units” after negotiating for enough custom-made chips from STMicroelectronics of Switzerland, Hitachi said. Automobile demand in Japan and elsewhere has outpaced chip supplies from STMicroelectronics, a Hitachi spokesman said.
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
NOVEL METHODS: The PLA has adopted new approaches and recently conducted three combat readiness drills at night which included aircraft and ships, an official said Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions. China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said. These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has
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
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,