■ ACQUISITIONS
McDonald's sells Pret stake
A private equity company has bought control of Pret A Manger, buying a one-third share from McDonald's in the sandwich company. Bridgepoint Capital Ltd said that the deal, reportedly worth £345 million (US$673 million), will keep Pret's current management team in place. McDonald's took a 33 percent stake in the company in 2001. Pret A Manger, founded in 1986, operates 175 shops in the UK, 14 in the US and 11 in Hong Kong. Sales last year totaled £223 million.
■ INSURANCE
Woe over stronger NT dollar
Taiwanese life insurers may suffer a total of NT$13 billion (US$412.8 million) in losses after the New Taiwan dollar's 2.24 percent gain this month, local media reported yesterday. The NT dollar gained from NT$32.198 against the greenback on Jan. 31 to NT$31.495 on Friday. Central bank statistics showed that the nation's life insurance companies had US$2.265 trillion in overseas assets last year, of which the risk for US$600 billion is not hedged, a Commercial Times report said. If the NT dollar climbs further in the coming week, local insurers may suffer more than NT$20 billion in exchange losses, which would compound poor earnings results this month, the report said.
■ METALS
Alcan broke antitrust rules
EU regulators on Friday charged the world's biggest aluminum producer Alcan Inc -- now owned by mining giant Rio Tinto PLC -- with breaking antitrust rules, alleging its contracts forced customers to buy equipment along with smelting technology. Rio Tinto Alcan spokesman Stefano Bertolli said the company contested the allegations and would cooperate with the European Commission. Canada-based Alcan now has eight weeks to defend itself in writing and can ask for an oral hearing before the European Commission decides on fines or orders it to change the contracts.
■ AVIATION
American met with union
American Airlines executives met with labor union leaders this week to discuss a potential merger with another carrier. American spokesman Andy Backover said they had meetings for more than a year regarding airline industry consolidation with the unions, which include the Transport Workers Union that represents ground workers and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants. The meetings have been subject to a confidentiality agreement, preventing all parties from revealing details of the discussions, Backover told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
■ BRAZIL
Brazil out of debt
Brazil's debt crisis is over and the country has emerged as a net foreign creditor for the first time, the central bank said. The nation's foreign cash reserves last month exceeded the entire foreign debt of Brazil's government and individual companies combined by about US$4 billion, the bank said in a report on Thursday. "It's the first time in the history of Brazil that we are not debtors," Finance Minister Guido Mantega said. Brazil's new status as a creditor could improve its debt rating to investment grade, which would lower Brazil's borrowing costs for future loans, Mantega said. Brazil, which defaulted on its debt in the 1980s and declared a moratorium on debt payments, is riding a boom in demand for key exports such as beef, iron ore and soy. International reserves nearly tripled from US$64 billion in 2003 to US$188.2 billion this week, the bank said.
Anna Bhobho, a 31-year-old housewife from rural Zimbabwe, was once a silent observer in her home, excluded from financial and family decisionmaking in the deeply patriarchal society. Today, she is a driver of change in her village, thanks to an electric tricycle she owns. In many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa, women have long been excluded from mainstream economic activities such as operating public transportation. However, three-wheelers powered by green energy are reversing that trend, offering financial opportunities and a newfound sense of importance. “My husband now looks up to me to take care of a large chunk of expenses,
SECTOR LEADER: TSMC can increase capacity by as much as 20 percent or more in the advanced node part of the foundry market by 2030, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to lead its peers in the advanced 2-nanometer process technology, despite competition from Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp, TrendForce Corp analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said. TSMC’s sophisticated products and its large production scale are expected to allow the company to continue dominating the global 2-nanometer process market this year, Chiao said. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is scheduled to begin mass production of chips made on the 2-nanometer process in its Hsinchu fab in the second half of this year. It would also hold a ceremony on Monday next week to
TECH CLUSTER: The US company’s new office is in the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan US chip designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday launched an office in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), marking a significant milestone in the development of southern Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the Tainan City Government said in a statement. AMD Taiwan general manager Vincent Chern (陳民皓) presided over the opening ceremony for the company’s new office at the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (沙崙智慧綠能科學城), a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan. Facilities in the new office include an information processing center, and a research and development (R&D) center, the Tainan Economic Development Bureau said. The Ministry
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
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