FINANCE
ING plans to repay aid
ING Groep NV, the biggest Dutch financial-services company, plans to repay 2 billion euros (US$2.8 billion) of state aid in May at a 50 percent premium. “ING will fund this repurchase from retained earnings,” the Amsterdam-based bank and insurer said yesterday. The company plans to buy back the core Tier 1 securities sold to the state at the next coupon reset date on May 13, it said. ING received 10 billion euros of state aid in 2008 and also transferred the risk on 21.6 billion euros of US mortgage assets. The firm paid back 5 billion euros in December 2009 and CEO Jan Hommen said on Feb. 16 he’s “quite hopeful that we can repay the Dutch state to a significant amount this year.” “The strong recovery of the banking business in 2010 has enabled us to accelerate the repurchase of the core Tier 1 securities from retained earnings, while maintaining a robust capital position post repayment,” Hommen said in the statement.
RETAILERS
LVMH to control Bulgari
LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, the world’s leading luxury retailer, said yesterday it will take control of Italian top-end jeweler Bulgari SpA in a deal worth nearly 2 billion euros. An accord reached with the controlling Bulgari family for the company, founded in 1884, will see LVMH issue 16.5 million shares to them for their 51 percent holding in a deal valued at 1.84 billion euros. LVMH would also offer other Bulgari shareholders 12.25 euros a share, with this part of the deal potentially worth another 1.79 billion euros if all the outstanding shares are acquired. In turn, Bulgari would become the second-largest family shareholder in the LVMH group, taking two seats on the board. LVMH group recently bought a large stake in smaller French rival Hermes International SA, but has insisted that speculation it wants to ultimately control that company is without foundation.
FINANCE
LSE eyes NASDAQ takeover
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is eyeing a takeover of its US rival NASDAQ just weeks after announcing a merger with the Toronto Stock Exchange, the Sunday Times reported. Although the companies have not held talks about a three-way tie-up, LSE and its Canadian counterpart expect to make their move later this year following the closing of their own deal, the newspaper said. A NASDAQ spokesman declined to comment. For now, LSE has its hands full as it tries to close on its ￡3.1 billion (US$5 billion) proposed takeover of TMX Group Inc. Last week the two exchanges defended their transatlantic tie-up to skeptical lawmakers as they faced the first of a series of government and regulatory hurdles.
VIETNAM
Foreign money loans curbed
Commercial lenders will be ordered to limit their loans made in foreign currencies as policymakers seek to narrow the nation’s trade deficit and stabilize its exchange rate, a central bank official said. Priority for the loans will be given to export companies that have foreign-currency resources to repay banks and importers of essential goods that aren’t produced domestically, the official said on condition of anonymity because he isn’t authorized to speak to the media. Tuoi Tre newspaper reported earlier yesterday that the central bank planned to limit the number of companies allowed to borrow in currencies other than the dong. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s government is struggling to contain inflation pressures and a trade gap that reached US$12.4 billion last year, undermining the dong.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks
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