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.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
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