OIL
Tullow sells Uganda stakes
British-based oil explorer Tullow Oil said yesterday it had agreed to sell stakes in its Ugandan operations to French company Total and Chinese group CNOOC (中國海洋石油) for US$2.9 billion. Tullow has agreed to sell a 33.3 percent stake in exploration Areas 1, 2 and 3A, around Lake Albert, to each of the companies. Tullow will retain a third share. Tullow said it would be liable for “certain tax related payments” to Uganda following the transaction.
ENTERTAINMENT
Warner Music bid made
German media group Bertelsmann and investment fund KKR want to buy the US company Warner Music for between US$2.5 million and US$3 million, a press report said yesterday. Talks with Warner Music will take place in the coming days in New York, sources close to the matter told the business daily Handelsblatt, with one estimating the chances of success at 60 percent. “Bertelsmann is ready to invest,” Bertelsmann chief financial officer Thomas Rabe said on Tuesday, adding the group had set aside 1 billion euros (US$1.4 billion) to do so.
PULP AND PAPER
IP to buy APPM stake
US-based International Paper (IP) will buy a key stake in India’s Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills (APPM) for up to US$423 million as it seeks a foothold in the booming Indian economy, the companies said on Tuesday. IP said that it would buy 53.5 percent of APPM from parent LN Bangur group for US$257 million in cash and make a public offer an additional 21.5 percent of APPM’s shares for US$104 million. In addition, it agreed to a US$62 million non-compete payment to the sellers, taking the deal’s potential value to US$423 million.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Valeant makes Cephalon bid
Valeant Pharmaceuticals Inc says it has offered to acquire biopharmaceutical company Cephalon Inc for US$5.7 billion in cash. The proposed bid by Mississauga, Ontario-based Valeant on Tuesday amounts to US$73 a share and represents a 27 percent premium over Cephalon’s closing price on Monday. Valeant also intends to commence a consent solicitation process next week in an effort to replace Cephalon’s board of directors with its own nominees. Valeant says it expects to finance the full purchase price.
JAPAN
Production rose last month
Japan’s industrial production climbed for the fourth straight month last month, but the government warned yesterday output would plunge in the coming months owing to production and supply disruptions following the March 11 tsunami disaster. Factory output, a key measure of overall economic activity, rose 0.4 percent from January on the back of strong demand for cars and machinery, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. Last month’s result was better than an average market forecast of a 0.1 percent decline by Kyodo News agency.
SOUTH KOREA
Economy grew 6.2% last year
South Korea’s economy grew 6.2 percent last year, its fastest expansion for eight years, the central bank said yesterday after revising up its earlier estimate of 6.1 percent. The bank also raised its growth figures for 2009 to 0.3 percent from its earlier projection of 0.2 percent. Last year’s growth in Asia’s fourth-largest economy was the largest since 7.2 percent in 2002. The bank expects growth to slow this year, but stuck by its December forecast of 4.5 percent.
HORMUZ ISSUE: The US president said he expected crude prices to drop at the end of the war, which he called a ‘minor excursion’ that could continue ‘for a little while’ The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait started reducing oil production, as the near-closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz ripples through energy markets and affects global supply. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) is “managing offshore production levels to address storage requirements,” the company said in a statement, without giving details. Kuwait Petroleum Corp said it was lowering production at its oil fields and refineries after “Iranian threats against safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.” The war in the Middle East has all but closed Hormuz, the narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the open seas,
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday said the DRAM supply crunch could extend through 2028, as the artificial intelligence (AI) boom has led the world’s major memory makers to dramatically reduce production of standard DRAM and allocate a significant portion of their capacity for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. The most severe supply constraints would stretch to the first half of next year due to “very limited” increases in new DRAM capacity worldwide, Nanya Technology president Lee Pei-ing (李培瑛) told a news briefing. The company plans to increase monthly 12-inch wafer capacity to 20,000 in the first half of 2028 after a
Taiwan has enough crude oil reserves for more than 100 days and sufficient natural gas reserves for more than 11 days, both above the regulatory safety requirement, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, adding that the government would prioritize domestic price stability as conflicts in the Middle East continue. Overall, energy supply for this month is secure, and the government is continuing efforts to ensure sufficient supply for next month, Kung told reporters after meeting with representatives from business groups at the ministry in Taipei. The ministry has been holding daily cross-ministry meetings at the Executive Yuan to ensure
RATIONING: The proposal would give the Trump administration ample leverage to negotiate investments in the US as it decides how many chips to give each country US officials are debating a new regulatory framework for exporting artificial intelligence (AI) chips and are considering requiring foreign nations to invest in US AI data centers or security guarantees as a condition for granting exports of 200,000 chips or more, according to a document seen by Reuters. The rules are not yet final and could change. They would be the first attempt to regulate the flow of AI chips to US allies and partners since US President Donald Trump’s administration said it rescinded its predecessor’s so-called AI diffusion rules. Those rules sought to keep a significant amount of AI
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