CLOTHING
Prada IPO to raise US$2.6bn
Prada SpA’s initial public offering (IPO) is poised to raise as much as US$2.6 billion, making the Italian company’s share sale the largest consumer-goods IPO in Hong Kong. The Milan-based company set a price range of HK$36.50 to HK$48 per share, two people with knowledge of the matter said, declining to be identified as the process is confidential. The IPO would raise US$2 billion to US$2.6 billion based on the range, the person said. Prada’s IPO may be double the size of Belle International Holdings Ltd, at US$1.3 billion the largest consumer-goods debut in Hong Kong, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
RESOURCES
Group to buy coal stake
An Indian consortium of five state-run companies plans to bid to buy a 59 percent stake in Mozambique-based coal miner Minas de Revuboe for about US$1 billion, the Mint newspaper reported yesterday. The consortium, International Coal Ventures Ltd, is looking at acquiring the stake in Minas de Revuboe, which has been put up for sale by Australia’s Talbot Group. Besides Australia’s Talbot Group, South Korea’s POSCO, Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp and the Mozambican government hold stakes in Minas de Revuboe, the report said. The ICVL consortium includes the Steel Authority of India, Coal India, power group NTPC, resources group NMDC and steel maker Rashtriya Ispat Nigam.
ENERGY
Statoil to sell Gassled stake
Norwegian oil company Statoil ASA says it will sell the majority of its stake in gas transportation company Gassled to a holding company for 17.35 billion Norwegian kroner (US$3.2 billion). Statoil said in Oslo yesterday that it would divest 24.1 percent of Gassled shares to Solveig Gas Norway AS, a holding company owned by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and subsidiaries of German-based insurance giant Allianz SE and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. After the sale, Statoil’s stake in Gassled will be 5 percent. Gassled owns the grid that transports gas by pipeline from the Norwegian continental shelf to consumers on the European continent and the UK. Statoil said the sale was part of its efforts to streamline its business.
RESOURCES
Strike hobbles copper mine
Operations at El Teniente, the world’s largest underground copper mine, slowed down to a minimum on Sunday because of a violent strike by subcontractors, an official with the state-run CODELCO mining company told reporters in Santiago. CODELCO officials decided that their full-time workers “should no longer come up to the mine due to lack of safety,” a company official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. About 10,000 subcontracted miners have been on strike since May 25, seeking pay and benefits equal to that of the unionized workers. Chile is the world’s largest copper producer, accounting for one-third of global production.
AVIATION
Malaysia to join Oneworld
Malaysia Airlines says it will join the airline alliance Oneworld and start flying as a member late next year. The flag carrier said yesterday that its entry would expand Oneworld’s global coverage to almost 950 destinations in 150 countries, served by a combined fleet of more than 2,600 planes carrying 358 million passengers a year. Oneworld currently has a dozen members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Qantas and Japan Airlines.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
Hong Kong authorities ramped up sales of the local dollar as the greenback’s slide threatened the foreign-exchange peg. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) sold a record HK$60.5 billion (US$7.8 billion) of the city’s currency, according to an alert sent on its Bloomberg page yesterday in Asia, after it tested the upper end of its trading band. That added to the HK$56.1 billion of sales versus the greenback since Friday. The rapid intervention signals efforts from the city’s authorities to limit the local currency’s moves within its HK$7.75 to HK$7.85 per US dollar trading band. Heavy sales of the local dollar by
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to
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