MINING
Peabody makes new bid
Australian miner Macarthur Coal said yesterday it had received a takeover bid from US mining giant Peabody Energy and major steel producer ArcelorMittal valued at A$4.68 billion (US$5 billion). Macarthur, the world’s top producer of a pulverized coal used to make steel, has rejected several previous takeover bids from Peabody in the past two years. The latest offer is for A$15.50 per share, less the final dividend for this year, under which the foreign-based firms would take control of Macarthur through a jointly owned bid company.
ELECTRONICS
Philips to buy China’s Povos
Dutch electronics giant Philips yesterday said it had agreed to buy Chinese kitchen appliance company Povos (奔騰). Philips announced the deal in a statement issued in Amsterdam, but did not give financial details. It said the transaction, which was subject to confirmatory due diligence and other customary closing conditions, was expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year. Shanghai-based Povos employs about 1,800 people and its product range included rice cookers, induction cookers, electric pressure cookers and kettles, Philips said.
BIOCHEMICALS
Lonza eyes Arch Chemicals
Swiss biochemicals group Lonza yesterday said it is offering to pay US$1.4 billion to acquire US group Arch Chemicals, a move which it said would strengthen its position in the market of microbe control. Lonza is offering US$47.20 for each Arch Chemicals share, a premium of 36.7 percent over the US firm’s average closing price over the last 30 trading days.
AUTOMOBILES
Renault sets sales record
Renault SA’s vehicle sales rose to a record 1.4 million units in the first half of the year, up 1.9 percent from year-earlier levels, the company said in an e- mailed statement yesterday. International sales increased 20 percent from year-earlier levels, boosted by Brazil and Russia. French sales declined 9.9 percent, the statement said. Renault expects the world car market to grow between 3 percent and 4 percent this year from last year’s levels, with a decline of between 0 and 2 percent in the European market.
AVIATION
Pilots union votes for action
A union representing 2,500 Qantas pilots has voted to take industrial action against the Australian airline, including the possibility of a strike. The Australian and International Pilots Association yesterday said the flagship Australian carrier had failed to ease their concerns about job security. The union says Qantas plans to shift some of its operations to Asia and start outsourcing work. Union spokesman Anil Lambert said a strike would be a last resort, with less severe forms of action such as work-to-rule far more likely. Pilots will decide this weekend what kind of action to take.
CHINA
Current account surplus falls
The current account surplus plunged 21 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, revised government figures showed yesterday — a much larger fall than previously announced. The current account surplus reached US$28.8 billion in the first three months of the year, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said in a statement. That was US$1 billion less than the figure published in May, meaning the fall from the same period last year widened to 21 percent from 18 percent. No explanation was offered for the change.
DIVIDED VIEWS: Although the Fed agreed on holding rates steady, some officials see no rate cuts for this year, while 10 policymakers foresee two or more cuts There are a lot of unknowns about the outlook for the economy and interest rates, but US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled at least one thing seems certain: Higher prices are coming. Fed policymakers voted unanimously to hold interest rates steady at a range of 4.25 percent to 4.50 percent for a fourth straight meeting on Wednesday, as they await clarity on whether tariffs would leave a one-time or more lasting mark on inflation. Powell said it is still unclear how much of the bill would fall on the shoulders of consumers, but he expects to learn more about tariffs
NOT JUSTIFIED: The bank’s governor said there would only be a rate cut if inflation falls below 1.5% and economic conditions deteriorate, which have not been detected The central bank yesterday kept its key interest rates unchanged for a fifth consecutive quarter, aligning with market expectations, while slightly lowering its inflation outlook amid signs of cooling price pressures. The move came after the US Federal Reserve held rates steady overnight, despite pressure from US President Donald Trump to cut borrowing costs. Central bank board members unanimously voted to maintain the discount rate at 2 percent, the secured loan rate at 2.375 percent and the overnight lending rate at 4.25 percent. “We consider the policy decision appropriate, although it suggests tightening leaning after factoring in slackening inflation and stable GDP growth,”
Meta Platforms Inc offered US$100 million bonuses to OpenAI employees in an unsuccessful bid to poach the ChatGPT maker’s talent and strengthen its own generative artificial intelligence (AI) teams, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said. Facebook’s parent company — a competitor of OpenAI — also offered “giant” annual salaries exceeding US$100 million to OpenAI staffers, Altman said in an interview on the Uncapped with Jack Altman podcast released on Tuesday. “It is crazy,” Sam Altman told his brother Jack in the interview. “I’m really happy that at least so far none of our best people have decided to take them
As they zigzagged from one machine to another in the searing African sun, the workers were covered in black soot. However, the charcoal they were making is known as “green,” and backers hope it can save impoverished Chad from rampant deforestation. Chad, a vast, landlocked country of 19 million people perched at the crossroads of north and central Africa, is steadily turning to desert. It has lost more than 90 percent of its forest cover since the 1970s, hit by climate change and overexploitation of trees for household uses such as cooking, officials say. “Green charcoal” aims to protect what
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