FINANCE
Russel, LSE in talks
The London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) is in talks with the parent company of Russell Investments about a possible acquisition of the asset management and stock index firm. Life insurance company Northwestern Mutual started exploring a sale of Russell, which has US$259.7 billion in assets under management, in January after deciding it was not a core part of its business. Sources said last month that Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the fifth-largest bank in Canada, was considering a bid for Seattle-based Russell, which provides services including pension consulting, investment management and indexes such as the Russell 1000 Global Index. Private equity firms CVC Capital Partners and Silver Lake have also teamed up to pursue a bid, as have Warburg Pincus and TPG Capital, the sources said.
PAYMENTS
Vantiv to buy Mercury
Payment processor Vantiv says it will spend US$1.65 billion to buy Mercury Payment Systems, which helps retailers process credit, debit and check payments. Cincinnati-based Vantiv says the purchase will expand its online commerce business, and it expects the deal to close during the current quarter. It says the acquisition will add to its adjusted profit in 2014 and will raise its annual revenue growth by 1 or 2 percent per year. Mercury Payment Systems is owned by the private equity firm Silver Laker Partners and is based in Durango, Colorado. It had US$237 million in revenue last year and processed US$34 billion in payments.
BANKING
BNP Paribas in US talks
BNP Paribas chief executive Jean-Laurent Bonnafe met with top US officials last week seeking lower penalties for violating US sanctions laws, a person familiar with the matter said on Monday. US prosecutors have told BNP Paribas they want France’s largest publicly traded bank to plead guilty to charges it did business with sanctioned parties in Iran, Sudan and elsewhere; pay a large fine; and fire 12 employees involved in the transactions, the person involved in the talks said. Bonnafe offered to plead guilty on behalf of the bank’s BNP Paribas USA subsidiary, but US regulators rejected that proposal, the person added.
AUTOMAKERS
Nissan secrets arrest made
A former Nissan Motor employee was arrested yesterday, news reports and officials said, after allegedly stealing corporate secrets from the Japanese automaker. Police in Kanagawa, southwest of Tokyo, arrested Kenichi Okamura, 37, for allegedly violating laws preventing unfair competition, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK and other outlets said. Police suspect the man secretly accessed Nissan’s computer systems in July last year and copied details of its sales plan for sports utility vehicles, the news reports said. Okamura, who was working at the company’s office in Atsugi when the incident occurred, denies involvement.
AEROSPACE
Airbus doubles profit
Airbus Group, formerly EADS, reported on Tuesday a near doubling of quarterly net profit, a rise in sales driven by helicopters, but a fall in new orders after an exceptional performance last year. Net profit for the quarter rose by 93 percent to 439 million euros (US$604.5 million). The value of orders taken fell by more than half to 21.1 billion euros from 49.5 billion euros. This reflected orders taken for 103 aircraft on a net basis, after allowing for cancellations. That was far short of the figure of 410 in the first quarter of last year.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
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