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.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks
RSS