PHARMACEUTICALS
Shire rejects ￡27bn bid
British drugmaker Shire has rejected a ￡27 billion (US$46 billion) takeover offer from AbbVie, the latest attempt by a US healthcare firm to tap into a London-listed group’s low tax rate. Shire, which has no single controlling shareholder, has been seen as a prime takeover target for US drugmakers due to its attractive rare diseases business and tax base in Ireland. AbbVie’s offer proposed creating a new US-listed holding company with a UK tax domicile in a so-called “inversion” move. In a statement yesterday, Shire said that after a meeting with AbbVie to discuss key aspects of its “highly conditional” proposal, the board decided to reject it, “on the basis that it fundamentally undervalued the company and its prospects.”
AUSTRALIA
Hospital operator eyes IPO
Private equity firms TPG Capital and Carlyle Group are planning to raise about A$2.5 billion (US$2.4 billion) in an initial public offering (IPO) of shares in Healthscope Ltd, the nation’s biggest private hospitals operator, a source with direct knowledge of the plan told reporters. Healthscope’s owners are on a roadshow in Asia, lining up cornerstone investors before filing the IPO prospectus by the end of this month or early next month, the person said. A US$2.4 billion listing for Healthscope would be the country’s third-biggest ever. It would be the largest since rail freight company QR National Ltd, now known as Aurizon Holdings Ltd, raised US$4.4 billion in 2010, according to Thomson Reuters data. Healthscope’s private equity owners have explored a listing, a sale to a trade buyer or a spin-off of property assets via a trust, the source said.
EUROZONE
Current account surplus rises
The eurozone’s current account surplus grew to 21.5 billion euros (US$29.3 billion) in April, European Central Bank data showed Friday. The monthly figure is higher than a surplus of 19.6 billion euros in March, according to revised data. The current account on the balance of payments, which includes payments for imports and exports in both goods and services plus all other current transfers, is a closely tracked indicator of the ability of a country or area to pay its way. It is crucial for the long-term confidence of investors and trading partners, and an important factor in the value of a currency on the foreign-exchange market. Over the 12 months to April, the current account showed a surplus of 248.7 billion euros, compared to 177.7 billion euros a year earlier, the data showed.
CHINA
Shanghai gold trade likely
China, the world’s biggest gold user, is to start international gold trading in Shanghai’s free-trade zone in the final quarter of this year, a city government official said. The nation’s central bank earlier this week approved the trading platform to be included in the zone’s banking system. China, also the world’s largest bullion producer, is seeking to step up its presence in the global gold market as the industry discusses changes to the century-old fixing benchmark in London used to trade and value the metal. “The new platform is to attract foreign investors and to get China more influence in the global bullion market,” said Liu Xu, an analyst at Capital Futures Co (首都期貨) in Beijing. Qualified investors can open accounts with the four designated banks including Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd to trade gold in the area, the People’s Bank of China’s Shanghai head office said June 18.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
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