PROPERTY
Kaisa fails on bond payment
A Chinese property developer has confirmed it failed to make a US$23 million interest payment on a US dollar-denominated bond, a statement said, raising worries over the country’s weak real-estate sector. Shenzhen-based Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd (佳兆業集團) said in a statement late on Monday that it did not make a scheduled payment last week on a US$500 million bond. The Hong Kong-listed firm could become the first Chinese developer to default on US dollar-denominated bonds, Bloomberg News reported.
FINANCE
Japan bankruptcies down
Japanese corporate bankruptcies fell last year to the lowest level since the final year of Japan’s asset bubble, as a government request for banks to alter loan conditions for smaller firms helped companies stay afloat. Business failures slid 10.4 percent last year from a year earlier to 9,731 cases, the fewest since 1990, Tokyo Shoko Research Ltd said in Tokyo yesterday. There were no bankruptcies among listed firms last year for the first time in 24 years.
JAPAN
Current account in surplus
Japan posted a current account surplus for the fifth consecutive month in November, as a weaker yen helped boost repatriated returns on foreign investment, official data showed yesterday. Japan logged a surplus of ￥433 billion (US$3.7 billion) in the current account, reversing a deficit of ￥596.9 billion a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance said.
AVIATION
United to outsource jobs
United Continental Holdings Inc is considering outsourcing as many as 2,000 jobs at non-hub airports as the carrier looks to cut costs. Outside contractors may take over the positions at 28 airports, including those serving Indianapolis, Atlanta and St Louis, United spokesman Luke Punzenberger said. The carrier, the world’s second largest by traffic, notified employees and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers on Monday about the possible shift.
TECHNOLOGY
Philips issues profit warning
Royal Philips NV, the world’s largest lighting manufacturer, said production delays at a facility in Cleveland would hurt earnings more than forecast. Because of the slower-than-anticipated rampup of production and shipments, the impact on full-year earnings before interest, taxes and amortization (EBITA) would be about 225 million euros (US$266 million) instead of 180 million euros, Amsterdam-based Philips said in a statement yesterday. The company now predicts adjusted fourth-quarter EBITA to be about 735 million euros.
VENTURE CAPITAL
Firms raise US$29.8bn
US venture capital firms raised US$5.6 billion last quarter and US$29.8 billion for the year, making last year the richest year for venture fundraising since 2007, the National Venture Capital Association said. A handful of large funds, including Andreessen Horowitz’s US$1.5 billion fund announced in the first quarter, helped bump the total up almost 70 percent over the previous year’s total of US$17.7 billion. For the quarter, cash raised was up slightly compared with US$5.58 billion raised a year earlier. Canaan Partners closed the largest fund of the three-month period with its US$675 million Canaan X, followed by Formation 8 with its US$500 million Formation8 Partners II.
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
Taipei is today suspending its US$2.5 trillion stock market as Super Typhoon Krathon approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed-income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Yesterday, schools and offices were closed in several cities and counties in southern and eastern Taiwan, including in the key industrial port city of Kaohsiung. Taiwan, which started canceling flights, ship sailings and some train services earlier this week, has wind and rain advisories in place for much of the island. It regularly experiences typhoons, and in July shut offices and schools as
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,”
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
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