ECONOMY
India sells mining stake
India’s government raised over US$4 billion on Friday by selling 10 percent of its stake in mining giant Coal India Ltd as it looks to raise funds through asset sales to keep its fiscal deficit in check, an official said. Investors bid for 675.24 million Coal India shares against more than 631 million shares on offer that were priced at a minimum of 358 rupees each, preliminary data from the Bombay Stock Exchange showed. The government aims to raise nearly US$10 billion from disinvestment during the current financial year to meet its fiscal deficit of 4.1 percent.
CENTRAL BANKS
SNB to pay out dividends
Switzerland’s central bank said on Friday it will pay out 2 billion Swiss francs (US$2.17 billion) to shareholders for last year, but did not know yet whether it will pay out profits for this year after abandoning a cap on the franc against the euro. The dividend is double what the Swiss National Bank (SNB) had earlier this month told shareholders, which include the federal government and cantons, they could expect as a payout.
ELECTRONICS
Panasonic closes TV factory
Panasonic Corp has closed its last remaining TV manufacturing factory in China and is to sell its plant in Mexico as part of a restructuring plan aimed at stemming losses against a sharp decline in TV prices, a newspaper said yesterday. The move will see Panasonic cutting back overseas production by 700,000 units a year, representing about 10 percent of worldwide output, the Nikkei newspaper said.
AUTOMAKERS
BMW fixes security flaw
German automaker BMW AG says it has fixed a security flaw that made 2.2 million of its vehicles vulnerable to break-ins. The company says the problem affected BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce models equipped with its ConnectedDrive technology, which allows drivers to access certain car functions with a smartphone. German automobile club ADAC said hackers could have used a fake cellphone base station to intercept network traffic from the car and lower the windows or open the doors. There are no reports such a break-in ever took place.
LOGISTICS
Executive pleads guilty
An executive of Japanese shipping company Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha pleaded guilty on Friday to conspiracy to fix prices for transporting cars and will serve a US prison sentence of 18 months, as well as pay a US$20,000 criminal fine, officials said. Hiroshige Tanioka, who was general manager in K-Line’s car carrier division, admitted he had conspired with others in the industry to rig bids and fix prices for shipping vehicles on roll-on, roll-off vessels, the US Department of Justice said.
ENTERTAINMENT
Panther makes Aspiro bid
A business controlled by rapper Jay-Z has made a US$56 million offer to buy the Scandinavian music streaming company Aspiro. Project Panther Bidco Ltd has offered 1.05 Swedish kroner (US$0.13) in cash per share of Aspiro AB. Aspiro’s board has recommended that shareholders accept the offer. The deal is subject to Panther buying more than 90 percent of the shares and getting regulatory approvals.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
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