REAL ESTATE
Anbang buying NY building
Blackstone Group LP agreed to sell an office building on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue to China’s Anbang Insurance Group Co (安邦保險集團), the buyer of New York’s Waldorf Astoria hotel, two people familiar with the transaction said. Anbang agreed to pay between US$400 million and US$500 million for the property at 717 Fifth Ave., located at the corner of 56th Street in Midtown’s Plaza District, one of the people said. The Beijing-based Anbang acquired the landmark Waldorf Astoria for US$1.95 billion from Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc, the hotel operator majority owned by Blackstone, in a transaction completed earlier this month.
AUTOMAKERS
Strike fetters Honda output
Honda Motor Co will cut output at two North American factories from Feb. 24 through March 2, cutting production by 5,000 cars due to a disruption in parts shipments caused by a protracted labor dispute at US west coast ports. Two Ohio plants and one plant in Canada returned to normal production as the auto parts came in by air, but an Indiana plant and another in Canada still have to trim output, company spokeswoman Misato Fukushima said yesterday in Tokyo. Production from Feb. 16 to 23 was already cut by 20,000 cars because all five plants were affected. The disruptions have mainly affected the company’s popular Civic model, Fukushima said.
INTERNET
Yahoo touts developer suite
Yahoo Inc on Thursday hosted its first conference for mobile application makers, adopting a strategy used by rivals in a push to be at the heart of mobile Internet lifestyles. More than 1,000 people attended a Yahoo Mobile Developer Conference where the Internet pioneer unveiled a new suite of services designed to help developers improve and profit from applications tailored for smartphones or tablet computers. “Mobile went from a hobby, to becoming a core part of our business,” Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer said during a keynote opening the one-day gathering in San Francisco.
LENDING
No fraud found in China loan
An internal investigation over the World Bank’s controversial handling of a US$1 billion loan from China to help poor countries has found no evidence of fraud, according to documents reviewed Thursday by AFP. A law firm hired by the global development lender said there was nothing untoward in the unusual structure to accommodate the loan created by two of the bank’s arms, the International Development Association (IDA) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). World Bank president Jim Yong Kim initiated the review earlier this month. In a staff memo released on Thursday, Kim said the law firm Locke Lord Edwards had found no wrongdoing in its investigation.
PORTS
Sri Lanka checks China plan
China’s US$1.4 billion plan to build a city on reclaimed land near Colombo port faces its first tangible setback since new Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena took power last month. Lawmakers failed to approve a 25-year tax holiday proposed by the previous administration for the Colombo Port City before a deadline on Tuesday, Deputy Investment Promotion Minister Eran Wickramaratne said. The process must now be restarted if the project is to continue, he said.
DEBT
Moody’s trims Puerto Rico
Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded US$48 billion worth of Puerto Rico debt as the US territory struggles to generate more revenue. The credit rating agency said on Thursday that tax revenue shortfalls could worsen Puerto Rico’s liquidity issues. It also warned that the US territory might default on its debt in the next two years. Moody’s said that proposed tax reforms currently being debated by Puerto Rico legislators could have an adverse political effect that might affect bondholders.
ENERGY
Canada cuts LNG taxes
Canada is cutting taxes on liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in an effort to spur the industry, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced on Thursday. LNG capital assets acquired over the next decade will be subject to a capital cost allowance rate of 30 percent for equipment, and 10 percent for buildings. The government said the changes will allow LNG companies to deduct a higher share of capital costs. The government expects the move to reduce corporate tax revenue by “less than [C]$50 million” over the next five years.
MEXICO
Growth forecast trimmed
The central bank reduced its growth forecast for the economy citing a “less favorable” environment due to the drop in oil prices and a potential cut in oil production. The Bank of Mexico estimated that the GDP could grow between 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent this year, a reduction from its earlier forecast of between 3 percent and 4 percent, according to a quarterly inflation report the central bank published on Wednesday on its Web site.
ELECTRICITY
France, Spain link lines
France and Spain inaugurated a cross-border power line, doubling the amount of electricity the countries can exchange as the EU pushes for stronger ties between national grid systems within the bloc. The Santa Llogaia-Baixas link will raise electricity interconnection capacity between France and Spain to 2,800 megawatts from 1,400 megawatts, the European Commission said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. One megawatt can supply about 2,000 European households. The EU contributed 255 million euros (US$290 million) toward the project’s total cost of 700 million euros.
INTERNET
YouTube plans app for kids
YouTube on Thursday revealed plans for the US release of a mobile application built with children — and their parents’ concerns — in mind. A free YouTube Kids app tailored for Android-powered devices is set to hit the Google Play store on Monday. YouTube Kids launch partners include Jim Henson TV, DreamWorks TV, Mother Goose Club, National Geographic, Reading Rainbow and Talking Tom and Friends.
FOOD
Deflation impacts Danone
Danone, the world’s biggest yogurt maker, set a lower sales forecast for this year than last year’s amid deflationary pressure in Europe and weakening currencies in emerging markets. Sales will rise 4 percent to 5 percent on a like-for-like basis this year, the Paris-based company said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. Last year’s goal was 4.5 percent to 5.5 percent. The company said it expects “slight growth” in the operating margin on the same basis, which adjusts for currency changes, divestments and acquisitions.
The New Taiwan dollar is on the verge of overtaking the yuan as Asia’s best carry-trade target given its lower risk of interest-rate and currency volatility. A strategy of borrowing the New Taiwan dollar to invest in higher-yielding alternatives has generated the second-highest return over the past month among Asian currencies behind the yuan, based on the Sharpe ratio that measures risk-adjusted relative returns. The New Taiwan dollar may soon replace its Chinese peer as the region’s favored carry trade tool, analysts say, citing Beijing’s efforts to support the yuan that can create wild swings in borrowing costs. In contrast,
Nvidia Corp’s demand for advanced packaging from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) remains strong though the kind of technology it needs is changing, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, after he was asked whether the company was cutting orders. Nvidia’s most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chip, Blackwell, consists of multiple chips glued together using a complex chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) advanced packaging technology offered by TSMC, Nvidia’s main contract chipmaker. “As we move into Blackwell, we will use largely CoWoS-L. Of course, we’re still manufacturing Hopper, and Hopper will use CowoS-S. We will also transition the CoWoS-S capacity to CoWos-L,” Huang said
VERTICAL INTEGRATION: The US fabless company’s acquisition of the data center manufacturer would not affect market competition, the Fair Trade Commission said The Fair Trade Commission has approved Advanced Micro Devices Inc’s (AMD) bid to fully acquire ZT International Group Inc for US$4.9 billion, saying it would not hamper market competition. As AMD is a fabless company that designs central processing units (CPUs) used in consumer electronics and servers, while ZT is a data center manufacturer, the vertical integration would not affect market competition, the commission said in a statement yesterday. ZT counts hyperscalers such as Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc and Google among its major clients and plays a minor role in deciding the specifications of data centers, given the strong bargaining power of
INDUSTRY LEADER: INDUSTRY LEADER: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), a major chip supplier to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday said it aims to grow revenue by about 25 percent this year, driven by robust demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips. That means TSMC would continue to outpace the foundry industry’s 10 percent annual growth this year based on the chipmaker’s estimate. The chipmaker expects revenue from AI-related chips to double this year, extending a three-fold increase last year. The growth would quicken over the next five years at a compound annual growth rate of 45 percent, fueled by strong demand for the high-performance computing
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