ARGENTINA
IBM unit fined US$9.3m
A court has slapped a US$9.3 million fine on IBM Corp’s local subsidiary for allegedly seeking to win a contract to computerize the country’s tax collection system, authorities said on Saturday. Eleven people have been charged in the case that dates back to 1988-1989. They will stand trial on March 15 next year, Ministry of Justice said. Prosecutors say IBM did not have the best offer in the government’s bidding process, yet still won. It was paid one amount, then paid another company — STI — a smaller sum to do the job and kept the difference, they say.
INVESTMENT
Canberra mulls joining AIIB
Australia expects to make a decision within weeks on whether it will seek to join the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Saturday. He said he hoped many countries, including Japan and the US, would join the bank if was set up as a genuine multilateral institution. Britain last week said it has sought to become a founding member of the bank because it was in its “national interest,” making it the first Western nation to embrace the institution, which would finance infrastructure projects in the Asia-Pacific.
FOODSTUFFS
Heinz tallies layoffs
HJ Heinz, the ketchup maker backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc, has slashed about 7,400 jobs in 20 months as his partners at 3G Capital worked to boost profitability. Heinz had 24,500 full-time employees as of Dec. 28 last year, the Pittsburgh-based company said on Friday in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. That compares with 31,900 as of April 28, 2013. Buffett and 3G took the company private in June of that year. Buffett gets US$720 million annually from his US$8 billion preferred stake in the company, while 3G managers run operations.
RETAIL
Al-Raya owners mull sale
The private-equity owners of Saudi Arabian supermarket chain Al-Raya For Foodstuff Co are working with Moelis & Co as they explore a potential sale of the company, people with knowledge of the matter said. Al-Raya shareholders — The Rohatyn Group and Dubai-based Levant Capital — are seeking a buyer for their controlling stake in the company, the people said. A formal sale process is yet to begin and may draw interest from both private-equity and strategic bidders, they said. Levant Capital and Citigroup Inc’s buyout unit bought a controlling stake in Al-Raya for US$100 million in 2012, in a sign of growing interest for consumer-related investments in the kingdom. Al-Raya operated about 30 stores in Saudi Arabia as of 2012 and was planning to add new branches, according to the company’s Web site.
BANKING
Andorran banker arrested
Andorran police on Saturday said they have arrested the chief executive officer of a bank on suspicion of money laundering following US allegations that funds were laundered for groups from China, Russia and Venezuela. A police official said Joan Pau Miquel Prats of Banca Privada d’Andorra (BPA) was arrested on late on Friday and will be held pending a likely court appearance today. The arrest came five days after BPA was named a “primary money-laundering concern” by the US Department of the Treasury. Andorra suspended BPA’s board on Thursday and three members of its management team after taking over the bank and appointing temporary administrators.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
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