BANKING
1MDB evaluates offers
1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), the debt-ridden state investment company that nearly defaulted earlier this year, said the offers it received for its energy unit are close to the amount it desires. 1MDB expects 16 billion ringgit (US$3.7 billion) to 18 billion ringgit for Edra Global Energy and has received bids close to that figure, 1MDB president Arul Kanda yesterday told reporters in Kuala Lumpur. The company has been the subject of overlapping investigations amid allegations of financial irregularities.
DRUGMAKERS
Pfizer deal expected
Pfizer Inc and Allergan PLC are making progress on the year’s biggest acquisition and are working toward agreeing on a deal as early as this month, people with knowledge of the matter said. The drugmakers are keen on a friendly deal and hope to agree on the terms of the takeover, including who will lead the combined company, by the US Thanksgiving holiday, the people said. While Pfizer is lining up banks to finance a deal, any offer would contain enough shares to allow the company to shift its base to Allergan’s lower-taxed Irish domicile, the people said.
AUTOMAKERS
Porsche to recall vehicles
Porsche on Friday said it would recall close to 60,000 vehicles worldwide due to risks of engine leaks. The luxury arm of beleaguered auto giant Volkswagen said the recall would apply to its Macan S and Macan Turbo models, which could be prone to leaks in a low-pressure fuel line in the engine compartment. A total of 58,881 cars will be recalled, including 21,835 in the US, 3,490 in Canada and 3,641 in Germany, the company said.
BULGARIA
Government unveils budget
The government on Friday unveiled a budget for next year based on expectations of 2.1 percent growth, coupled with a goal to bring the public deficit down to 2 percent of output. The conservative cabinet of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov also revised its budget for this year, increasing the deficit target for this year to 3.3 percent of GDP, or above the EU ceiling, from the previously planned 3 percent. The EU’s poorest member state hopes to wrap up the year with 1.4 percent growth.
ARGENTINA
Judge makes payment ruling
The nation cannot pay some bondholders while refusing to pay US$6.1 billion in claims by creditors who refused to swap their bonds for steeply discounted replacements after it defaulted in 2001 on US$100 billion in bonds, US District Judge Thomas Griesa said on Friday. The ruling means the nation would owe about US$8 billion to creditors who refused the swaps, which were accepted by about 93 percent of bondholders in 2005 and 2010.
BANKING
IMF issues rates warning
The IMF on Friday urged the US Federal Reserve to be cautious on raising rates, warning that tightening too fast could force it to reverse and possibly lose credibility. In a review of the world’s top industrial economies ahead of the Nov. 15 and Nov. 16 G20 summit in Antalya, Turkey, the IMF said the US and the global economy face risks tied to the impending rate hike.
Three experts in the high technology industry have said that US President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors is part of an effort to force Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to the negotiating table. In a speech to Republicans on Jan. 27, Trump said he intends to impose tariffs on Taiwan to bring chip production to the US. “The incentive is going to be they’re not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even a 100 percent tax,” he said. Darson Chiu (邱達生), an economics professor at Taichung-based Tunghai University and director-general of
‘LEGACY CHIPS’: Chinese companies have dramatically increased mature chip production capacity, but the West’s drive for secure supply chains offers a lifeline for Taiwan When Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) entered a deal with the eastern Chinese city of Hefei in 2015 to set up a new chip foundry, it hoped the move would help provide better access to the promising Chinese market. However, nine years later, that Chinese foundry, Nexchip Semiconductor Corp (合晶集成), has become one of its biggest rivals in the legacy chip space, leveraging steep discounts after Beijing’s localization call forced Powerchip to give up the once-lucrative business making integrated circuits for Chinese flat panels. Nexchip is among Chinese foundries quickly winning market share in the crucial US$56.3 billion industry of so-called legacy
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is reportedly making another pass at Nissan Motor Co, as the Japanese automaker's tie-up with Honda Motor Co falls apart. Nissan shares rose as much as 6 percent after Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) instructed former Nissan executive Jun Seki to connect with French carmaker Renault SA, which holds about 36 percent of Nissan’s stock. Hon Hai, the Taiwanese iPhone-maker also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), was exploring an investment or buyout of Nissan last year, but backed off in December after the Japanese carmaker penned a deal
WASHINGTON POLICY: Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs are tipped to hit shipments of small parcels, cutting export growth by 1.3 percentage points The decision by US President Donald Trump to ban Chinese companies from using a US tariff loophole would hit tens of billions of dollars of trade and reduce China’s economic growth this year, according to new estimates by economists at Nomura Holdings Inc. According to Nomura’s estimates, last year companies such as Shein (希音) and PDD Holdings Inc’s (拼多多控股) Temu shipped US$46 billion of small parcels to the US to take advantage of the rule that allows items with a declared value under US$800 to enter the US tariff-free. Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs would slash such