ONLINE SERVICES
Nixon to sell shares
Simon Nixon, the founder of British price comparison Web site operator Moneysupermarket.com Group PLC, is expected to sell a 5.5 percent to 6.4 percent stake in the company through a placing to institutions, sole bookrunner Credit Suisse said. Nixon owned 12.75 percent of Moneysupermarket.com as of May 19 after he sold a 3.7 percent stake in the company. The placing of about 30 to 35 million shares would be through an accelerated bookbuild and the books would open with immediate effect, Credit Suisse said on Tuesday. Shares in Moneysupermarket.com closed at ￡3.283 on Tuesday.
CONFECTIONARY
Mondelez mulls Terry’s sale
Mondelez International Inc, the owner of the Cadbury chocolate brand, has hired bankers to explore the sale of a number of confectionery products including Terry’s Chocolate Orange and Terry’s All Gold, Sky News reported. The portfolio for sale includes products and assets in the UK, France, Spain and the Netherlands, Sky News reported, citing people familiar with the process. According to the report, Mondelez has decided that the Terry’s brand is not core to its business. Terry’s popular Chocolate Orange and All Gold chocolates were created during the company’s heyday in the 1920s and 1930s.
STEEL
Tuwairqi seeks buyer
Tuwairqi Steel Mills Ltd, a venture between POSCO and Saudi Arabia’a al-Tuwairqi Group, is seeking a buyer for its two-year-old, non-operational plant in Pakistan, a company official said. The Karachi-based company has hired consultants in the US to value the mill, which was built at a cost of US$340 million, the person said, asking not to be identified because the process is private. Tuwairqi Steel Mills reported a loss of US$18.6 million in 2013, which increased to US$22 million last year, the company said in an e-mailed statement. Tuwairqi Steel never began production as it failed to reach an agreement with the government on the purchase price of natural gas to run the plant, the person said.
FITNESS
Peloton eyes revenue raising
Indoor cycling fitness company Peloton Interactive Inc is raising US$75 million by selling a stake to Catterton, a private equity firm focused on consumer businesses. Peloton’s management plans to use the proceeds to accelerate the nationwide rollout of its store showrooms, founder and chief executive officer John Foley said in an interview. Unlike traditional cycling studios that provide exercise classes, Peloton customers buy a US$1,995 bike equipped with a tablet computer and pay a monthly subscription fee to follow exercise classes streamed live from its studio.
SPORTS RETAIL
Old Mutual buys MoreCorp
Old Mutual PLC’s private-equity unit bought a majority stake in MoreCorp, the largest South African golf-equipment retailer, as the investor bets demand from an expanding upper-middle class will overcome slowing economic growth. The asset manager paid more than 300 million rand (US$20.9 million) for a 70 percent stake in the company that controls more than 40 percent of the country’s golf market with The Pro Shop, World of Golf, and Playmoregolf outlets. MoreCorp also owns Cycle Lab, the nation’s largest cycling retailer, according to the investor. Cofounder Darryl Egdes retains 20 percent and management owns 10 percent, the Old Mutual team said.
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
IN THE AIR: While most companies said they were committed to North American operations, some added that production and costs would depend on the outcome of a US trade probe Leading local contract electronics makers Wistron Corp (緯創), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) are to maintain their North American expansion plans, despite Washington’s 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods. Wistron said it has long maintained a presence in the US, while distributing production across Taiwan, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is in talks with customers to align capacity with their site preferences, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. The company is still in talks with clients over who would bear the tariff costs, with the outcome pending further
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
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