PHARMACEUTICALS
Acorda to buy Biotie
Acorda Therapeutics Inc has agreed to buy Biotie Therapies Corp to gain experimental medicines to treat Parkinson’s disease, valuing the Finnish drugmaker at about US$363 million. Acorda will pay 0.2946 euros in cash for each Biotie share traded on NASDAQ Helsinki and 23.57 euros for each American depositary receipt, a premium of more than 90 percent in both cases, the Ardsley, New York-based company said in a statement. Biotie’s board endorsed the offer in a separate release. Acorda will obtain worldwide rights to tozadenant, which is in the last stage of tests for Parkinson’s disease. The deal is expected to be completed in the third quarter.
AUTOMAKERS
Renault recalling cars
Renault SA said it is recalling more than 15,000 vehicles after an investigation showed their pollution filtering systems need adjustment. The filtering system on the vehicles does not work at very hot temperatures or below 17?C, French Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy Segolene Royal said yesterday in an interview with RTL Radio. Making the filters operational at those temperatures will take about a half a day per engine, the minister said. The carmaker has come under pressure after it revealed on Thursday last week that its offices in France were searched by government fraud investigators as part of a probe into vehicle emissions.
MACROECONOMICS
German prices rose 0.3%
Consumer prices in Germany rose by 0.3 percent last month, bringing the average inflation rate for the year as a whole also to 0.3 percent, official data showed yesterday. The national inflation yardstick had edged up by 0.4 percent in November last year. Using the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices — the barometer used by the European Central Bank — the German inflation rate stood at 0.2 percent for last month alone and 0.1 percent for the whole of last year, the German federal statistics office Destatis said in a statement.
IRAN
Asset transfers a success
Central Bank of Iran Governor Valiollah Seif says the bank has successfully transferred some of its formerly frozen assets in order to ensure that financial sanctions have been fully lifted in accordance with a historic nuclear deal. State TV yesterday quoted Seif as saying the government has transferred assets from banks in Japan and South Korea to banks in Germany and the United Arab Emirates. He did not provide the amount of the transfers. Seif says the lifting of sanctions, which took place over the weekend after the UN verified Tehran’s compliance with the nuclear deal, would give the nation access to US$32 billion in overseas assets. President Hassan Rouhani yesterday said the nation should redouble efforts to attract foreign investment and liberalize its economy.
ENERGY
CNOOC to cut spending
China National Offshore Oil Corp Ltd, (CNOOC, 中國海洋石油) plans to cut spending and reduce production this year amid oil’s plunge below US$30 a barrel. CNOOC shares yesterday closed up 4 percent in Hong Kong to HK$7.01. The stock dropped 23 percent last year, compared with a 7.2 percent decline in the territory’s benchmark Hang Seng Index. CNOOC said it plans to start four new projects this year while drilling 115 exploration wells. The company is targeting production of 484 million barrels of oil equivalent next year and 502 million in 2018.
DIVIDED VIEWS: Although the Fed agreed on holding rates steady, some officials see no rate cuts for this year, while 10 policymakers foresee two or more cuts There are a lot of unknowns about the outlook for the economy and interest rates, but US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled at least one thing seems certain: Higher prices are coming. Fed policymakers voted unanimously to hold interest rates steady at a range of 4.25 percent to 4.50 percent for a fourth straight meeting on Wednesday, as they await clarity on whether tariffs would leave a one-time or more lasting mark on inflation. Powell said it is still unclear how much of the bill would fall on the shoulders of consumers, but he expects to learn more about tariffs
NOT JUSTIFIED: The bank’s governor said there would only be a rate cut if inflation falls below 1.5% and economic conditions deteriorate, which have not been detected The central bank yesterday kept its key interest rates unchanged for a fifth consecutive quarter, aligning with market expectations, while slightly lowering its inflation outlook amid signs of cooling price pressures. The move came after the US Federal Reserve held rates steady overnight, despite pressure from US President Donald Trump to cut borrowing costs. Central bank board members unanimously voted to maintain the discount rate at 2 percent, the secured loan rate at 2.375 percent and the overnight lending rate at 4.25 percent. “We consider the policy decision appropriate, although it suggests tightening leaning after factoring in slackening inflation and stable GDP growth,”
Meta Platforms Inc offered US$100 million bonuses to OpenAI employees in an unsuccessful bid to poach the ChatGPT maker’s talent and strengthen its own generative artificial intelligence (AI) teams, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said. Facebook’s parent company — a competitor of OpenAI — also offered “giant” annual salaries exceeding US$100 million to OpenAI staffers, Altman said in an interview on the Uncapped with Jack Altman podcast released on Tuesday. “It is crazy,” Sam Altman told his brother Jack in the interview. “I’m really happy that at least so far none of our best people have decided to take them
PLANS: MSI is also planning to upgrade its service center in the Netherlands Micro-Star International Co (MSI, 微星) yesterday said it plans to set up a server assembly line at its Poland service center this year at the earliest. The computer and peripherals manufacturer expects that the new server assembly line would shorten transportation times in shipments to European countries, a company spokesperson told the Taipei Times by telephone. MSI manufactures motherboards, graphics cards, notebook computers, servers, optical storage devices and communication devices. The company operates plants in Taiwan and China, and runs a global network of service centers. The company is also considering upgrading its service center in the Netherlands into a
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