LUXURY GOODS
Osim CEO makes cash bid
Osim International Ltd chairman and chief executive officer Ron Sim is making an unconditional cash offer of S$310 million (US$224.1 million) for the company’s shares he does not own in order to make Asia’s largest maker of massage chairs private. Sim, who controls 68.31 percent of Osim, offered to buy the shares at S$1.32 per share through his investment vehicle, Vision Three Pte Ltd, according to a statement yesterday. That is a 7.8 percent premium to the last traded at S$1.225 on Tuesday last week before shares were suspended. “The offer provides an opportunity to Osim’s minority shareholders to sell their stake at a significant premium over the prevailing share price amidst challenging market conditions,” Sim’s investment company said in the statement.
UTILITIES
RWE plans 2,500 job cuts
Germany’s second-largest utility plans to cut about 2,500 jobs at RWE npower, a source close to the matter said, as it confronts customer losses and billing issues at its struggling British subsidiary. RWE is facing the biggest crisis in its 118-year-history, faced with ultra-low wholesale power prices, large exposure to coal and gas and only a small presence in renewable energy. Its shares have more than halved over the past year. In Britain, tougher competition has caused a loss of about 200,000 customers in the first nine months of the year, compared with 100,000 for the first half. That has prompted a review of the business, which its finance chief said in November last year might trigger job cuts and even a sale.
INSURANCE
Rand Merchant costs rise
Rand Merchant Investment Holdings Ltd, a South African investor in insurance and fund-management companies, said first-half profit declined 15 percent after net finance costs increased and the domestic economy slowed. Net income for the six months ended December last year fell to 1.55 billion rand (US$101 million) from 1.8 billion rand a year earlier, the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement yesterday. Earnings per share excluding one-time items dropped 17 percent to 1.01 rand from 1.22 rand last year.
AUTOMAKERs
Suzuki finds funds for India
Suzuki Motor Corp plans to sell ￥200 billion (US$1.8 billion) of convertible bonds as the Japanese automaker raises funds to help pay for its first wholly owned factory in India. The company is to sell the instruments in two tranches, primarily to fund the plant it is building in India’s western Gujarat state, according to a statement to the Tokyo stock exchange. Suzuki said it would also use some proceeds for research and development on safety technology.
FINANCE
Mizuho and Redburn to ally
Mizuho Financial Group Inc agreed to form an alliance on European equities with Redburn Europe Ltd, a UK research and trading execution house, according to people familiar with the matter. The Japanese bank’s securities unit is to start providing its customers with Redburn’s research on European stocks, and the London-based firm is to carry out transactions for those clients, said the people, who asked not to be identified. The exclusive alliance would enable Japan’s third-largest lender by market value to expand its client base by offering research on European companies like BT Group PLC, Renault SA and Volkswagen AG and executing trades through Redburn.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, booked its first-ever profit from its Arizona subsidiary in the first half of this year, four years after operations began, a company financial statement showed. Wholly owned by TSMC, the Arizona unit contributed NT$4.52 billion (US$150.1 million) in net profit, compared with a loss of NT$4.34 billion a year earlier, the statement showed. The company attributed the turnaround to strong market demand and high factory utilization. The Arizona unit counts Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc among its major customers. The firm’s first fab in Arizona began high-volume production
VOTE OF CONFIDENCE: The Japanese company is adding Intel to an investment portfolio that includes artificial intelligence linchpins Nvidia Corp and TSMC Softbank Group Corp agreed to buy US$2 billion of Intel Corp stock, a surprise deal to shore up a struggling US name while boosting its own chip ambitions. The Japanese company, which is adding Intel to an investment portfolio that includes artificial intelligence (AI) linchpins Nvidia Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), is to pay US$23 a share — a small discount to Intel’s last close. Shares of the US chipmaker, which would issue new stock to Softbank, surged more than 5 percent in after-hours trading. Softbank’s stock fell as much as 5.4 percent on Tuesday in Tokyo, its
COLLABORATION: Softbank would supply manufacturing gear to the factory, and a joint venture would make AI data center equipment, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) would operate a US factory owned by Softbank Group Corp, setting up what is in the running to be the first manufacturing site in the Japanese company’s US$500 billion Stargate venture with OpenAI and Oracle Corp. Softbank is acquiring Hon Hai’s electric-vehicle plant in Ohio, but the Taiwanese company would continue to run the complex after turning it into an artificial intelligence (AI) server production plant, Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said yesterday. Softbank would supply manufacturing gear to the factory, and a joint venture between the two companies would make AI data
The Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robot Show, which is to be held from Wednesday to Saturday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, would showcase the latest in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven robotics and automation technologies, the organizer said yesterday. The event would highlight applications in smart manufacturing, as well as information and communications technology, the Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robotics Association said. More than 1,000 companies are to display innovations in semiconductors, electromechanics, industrial automation and intelligent manufacturing, it said in a news release. Visitors can explore automated guided vehicles, 3D machine vision systems and AI-powered applications at the show, along
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