BANKING
EU, Portugal reach deal
The European Commission and Portugal on Wednesday said they have agreed on a 5 billion euro (US$5.64 billion) deal to recapitalize the state-owned Caixa Geral de Depositos bank, including through a 2.7 billion euro injection of state funds. The deal was provisionally approved by European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager to meet the 28-nation bloc’s tough rules on preventing unfair government aid for businesses.
PHARMACEUTICALS
AZ to sell antibiotics arm
British drugs giant AstraZeneca (AZ) PLC on Wednesday agreed to sell part of its antibiotics business to US giant Pfizer Inc for up to US$1.6 billion. The deal for the company’s small-molecule antibiotics, or those developed using traditional chemistry, is expected to complete in the fourth quarter, AstraZeneca said in a statement. The news comes days after Pfizer bought San Francisco-based biotech firm Medivation Inc — which specializes in cancer treatments — for US$14 billion.
SOVEREIGN FUNDS
QIA buys iconic stake in US
Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund has made an iconic purchase in the US — a stake in the company that owns New York’s Empire State Building. The Empire State Realty Trust Inc, which manages the building, said late on Tuesday that the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) purchased a 9.9 percent stake in the company for US$622 million. The QIA’s existing US holdings include a more than 10 percent stake in New York-based luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co.
STOCKS
CNOOC stock drops on loss
China’s main offshore oil and gas producer, CNOOC Ltd (中國海洋石油), saw its shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange fall yesterday, after it reported a US$1.16 billion net loss for the first half. It was the company’s first half-year loss since it started trading on the Hong Kong exchange in 2000, with CNOOC blaming low oil prices and write-downs on assets for its performance. CNOOC posted a net loss for the six months ending June 30 of 7.74 billion yuan (US$1.16 billion), alongside a 25.4 percent drop in revenue to 66.83 billion yuan.
TECHNOLOGY
HP downbeat on Q4
HP Inc, which sells personal computers and printers, forecast its fiscal fourth-quarter profit might fall short of analysts’ estimates, hurt by slumping demand for its products. Profit from continuing operations, excluding some items, will be US$0.34 to US$0.37 per share in the current quarter, HP said on Wednesday. That would fall short of analysts’ projections of US$0.40. The company reported profit, before certain items, of US$0.48 per share in the third quarter ended July 31, topping analysts’ estimates of US$0.45. Sales fell 3.8 percent to US$11.9 billion, compared with estimates of US$11.5 billion.
COMMODITIES
South32 earnings surprise
South32 Ltd, the world’s biggest manganese producer, is to pay its inaugural dividend and said it is monitoring two potential investment opportunities after reporting full-year earnings that beat analysts’ estimates. A decline in commodity prices saw underlying earnings fall 76 percent to US$138 million in the year ended June 30, down from a pro-forma US$575 million in the same period last year, the Perth-based company said yesterday. That exceeded the US$111 million average of 18 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. It will pay a final dividend of US$0.01 per share.
The demise of the coal industry left the US’ Appalachian region in tatters, with lost jobs, spoiled water and countless kilometers of abandoned underground mines. Now entrepreneurs are eyeing the rural region with ambitious visions to rebuild its economy by converting old mines into solar power systems and data centers that could help fuel the increasing power demands of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. One such project is underway by a non-profit team calling itself Energy DELTA (Discovery, Education, Learning and Technology Accelerator) Lab, which is looking to develop energy sources on about 26,305 hectares of old coal land in
Taiwan’s exports soared 56 percent year-on-year to an all-time high of US$64.05 billion last month, propelled by surging global demand for artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing and cloud service infrastructure, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) called the figure an unexpected upside surprise, citing a wave of technology orders from overseas customers alongside the usual year-end shopping season for technology products. Growth is likely to remain strong this month, she said, projecting a 40 percent to 45 percent expansion on an annual basis. The outperformance could prompt the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and
Netflix on Friday faced fierce criticism over its blockbuster deal to acquire Warner Bros Discovery. The streaming giant is already viewed as a pariah in some Hollywood circles, largely due to its reluctance to release content in theaters and its disruption of traditional industry practices. As Netflix emerged as the likely winning bidder for Warner Bros — the studio behind Casablanca, the Harry Potter movies and Friends — Hollywood’s elite launched an aggressive campaign against the acquisition. Titanic director James Cameron called the buyout a “disaster,” while a group of prominent producers are lobbying US Congress to oppose the deal,
Two Chinese chipmakers are attracting strong retail investor demand, buoyed by industry peer Moore Threads Technology Co’s (摩爾線程) stellar debut. The retail portion of MetaX Integrated Circuits (Shanghai) Co’s (上海沐曦) upcoming initial public offering (IPO) was 2,986 times oversubscribed on Friday, according to a filing. Meanwhile, Beijing Onmicro Electronics Co (北京昂瑞微), which makes radio frequency chips, was 2,899 times oversubscribed on Friday, its filing showed. The bids coincided with Moore Threads’ trading debut, which surged 425 percent on Friday after raising 8 billion yuan (US$1.13 billion) on bets that the company could emerge as a viable local competitor to Nvidia
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