CHEMICALS
Total sells Atotech
Total SA agreed to sell its specialty chemicals unit Atotech to Carlyle Group LP for US$3.2 billion as the French oil company disposes of non-core assets to weather a slump in crude and preserve payouts to shareholders. The sale price is 11.9 times Atotech’s adjusted earnings for last year before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, the companies said in a statement yesterday. Equity for the transaction is to come from buyout funds Carlyle Europe Partners IV and Carlyle Partners VI. Atotech, which had revenue of 1 billion euros (US$1.1 billion) last year, has more than 4,000 employees, mainly in China and Germany.
RETAIL
Wal-Mart sees flat earnings
US retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc on Thursday predicted that earnings would be flat in fiscal year 2018 as it pumps up investment in e-commerce initiatives. Wal-Mart said earnings for the next fiscal year that begins on Feb. 1 next year will be essentially unchanged from those of fiscal 2017, which are expected to come in at US$4.15 to US$4.35 a share. The company forecasted an overall capital budget of US$11 billion in both fiscal 2017 and 2018, down from US$11.5 billion in fiscal 2016. It will open 130 new stores in the US in the current year, down from a prior plan to build 135 to 155 stores. The company expects to build 55 new stores in the US in fiscal 2018.
INVESTMENT
Norwegian fund posts profit
Norway’s US$882 billion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s biggest, returned a profit in the third quarter thanks to strong stock markets, it said yesterday. The fund earned a return of 4 percent in the quarter, or 240 billion Norwegian kroner (US$29.7 billion), beating its benchmark by 0.2 percentage points. In the second quarter the fund booked a profit of 1.3 percent. “Equity investments performed strongest during the quarter with positive returns in all regions. This was the main contributor to the fund’s results,” fund deputy chief executive Trond Grande said in a statement.
AVIATION
CIT sells leasing unit
The CIT Group, a commercial lender, on Thursday agreed to sell its aircraft leasing business to a Chinese-owned competitor for about US$10 billion, signifying a big step by CIT to slim itself down in the face of pressure from investors. CIT is selling its aircraft leasing unit — which owns and manages 334 planes and has an additional 133 on order — to Avolon Holdings Ltd, which is based in Ireland, but is owned by the HNA Group (海航集團) of China. CIT will use the proceeds to pay out more than US$3 billion to its shareholders and to further bolster its balance sheet.
RETAIL
Seven & i restructuring
Seven & i Holdings Co unveiled a restructuring plan to divest struggling department stores and set up a real-estate division, in a bid to focus on boosting profit at its core 7-Eleven business. The new unit, to be created this fiscal year, will explore redeveloping property occupied by under-performing general merchandise stores into housing for seniors or other residential and commercial facilities, company president Ryuichi Isaka said on Thursday. Seven & i also announced a capital alliance with a local retailer and is to transfer three Sogo & Seibu department stores to the partner. Seven & i Holdings shares yesterday fell the most in three months in Tokyo trading in the wake of the plan’s announcement.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
MINERAL DIPLOMACY: The Chinese commerce ministry said it approved applications for the export of rare earths in a move that could help ease US-China trade tensions Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) is today to meet a US delegation for talks in the UK, Beijing announced on Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He is to visit the UK from yesterday to Friday at the invitation of the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. He and US representatives are to cochair the first meeting of the US-China economic and trade consultation mechanism, it said. US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that a new round of trade talks with China would start in London beginning today,
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