PROPERTY
Singapore sales plummet
Singapore home sales fell 31 percent from October last month as developers marketed fewer projects toward the end of the year, a time when buyers typically defer purchases. Developers sold 860 units last month, compared with a revised 1,253 units in October, according to data released yesterday by the Singaporean Urban Redevelopment Authority. Developers launched 1,363 units last month, compared with 1,467 units in October, the data showed. Singapore’s home prices and sales have eased since the government began introducing curbs in 2009. Home prices dropped for a 12th quarter in the three months ended Sept. 30 and residential values are down 11 percent from their peak three years ago.
BREWERIES
SABMiller stake to be sold
Anheuser-Busch InBev NV agreed to sell SABMiller PLC’s stake in South African drinks maker Distell Group Ltd to Africa’s largest pension administrator to satisfy regulators in that nation for the brewing industry’s biggest-ever deal. Public Investment Corp is to buy the 26.4 percent stake in the maker of Amarula liquor and Klipdrift brandy, the Leuven-based company said in a statement yesterday, without disclosing the price. Public Investment Corp, with almost 2 trillion rand (US$142 billion) in assets under management, oversees the bulk of the South African government’s pension fund money. The sale is conditional on the approval of the South African antitrust authority.
BIOTECHNOLOGY
Lonza to buy Capsugel
Lonza Group AG has agreed to buy US capsule maker Capsugel SA from KKR & Co for US$5.5 billion, as the Swiss biotechnology and specialty chemicals company seeks to focus more on healthcare. The price includes refinancing of existing Capsugel debt of about US$2 billion, Basel-based Lonza and Capsugel, which is headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey, said in a statement yesterday, adding that the deal would be financed by a combination of debt and equity.
ENERGY
Woods to head ExxonMobil
Oil giant ExxonMobil Corp on Wednesday named president Darren Woods as chief executive, replacing Rex Tillerson, US president-elect Donald Trump’s choice for secretary of state. Tillerson is to retire next month after 41 years with the world’s largest publicly traded oil and gas producer, ExxonMobil said in a statement. Woods, 51, joined ExxonMobil in 1992, holding posts in refining and chemical production, among others, and he joined the company’s board and became president in January.
EMPLOYMENT
Latin America sets record
Latin America’s unemployment rate has hit a record high, its economies will shrink more than expected this year and they will make a smaller-than-expected rebound next year, a series of dismal figures showed on Wednesday. Heavy job losses in Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy, pushed the region’s unemployment rate to 8.1 percent this year, an increase of 1.5 percentage points, the International Labour Organization said in a report. Across the region, there are about 25 million unemployed people, up 5 million from last year, the report said. Unemployment is set to rise again next year, to 8.4 percent, it said. Latin America’s economies are set to shrink by 1.1 percent this year, followed by modest growth of 1.3 percent next year, a UN panel said in a separate report.
‘DECENT RESULTS’: The company said it is confident thanks to an improving world economy and uptakes in new wireless and AI technologies, despite US uncertainty Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it plans to build a new server manufacturing factory in the US this year to address US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policy. That would be the second server production base for Pegatron in addition to the existing facilities in Taoyuan, the iPhone assembler said. Servers are one of the new businesses Pegatron has explored in recent years to develop a more balanced product lineup. “We aim to provide our services from a location in the vicinity of our customers,” Pegatron president and chief executive officer Gary Cheng (鄭光治) told an online earnings conference yesterday. “We
LEAK SOURCE? There would be concern over the possibility of tech leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday stayed mum after a report said that the chipmaker has pitched chip designers Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Broadcom Inc about taking a stake in a joint venture to operate Intel Corp’s factories. Industry sources told the Central News Agency (CNA) that the possibility of TSMC proposing to operate Intel’s wafer fabs is low, as the Taiwanese chipmaker has always focused on its core business. There is also concern over possible technology leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺)
It was late morning and steam was rising from water tanks atop the colorful, but opaque-windowed, “soapland” sex parlors in a historic Tokyo red-light district. Walking through the narrow streets, camera in hand, was Beniko — a former sex worker who is trying to capture the spirit of the area once known as Yoshiwara through photography. “People often talk about this neighborhood having a ‘bad history,’” said Beniko, who goes by her nickname. “But the truth is that through the years people have lived here, made a life here, sometimes struggled to survive. I want to share that reality.” In its mid-17th to
‘MAKE OR BREAK’: Nvidia shares remain down more than 9 percent, but investors are hoping CEO Jensen Huang’s speech can stave off fears that the sales boom is peaking Shares in Nvidia Corp’s Taiwanese suppliers mostly closed higher yesterday on hopes that the US artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer would showcase next-generation technologies at its annual AI conference slated to open later in the day. The GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in California is to feature developers, engineers, researchers, inventors and information technology professionals, and would focus on AI, computer graphics, data science, machine learning and autonomous machines. The event comes at a make-or-break moment for the firm, as it heads into the next few quarters, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) keynote speech today seen as having the ability to
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