CHEMICALS
Syngenta takeover approved
Shareholders of Swiss pesticide and seed giant Syngenta AG have accepted the company’s takeover by state-owned China National Chemical Corp (ChemChina, 中國化工), the companies said yesterday, which would be the biggest overseas acquisition by a Chinese firm. At the closing date for the offer on Thursday, shareholders holding about 80.7 percent of the company’s stock had accepted the US$43 billion takeover, according to a preliminary count. Subject to confirmation of the results, “the Minimum Acceptance Rate condition of 67 percent of issued Syngenta shares has been met,” they said in a statement. That confirmation is expected to come next week, with the transaction scheduled to take place in two steps next month.
BANKING
RBI targets delinquent loans
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) wants to resolve the nation’s 60 largest delinquent-loan cases in nine months, a person familiar with the matter said. The bank plans to set up a secretariat to oversee the resolution process for the biggest defaults by loan amount, the person said. The move comes after the Cabinet approved plans to amend the Banking Regulation Act to give more powers to the central bank to govern lenders and address bad loan issues. Stressed assets — bad loans, restructured debt and advances to companies that cannot meet servicing requirements — have risen to about 17 percent of total loans, the highest level among major economies, data compiled by the government show.
RIDE-SHARING
Uber in criminal probe
The US government has launched a criminal investigation into Uber Technologies Inc for the use of secret software that enabled the company to operate in areas where it was banned or restricted, the Washington Post reported on Thursday. The investigation is in its early stages, the Post reported, citing a person familiar with the probe. The software program, called Greyball, first revealed by the New York Times in March, enabled drivers to avoid detection from transportation authorities by identifying regulators posing as Uber customers in order to deny them rides.
TECHNOLOGY
Google settles Italy tax suit
Italian tax officials said Google had agreed to pay 306 million euros (US$335 million) to settle a tax dispute. Google has been under investigation by Milan prosecutors for the tax years 2009 to 2013, one of several European probes looking into the tax practices of international companies. Tax officials said the settlement announced on Thursday also launches a process to determine the tech company’s proper taxation level in Italy going forward. The agreement covers the period under investigation, as well as 2014 to 2015 and 2002 to 2006. Google said it remained committed to Italy.
INVESTMENT
Buffett sells IBM shares
Warren Buffett, the billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, has sold about a third of his company’s investment in computer-services giant IBM Corp, CNBC reported. The sales came in the first and second quarters, CNBC said, citing Buffett. IBM’s shares gained about 21 percent last year after three straight annual declines, and are still more than 25 percent lower than the company’s 10-year peak in 2013. The shares have lagged behind both technology peers and the S&P 500 Index this year.
NEW IDENTITY: Known for its software, India has expanded into hardware, with its semiconductor industry growing from US$38bn in 2023 to US$45bn to US$50bn India on Saturday inaugurated its first semiconductor assembly and test facility, a milestone in the government’s push to reduce dependence on foreign chipmakers and stake a claim in a sector dominated by China. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened US firm Micron Technology Inc’s semiconductor assembly, test and packaging unit in his home state of Gujarat, hailing the “dawn of a new era” for India’s technology ambitions. “When young Indians look back in the future, they will see this decade as the turning point in our tech future,” Modi told the event, which was broadcast on his YouTube channel. The plant would convert
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday said the DRAM supply crunch could extend through 2028, as the artificial intelligence (AI) boom has led the world’s major memory makers to dramatically reduce production of standard DRAM and allocate a significant portion of their capacity for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. The most severe supply constraints would stretch to the first half of next year due to “very limited” increases in new DRAM capacity worldwide, Nanya Technology president Lee Pei-ing (李培瑛) told a news briefing. The company plans to increase monthly 12-inch wafer capacity to 20,000 in the first half of 2028 after a
Property transactions in the nation’s six special municipalities plunged last month, as a lengthy Lunar New Year holiday combined with ongoing credit tightening dampened housing market activity, data compiled by local land administration offices released on Monday showed. The six cities recorded a total of 10,480 property transfers last month, down 42.5 percent from January and marking the second-lowest monthly level on record, the data showed. “The sharp drop largely reflected seasonal factors and tighter credit conditions,” Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) deputy research manager Chen Chin-ping (陳金萍) said. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday fell in February this year, reducing
Zimbabwe’s ban on raw lithium exports is forcing Chinese miners to rethink their strategy, speeding up plans to process the metal locally instead of shipping it to China’s vast rechargeable battery industry. The country is Africa’s largest lithium producer and has one of the world’s largest reserves, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). Zimbabwe already banned the export of lithium ore in 2022 and last year announced it would halt exports of lithium concentrates from January next year. However, on Wednesday it imposed the ban with immediate effect, leaving unclear what the lithium mining sector would do in the
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