INSURANCE
AXA planning IPO
AXA SA, Europe’s second-largest insurer, is planning an initial public offering (IPO) of its US operations to fund expansion and potentially return money to shareholders. AXA intends to list a minority stake in its US businesses and expects to include its US Life and Savings unit and stake in money manager AllianceBernstein Holding LP in the IPO, the company said in a statement yesterday. The listing would take place in the first half of next year, subject to market conditions, helping speed up AXA’s achievement of its 2020 profit goals. Axa plans to reinvest the proceeds into its priority businesses, which include health, protection and commercial property and casualty lines.
TECHNOLOGY
Apple to monitor sleep
Apple Inc already tracks its users footsteps and fitness levels and now it wants to analyze people’s sleep. The Cupertino, California-based technology giant has acquired Beddit, a maker of sleep-tracking hardware and software, according to a message on the Finland-based company’s Web site. Beddit sells a US$150 sensor strip that can be placed under bed sheets and transfers sleep-related information to an iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch for analysis. The accompanying Beddit app can tell users how long they slept and break down the night into categories such as “restless sleep,” “snoring” and “awake.” Like the Apple Watch, it also provides heart rate data to an iPhone. The deal would allow Apple greater access to the health tracking business. The company has been working on sleep tracking functionality for the Apple Watch for a number of years. Beddit’s technology is expected to help with that.
RESTAURANTS
Merger faces probe
Just Eat PLC’s ￡200 million (US$259 million) acquisition of Hungryhouse faces an in-depth probe by UK regulators over concerns it could lead to poorer service for British restaurants using either delivery service. The planned merger is to be referred to a Phase 2 investigation, the British Competition and Markets Authority said in a statement yesterday. Its concerns are based on the fact that the two are close competitors because of similar services and broad geographical coverage and a merger could lead to “worse terms” for its restaurant clients, the regulator said. Just Eat in December last year agreed to buy Hungryhouse from Delivery Hero Holding GmbH to fend off growing competition from competitors like Deliveroo, UberEATS and Amazon Restaurants, which were also cited in the authority’s statement.
FINANCE
Credit Suisse hiring in US
Credit Suisse Group AG is adding 1,200 jobs to its offices in Raleigh, North Carolina. Credit Suisse is to increase its finance, technology and operations workforce this year through a combination of moving roles from New York and making new hires, the bank said. The firm already employs about 1,500 people in the area and is to receive US$40.2 million in tax reimbursements over 12 years if it meets hiring and investment targets, the state’s governor said in a statement. While Credit Suisse is retrenching globally as part of a turnaround plan, its cost-cutting efforts have been a boost to the operations in North Carolina’s Research Triangle area. Global banks including Deutsche Bank AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc have been moving a greater portion of employees to lower-cost locations as part of plans to trim expenses amid low interest rates, weak trading revenue and legal bills tied to past misconduct.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
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