AUTOMAKERS
LeEco chair begs reprieve
Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp (LeEco, 樂視) chairman Jia Yueting (賈躍亭) asked for more time to repay debt and realize his ambitions of disrupting the automobile industry, days after a Chinese court froze billions of US dollars in assets controlled by him and associated companies. Jia has decided to devote his time to developing a futuristic electric car as the US-based start-up Faraday Future is now trying to raise funds to bring the FF91 electric car to fruition, he said in a Weibo post. “I sincerely ask everyone to give LeEco a little more time, to give LeEco’s car business a little more time,” Jia said.
INSURANCE
Axis Capital acquires Novae
Lloyd’s of London insurer Novae Group PLC said it has agreed to be taken over by Axis Capital Holdings Ltd, a Bermuda-based specialty insurer and reinsurer, for ￡467.6 million (US$604.7 million) in cash, sending its shares soaring by more than 20 percent. The ￡7-per-share offer for Novae represents a premium of more than 20 percent to the London-based insurer’s closing price on Wednesday. Axis chief executive Albert Benchimol said the acquisition of Novae would create an about US$2 billion player in the London specialty market. The deal, expected to close in the final quarter of the year, will add to Axis’ earnings in the first year.
GERMANY
Orderbook recovers
Industrial orders rebounded in May after a slide in April, preliminary official data showed yesterday, but fell short of analysts’ hopes for Europe’s largest economy. There were 1.0 percent more new contracts in May than in the previous month, correcting for seasonal effects, federal statistics office Destatis said in a statement. Destatis noted that discounting more volatile large contracts for items like aircraft showed a slight contraction of 0.3 percent in overall orders in May, correcting for seasonal and calendar effects. Revised figures also showed that the fall in April was larger than previously thought, at 2.2 percent compared with March.
CONSUMER GOODS
Cyberattack losses reported
Britain’s Reckitt Benckiser downgraded its growth forecast yesterday, becoming one of the first companies to quantify the cost of a global cyberattack, which the consumer goods maker said disrupted its manufacturing and distribution. Reckitt Benckiser, which makes Dettol and Lysol disinfectants, Harpic cleaners and Durex condoms, said it estimated its like-for-like revenue in the second quarter would fall 2 percent because of the attack. It said to a lesser extent it would also be negatively affected by tax changes in India. It cut its expectations for full-year net like-for-like revenue growth to 2 percent from 3 percent.
MEDIA
Platforms seek soccer rights
Facebook Inc, Twitter Inc and Snap Inc are seeking online rights to video highlights from Twenty-first Century Fox Inc for next year’s soccer World Cup, Bloomberg reported yesterday. The companies have offered tens of millions of dollars for rights to video highlights for the Russia-hosted tournament that air in the US, Bloomberg reported, citing two people familiar with the matter. Fox will retain rights to use highlights of the World Cup across its shows, Bloomberg reported, citing the people.
Elon Musk’s lieutenants have reached out to chip industry suppliers, including Applied Materials Inc, Tokyo Electron Ltd and Lam Research Corp, for his envisioned Terafab, early steps in an audacious and likely arduous attempt to break into the production of cutting-edge chips. Staff working for the joint venture between Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) have sought price quotes and delivery times for an array of chipmaking gear, people familiar with the matter said. In past weeks, they’ve contacted makers of photomasks, substrates, etchers, depositors, cleaning devices, testers and other tools, according to the people, who asked not to
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
Japan approved ￥631.5 billion (US$3.97 billion) in additional subsidies to hasten Rapidus Corp’s entry into the high-stakes artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaking arena, ramping up support for a project widely regarded as a long shot. The capital is intended to bankroll Rapidus’ work for information technology firm Fujitsu Ltd, one of the initial customers that Tokyo hopes would get the signature endeavor off the ground. The new money raises the fees and investments that the government is injecting into the start-up to ￥2.6 trillion by the end of the current fiscal year to March next year, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and
The founder of Chinese property giant Evergrande Group (恆大集團) has pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and bribery, a court said yesterday, the latest blow for what was once the country’s leading developer. Evergrande’s rise was propelled by decades of rapid urbanization and rising living standards, but in 2020, its access to credit dramatically narrowed when the government introduced curbs on excessive borrowing and speculation. The company defaulted in 2021 after struggling to repay creditors. Founder Xu Jiayin (許家印), 67, known as Hui Ka Yan in Cantonese, was reportedly held by police in 2023, with Evergrande saying he had been subjected to
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