Chinese conglomerate HNA Group Co (海航集團) explored buying a significant stake in insurer Allianz SE, but was deflected, German daily the Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported, without saying where it got the information.
HNA approached Munich-based Allianz to discuss the possibility of becoming an anchor shareholder, potentially even acquiring a majority holding, the newspaper said in a report on its Web site.
Allianz managers rejected the request after conferring with China Investment Corp (中國投資), the sovereign wealth fund that already owns some of its shares, Sueddeutsche said.
Federal authorities in Germany also were wary of letting HNA expand its clout in the nation’s financial sector, the newspaper said.
HNA became Deutsche Bank AG’s largest shareholder this year. An investor buying more than 10 percent of Allianz could have its stability and creditworthiness scrutinized by Germany’s BaFin financial regulator, according to the paper.
Led by Chen Feng (陳峰), HNA has been on a shopping spree, announcing more than US$40 billion in foreign acquisitions since the beginning of last year.
The firm, which has ambitions of becoming a financial-services provider, was said in May to drop out of bidding for HSH Nordbank, a regional bank in Germany.
HNA’s acquisition spree eventually attracted the scrutiny of the Chinese government.
Regulators there have been assessing the risks that the company and other dealmakers might pose to the country’s financial system.
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer specializing in artificial-intelligence (AI) chips, yesterday said that small-volume production of 3-nanometer (nm) chips for a key customer is on track to start by the end of this year, dismissing speculation about delays in producing advanced chips. As Alchip is transitioning from 7-nanometer and 5-nanometer process technology to 3 nanometers, investors and shareholders have been closely monitoring whether the company is navigating through such transition smoothly. “We are proceeding well in [building] this generation [of chips]. It appears to me that no revision will be required. We have achieved success in designing
RSS