MACROECONOMICS
HK most expensive city: poll
Hong Kong is the world’s most expensive city for expatriates, according to an annual cost of living report produced by consultancy Mercer. The financial hub tops an Asia-dominated list, with Tokyo in second place, Singapore fourth, Seoul fifth, Shanghai seventh and Beijing in ninth place. Outside of Asia, European and African cities were among the priciest cities for employees. Zurich ranked third and Luanda came in sixth. “Asia’s cities, especially Chinese cities, have shown strong performance in terms of cost of living rankings, mainly due to currency fluctuations. Companies are moving top talent around the globe in response to skills shortages,” Mario Ferraro, Mercer’s global mobility practice leader for Asia, Middle East, Africa and Turkey, said in a release.
FINANCE
Ingenico on takeover radar
Private equity firms are setting their sights on French payments processor Ingenico Group SA as they scout the market for their next target among Europe’s hottest fintechs, people with knowledge of the matter said. The Paris-based company, with a market value of about 4.73 billion euros (US$5.5 billion), is drawing preliminary interest from several buyout firms, some of which are discussing the feasibility of taking it private, the people said, declining to be identified as the deliberations are confidential. Potential suitors include CVC Capital Partners, Hellman & Friedman and Bain Capital, as well as rival fintech companies, they said. The company is in talks with advisers about preparing for a potential offer, they said.
FOOD
Zuellig plans feed firm sale
A scion of Switzerland’s wealthy Zuellig family is seeking to sell Gold Coin Holdings, one of the biggest animal feed manufacturers in Asia, for about US$500 million, people with knowledge of the matter said. Peter Zuellig’s closely held holding company, Golden Springs Group, could find a buyer for the Singapore-based business this year, they said. Gold Coin is likely to attract interest from international feed producers, one of the people said, asking not to be identified as the process is private. Rival animal feed producers PT Japfa Comfeed Indonesia and PT Charoen Pokphand Indonesia have each risen more than 20 percent in Jakarta trading this year. Agriculture-related deals have more than doubled in Southeast Asia this year to hit US$1.1 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
HANDSETS
Xiaomi IPO lures billionaires
China’s richest people are buying into Xiaomi Corp’s (小米) imminent Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO), conferring their imprimatur on the world’s biggest coming-out party in two years. Former CK Hutchison Holdings (長和集團) chairman Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠) plans to invest US$30 million for an unknown slice of the Chinese smartphone maker, people familiar with the matter said. Alibaba founder Jack Ma (馬雲) and Tencent chairman Pony Ma (馬化騰) have also agreed to take stakes in Xiaomi, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing personal investments. The billionaire triumvirate join a group of big names backing an IPO that could raise as much as US$6.1 billion — the world’s biggest IPO since Postal Savings Bank of China Co (中國郵政儲蓄銀行) raised US$7.6 billion in 2016. China Mobile Ltd (中國移動), the nation’s biggest wireless carrier, and US chipmaker Qualcomm Inc are among those that have agreed to participate as cornerstone investors, according to terms for the deal obtained by Bloomberg.
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
New vehicle sales in Taiwan plunged about 37 percent sequentially last month as the long Lunar New Year holiday and 228 Peace Memorial Day holiday cut short the number of working days, along with the lingering uncertainty over import tax cuts on US vehicles, market researcher U-Car said in a report yesterday. New car sales last month totaled 22,043, slumping from 35,073 units in January and down 19.89 percent from 37,515 in February last year, U-Car data showed. Sales of imported luxury cars, led by Mercedes-Benz, plummeted about 45 percent to 3,109 units last month from 5,663 units in the previous month,
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