Thu, Apr 25, 2019 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  BANKING

  Credit Suisse suffers loss

  Credit Suisse Group AG’s trading business might have evaded some of the issues that hurt earnings at its Wall Street peers, but there was no such escape for the advisory unit. The Zurich-based firm’s Investment Banking and Capital Markets business posted a wider-than-expected first-quarter pretax loss of US$91 million, exceeding estimates of a loss of about US$10 million. Net revenue dropped by more than a third, with the bank blaming the decline on a slump in activity. The business, which focuses on services including mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity offerings, and derivative transactions, saw large declines in both advisory and underwriting fees. Earnings from equity underwriting plummeted by almost half after offerings slowed due to the US government shutdown last year. Debt underwriting earnings declined by more than a third because of lower leveraged-finance activity.

  PROPERTY

  AT&T to sell office space

  AT&T Inc’s WarnerMedia has agreed to sell space in a Manhattan tower for US$2.2 billion to real estate giant Related Cos, helping the telecom repay some debt. WarnerMedia is to lease back the offices — located in the new Hudson Yards neighborhood — until early 2034, AT&T said on Tuesday. The transaction is expected to close late in the second quarter. AT&T is on a crusade to reduce debt since last year’s acquisition of Time Warner Inc for US$85 billion. The company had a US$176.5 billion debt burden in its most recently reported quarter. The space in Tuesday’s agreement is in 30 Hudson Yards, the third-tallest building in New York. Related is building the US$25 billion Hudson Yards project with Oxford Properties Group Inc, betting that the neighborhood can become a new nexus of shopping, offices and apartment buildings. Time Warner previously sold its headquarters at Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle for US$1.3 billion to a group led by Related.

  AUTOMAKERS

  Hyundai profit surges

  Hyundai Motor Co has increased its operating profit for the first time in six quarters, helped by strong demand for new sport utility vehicles (SUV) such as the Palisade and decreasing incentive spending in the US. First-quarter operating profit climbed to 824.9 billion won (US$718 million), compared with the average analyst estimate of 777.3 billion won. After defeating activist Elliott Management Corp in a proxy fight last month, Hyundai chairman-in-waiting Euisun Chung is trying to convince investors that his planned push into new models, including electric vehicles, would translate into long-term earnings growth. The large Palisade SUV has met strong demand in South Korea and is to go on sale in the US in the third quarter, taking on Ford Motor Co’s Explorer and Toyota Motor Corp’s Highlander.

  ENERGY

  EPH buys two power plants

  Czech Republic-based coal mining and energy group EPH, known for bucking Europe’s green trend, on Tuesday said that it would buy two power plants in Northern Ireland. The plants, a gas-fired facility in Ballylumford and a coal-fired one in Kilroot, have a total installed output of 1.4 gigawatts and are currently owned by US-based AES Corp. “The acquisition includes a combined cycle gas turbine, a battery storage facility, open cycle turbines and a coal-fired power station,” EPH said. “The transaction is subject to EU merger clearance and is expected to close during the summer of 2019,” it said, without disclosing the price.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Chinese carrier group entered Japanese waters

  • 2

    Magnitude 6.4 earthquake hits Hualien County

  • 3

    Think tank hosts war games in Taipei

  • 4

    Students rescued from Cambodia

  • 5

    Home sales agent tops average wage list of TWSE