INVESTMENT
Blackstone buying GLP assets
Blackstone Group LP is doubling down on the future of online shopping, agreeing to buy US$18.7 billion of US logistics assets from Singapore’s GLP Pte in what it has said is the world’s biggest private-equity real-estate deal. Blackstone would gain 16.6 million square meters of urban logistics assets, greatly expanding the size of its US industrial footprint, the New York-based company said in a statement late on Sunday. In April, Blackstone reported that its assets under management crossed half a trillion US dollars, to US$512 billion, for the first time.
AUTOMAKERS
Elon Musk unveils SUV plan
Tesla Inc chief executive officer Elon Musk has said that the company’s “default plan” is to produce the Model Y sport utility vehicle (SUV) at its sole auto plant in Fremont, California. The electric automaker makes the Model S, Model X and Model 3 in Fremont, but produces battery packs and drive units at its gigafactory near Reno, Nevada. It has been weighing the pros and cons of each location, including space constraints and labor costs due to the Bay Area’s high cost of living.
ABU DHABI
Growth to average 2.5%
The sheikhdom’s economic growth is to average 2.5 percent in the four years through 2022 as it benefits from higher oil production and prices, S&P Global Ratings said on Friday. Economic growth in the largest and richest of the seven sheikhdoms that make up the United Arab Emirates is expected to accelerate to 2 percent this year from 1.8 percent last year, S&P Global Ratings said in a report. The ratings company said that it expects growth to accelerate to 2.5 percent next year and 2021 before climbing to 3 percent in 2022.
MALAYSIA
Durian fruits bound for China
The country is all geared to satisfy China’s craving for durian, after the Chinese General Administration of Customs has approved imports of frozen whole durian fruit starting on Thursday following an agreement signed in August last year, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Sim Tze Tzin (沈志勤) said. China imports about 300,000 tonnes of durian each year, mainly from Thailand, he said on Friday.
TELECOMS
Plan clears Hawaii hurdle
T-Mobile US Inc and Sprint Corp have inched one step closer to a deal after winning an approval for their merger from Hawaii’s public utilities commission, a filing showed. The approval is subject to certain conditions. The approval means that T-Mobile and Sprint have 18 out of 19 public utility commission approvals. The two companies only need approval from California and the US Department of Justice to complete the deal. T-Mobile’s US$26.5 billion takeover of Sprint has faced a number of regulatory hurdles, with US antitrust officials possibly still wanting to see four nationwide wireless carriers.
FOOD MAKERS
Mondelez mulls cheese sale
Mondelez Global LLC is considering a sale of its Philadelphia soft cheese business as it looks to focus on its faster-growing chocolate and biscuit brands, the Telegraph has reported. Bankers and private equity firms are evaluating the business, the paper said, citing sources. “Philadelphia is a high-quality business for us and provides strong margin and cash flow, as well as scale benefits in several markets,” a Mondelez spokesman said.
SETBACK: Apple’s India iPhone push has been disrupted after Foxconn recalled hundreds of Chinese engineers, amid Beijing’s attempts to curb tech transfers Apple Inc assembly partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has recalled about 300 Chinese engineers from a factory in India, the latest setback for the iPhone maker’s push to rapidly expand in the country. The extraction of Chinese workers from the factory of Yuzhan Technology (India) Private Ltd, a Hon Hai component unit, in southern Tamil Nadu state, is the second such move in a few months. The company has started flying in Taiwanese engineers to replace staff leaving, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named, as the
The prices of gasoline and diesel at domestic fuel stations are to rise NT$0.1 and NT$0.4 per liter this week respectively, after international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to rise to NT$27.3, NT$28.8 and NT$30.8 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to rise to NT$26.2 per liter at CPC stations and NT$26 at Formosa pumps, they said. The announcements came after international crude oil prices
DOLLAR SIGNS: The central bank rejected claims that the NT dollar had appreciated 10 percentage points more than the yen or the won against the greenback The New Taiwan dollar yesterday fell for a sixth day to its weakest level in three months, driven by equity-related outflows and reactions to an economics official’s exchange rate remarks. The NT dollar slid NT$0.197, or 0.65 percent, to close at NT$30.505 per US dollar, central bank data showed. The local currency has depreciated 1.97 percent so far this month, ranking as the weakest performer among Asian currencies. Dealers attributed the retreat to foreign investors wiring capital gains and dividends abroad after taking profit in local shares. They also pointed to reports that Washington might consider taking equity stakes in chipmakers, including Taiwan Semiconductor
A German company is putting used electric vehicle batteries to new use by stacking them into fridge-size units that homes and businesses can use to store their excess solar and wind energy. This week, the company Voltfang — which means “catching volts” — opened its first industrial site in Aachen, Germany, near the Belgian and Dutch borders. With about 100 staff, Voltfang says it is the biggest facility of its kind in Europe in the budding sector of refurbishing lithium-ion batteries. Its CEO David Oudsandji hopes it would help Europe’s biggest economy ween itself off fossil fuels and increasingly rely on climate-friendly renewables. While
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