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.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
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