SOLAR PANELS
Sunrun buying out rival
The US’ largest rooftop solar installer, Sunrun Inc, is taking out one of its major rivals, Vivint Solar Inc, in a deal valued at US$3.2 billion. Sunrun is buying Vivint in an all-stock transaction, under which each share of Vivint is to be exchanged for 0.55 shares of Sunrun, the companies said in a statement on Monday. The acquisition is expected to close during the fourth quarter, subject to approvals.
SOFTWARE
Palantir seeks stock listing
Data analysis specialist Palantir Technologies Inc has filed for a stock listing, the company said in a statement on Monday. The Californian company, which sells software used by governments and large companies worldwide, is looking to go public later this year, Bloomberg reported. It could be one of the biggest initial public offerings since Uber Technologies Inc, with the secretive Palantir previously valued at US$20 billion in 2015 — although it was not clear what valuation the company would seek in going public.
ENERGY
Eni drops price forecasts
Eni SpA became the latest oil company to cut its long-term price assumptions, saying that the novel coronavirus pandemic would have a lasting effect on the industry. Eni now sees benchmark Brent crude at US$60 a barrel in 2023 real terms, down from a previous estimate of US$70, the company said late on Monday, warning of impairment charges. Rivals Royal Dutch Shell PLC and BP PLC have also cut price forecasts as the lockdown-induced slump batters their business, forcing producers to reassess the value of their assets amid a shift to cleaner energy.
PUBLISHING
Reach to cut 550 jobs
British newspaper publisher Reach PLC yesterday said that it would cut about 550 jobs, or 12 percent of its workforce, after the COVID-19 pandemic hit circulation and advertising. Reach, whose titles include the Daily Mirror and Daily Express, said that second-quarter revenue declined 27.5 percent, with print revenue down 29.5 percent and digital revenue down 14.8 percent. The company has seen increased adoption of its digital products, with customer registrations passing the 2.5 million mark during the pandemic.
REAL ESTATE
Zara owner shifts focus
Fashion label Zara owner Amancio Ortega has turned his attention to real estate. The Spanish billionaire’s property holdings have soared to 15.2 billion euros (US$17.13 billion), his firm revealed for the first time yesterday, giving him the largest real-estate portfolio among Europe’s super-rich. Ortega, 84, invested 2.1 billion euros in real estate last year through various subsidiaries of his holding company Pontegadea, the firm said in an e-mailed statement. Pontegadea had a net income of 1.8 billion euros for last year, including 621 million euros from real-estate assets.
CHEMICALS
LG Polymers found negligent
An investigation into a deadly gas leak at a South Korean-owned chemical plant in southern India that killed 12 people in May recommended that the factory be moved away from inhabited areas, a report released yesterday said. The probe at the plant run by LG Polymers, which is owned by South Korea’s LG Chem Ltd, found that the company was negligent and warning systems were not working, the local state government said on Monday.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day