SINGAPORE
Home sales continue to rise
Home sales last month rose for a third straight month as the city recovered from COVID-19 lockdowns, but a prolonged recession threatens to halt a property market recovery. The number of new units sold rose 8 percent to 1,080 from 998 in June, according to Urban Redevelopment Authority data released yesterday. That is the most since November, and up from a near six-year low in April during the height of the lockdown. With the city-state heading for its worst recession on record, a recovery in the property market could be slowed depending on how quickly the broader economy can pick up. The government forecasts the economy would shrink between 5 and 7 percent this year.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Microsoft eyes TikTok UK
Microsoft Corp is interested in buying the popular music video app TikTok’s UK operations, expanding beyond the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand units that are already under discussion, Fox Business Network reported, citing a banker it did not identify. It is unclear whether TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動) wants to sell the UK unit and if a formal offer for UK unit will be made, the banker with knowledge of the deal told the network. TikTok is sitting on a plan to move its headquarters from the US to London as it waits for a public statement of support from the British government, the South China Morning Post reported last week.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Sanofi to buy US group
French pharma giant Sanofi SA yesterday said it would buy US group Principia Biopharma Inc for US$3.68 billion in a deal that would boost its research and development into autoimmune and allergic diseases. The deal would see Sanofi “acquire all of the outstanding shares of Principia for [US]$100 per share in cash, which represents an aggregate equity value of approximately [US]$3.68 billion,” Sanofi said in a statement. The French company said it aims to complete the acquisition between October and December.
UNITED KINGDOM
Homes sold at record level
Britons bought and sold a record number of homes between the middle of last month and early this month as pent-up demand from the COVID-19 lockdown and a desire to leave London bucked the usual summer slowdown, industry data showed yesterday. Property Web site Rightmove reported the highest number of home sales agreed since it began tracking the data more than 10 years ago, with transactions more than 20 percent higher than the previous record. Average asking prices for this month — based on data collected from July 12 to Aug. 8 — were 4.6 percent higher than a year earlier, as the normal summer softening in demand failed to materialize.
AUSTRALIA
Tech retailers post profits
Two of the nation’s biggest tech-focused retailers yesterday posted record annual profits and raised dividends as a COVID-19-driven shift to working from home prompted a frenzy of purchases of computers, screens and other home goods. No. 1 electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi Ltd said underlying profit jumped by a third to A$332.7 million (US$239 million) in the year to end-June, rocketing past a pre-pandemic forecast of A$265 million to A$270 million. It raised its final dividend by three-quarters. Amazon.com Inc peer Kogan.com Ltd’s net profit for the period leaped 56 percent, and the payout to shareholders hoisted by two-thirds.
The Fair Trade Commission’s (FTC) ongoing review of Grab Holdings Ltd’s US$600 million acquisition of Foodpanda Taiwan’s operations, announced on March 23, has taken on fresh urgency as industry experts warn that the transaction could embed significant Chinese cybersecurity vulnerabilities into Taiwan’s digital infrastructure through Grab’s deep ties to autonomous-driving firm WeRide (文遠知行). Less than 16 months after the FTC blocked Uber Eats’ direct attempt to acquire Foodpanda Taiwan — citing potential combined market shares of 80 to 90 percent — the emergence of Grab as the buyer has prompted questions about whether the same competitive harm is simply being rerouted
POWER BUILDUP: Powered by Nvidia’s B200 Blackwell chips, the data center would support MediaTek’s computing power demand and business growth, the company said Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) data center with a maximum capacity of 45 megawatts to meet its rising demand for computing power required to develop new advanced chips for AI applications. The company has completed the first-phase computing power buildup at the data center in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), providing 15 megawatts of capacity to support its research and development (R&D) capabilities, despite an industrywide shortage of key components, MediaTek said. Supply constraints have plagued a wide range of key components, including memory chips, solid-state drives, power supply units and central
IMAGE SENSORS: The Japanese company would be the controlling shareholder of the venture, with development and production lines to be set up in Kumamoto Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corp to create a joint venture to develop and produce next-generation images sensors. The partnership seeks to explore and address emerging opportunities in physical artificial intelligence (AI) applications, such as automotive and robotics, paving the way for innovations and expanded technological advancements, TSMC said in a statement. Sony would be the majority and controlling shareholder of the joint venture, the statement said, adding that the company would set up development and production lines in its newly constructed fab in Kumamoto Prefecture’s
The nation’s foreign exchange reserves climbed back above US$600 billion at the end of last month, as investment gains, currency valuation effects and renewed foreign inflows offset volatility seen earlier in the month, the central bank said yesterday. Reserves stood at US$602.49 billion, up US$5.6 billion from the previous month, the central bank said. The rebound reflected returns on reserve assets, fluctuations in major currencies against the US dollar and the central bank’s market operations aimed at maintaining orderly trading conditions, Department of Foreign Exchange Director-General Eugene Tsai (蔡炯民) said. Financial markets were volatile early last month, with foreign investors recording net purchases
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