GERMANY
Output beats expectations
Industrial output beat expectations in October, official data showed yesterday, reflecting a continuing rebound in Europe’s largest economy before the latest restrictions to control the COVID-19 pandemic were imposed. Industrial production rose 3.2 percent month-on-month, federal statistics agency Destatis said, driven by a strong performance in the key auto industry. It was the sixth month in a row that production increased, and beat expectations of a 1.5 percent rise from analysts surveyed by FactSet. However, output remained below pre-pandemic levels, with the October figure 3 percent below the same month last year.
FOOD
Elliott bids for baker Aryzta
Elliott Management Corp made an US$890 million offer for Aryzta AG, putting pressure on the Swiss baker’s board to consider a sale. Paul Singer’s investment firm made an offer at 0.80 Swiss francs per share, the same level as an initial proposal, valuing the target at about SF794 million (US$888.1 million), according to a statement from Aryzta published yesterday. The company said its board would study the conditional offer, which is 10 percent higher than Friday’s closing price. Aryzta, which supplies buns to McDonald’s Corp and makes Otis Spunkmeyer cookies, ended negotiations with Elliott in October and has been working with advisers to explore asset disposals, including one announced yesterday to sell a North American pizza business to Brynwood Partners.
RETAIL
Frasers in Debenhams talks
Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group PLC is in last-ditch talks to buy the ailing Debenhams department store in a move that could save thousands of jobs. The owner of the Sports Direct brand in an e-mailed statement confirmed that it was in negotiations and said that “we hope to be able to save as many jobs as possible” at Debenhams PLC, one of the UK’s most iconic retail brands. News of Ashley’s interest comes just a few days after Debenhams said it could have to liquidate the business after talks with JD Sports Fashion PLC ended. Debenhams has been struggling for many years, weighed down by costly stores with hefty rents and large property taxes.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Israel trade to hit US$5bn
Trade between the emirates and Israel could grow to at least US$5 billion, the chairman of Dubai’s biggest port operator said yesterday. “We estimate at least US$5 billion of trade will happen between our countries in the beginning and this will grow,” DP World chairman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem said. The emirates and Bahrain formally established relations with Israel at a Sept. 15 ceremony at the White House, becoming the first Arab states in more than a quarter of a century to break what had been a long-standing taboo in the region.
BANKING
Lender to shut 600 branches
France’s Societe Generale SA yesterday said it expected to shut 600 branches in the country by 2025 with the merging of its two retail banking networks Societe Generale and Credit du Nord. Merging the two networks would save more than 350 million euros (US$423 million) in costs in 2024 and nearly 450 million euros in 2025, France’s third-biggest listed lender said. “The network will thus transition from about 2,100 branches at the end of 2020 to about 1,500 at the end of 2025,” it said.
PERSISTENT RUMORS: Nvidia’s CEO said the firm is not in talks to sell AI chips to China, but he would welcome a change in US policy barring the activity Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company is not in discussions to sell its Blackwell artificial intelligence (AI) chips to Chinese firms, waving off speculation it is trying to engineer a return to the world’s largest semiconductor market. Huang, who arrived in Taiwan yesterday ahead of meetings with longtime partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), took the opportunity to clarify recent comments about the US-China AI race. The Nvidia head caused a stir in an interview this week with the Financial Times, in which he was quoted as saying “China will win” the AI race. Huang yesterday said
Japanese technology giant Softbank Group Corp said Tuesday it has sold its stake in Nvidia Corp, raising US$5.8 billion to pour into other investments. It also reported its profit nearly tripled in the first half of this fiscal year from a year earlier. Tokyo-based Softbank said it sold the stake in Silicon Vally-based Nvidia last month, a move that reflects its shift in focus to OpenAI, owner of the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT. Softbank reported its profit in the April-to-September period soared to about 2.5 trillion yen (about US$13 billion). Its sales for the six month period rose 7.7 percent year-on-year
Nissan Motor Co has agreed to sell its global headquarters in Yokohama for ￥97 billion (US$630 million) to a group sponsored by Taiwanese autoparts maker Minth Group (敏實集團), as the struggling automaker seeks to shore up its financial position. The acquisition is led by a special purchase company managed by KJR Management Ltd, a Japanese real-estate unit of private equity giant KKR & Co, people familiar with the matter said. KJR said it would act as asset manager together with Mizuho Real Estate Management Co. Nissan is undergoing a broad cost-cutting campaign by eliminating jobs and shuttering plants as it grapples
MORE WEIGHT: The national weighting was raised in one index while holding steady in two others, while several companies rose or fell in prominence MSCI Inc, a global index provider, has raised Taiwan’s weighting in one of its major indices and left the country’s weighting unchanged in two other indices after a regular index review. In a statement released on Thursday, MSCI said it has upgraded Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI All-Country World Index by 0.02 percentage points to 2.25 percent, while maintaining the weighting in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, the most closely watched by foreign institutional investors, at 20.46 percent. Additionally, the index provider has left Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI All-Country Asia ex-Japan Index unchanged at 23.15 percent. The latest index adjustments are to
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