AVIATION
Zephyr investment sought
Airbus SE is seeking outside investment for its high-altitude surveillance and communications drone program Zephyr, in a bid to scale the business and accelerate its commercialization, it said yesterday . The solar-powered Zephyr drone is designed to linger at an altitude of about 21km for months at a time for surveillance or to provide a temporary boost to communications. The French aircraft maker has tapped Morgan Stanley to find external partnerships for the unit, which will operate under the brand name “Aalto,” a company spokesperson said. “Airbus plans to maintain ownership in Aalto, but will consider outside investment to help accelerate the company’s objectives,” the spokesman said.
AVIATION
Emirates upbeat on Australia
Gulf carrier Emirates plans to flying at pre-pandemic levels to Sydney and Melbourne and restart service to Christchurch via Sydney as travel demand soars. The Dubai-based airline is to increase daily services to Melbourne from two to three from Dubai via Singapore in March, Emirates said yesterday. A third direct service to Sydney will start in May. The carrier is to restart service to Christchurch via Sydney on March 26, offering a new path across the trans-Tasman route. Emirates said it will be operating 63 weekly services to Australia by mid-year with the capacity to transport more than 55,000 passengers per week to and from its major cities.
AIR FREIGHT
Amazon starts India services
Amazon.com Inc is beginning air freight services in India, expanding in Asia even as global online sales growth stalls following a pandemic-era boom. The e-commerce retail giant is to use cargo capacity in a Boeing Co 737-800 aircraft operated by partner Quikjet Cargo Airlines Pvt to begin shipments in Hyderabad, Bangalore, New Delhi and Mumbai, vice president of customer fulfillment Akhil Saxena said. Amazon is trying to sell unused space in its cargo jets. The Seattle-based e-commerce company has a fleet of more than 110 planes flying to more than 70 destinations worldwide, Saxena said.
CONGLOMERATES
Adani plans five-plus IPOs
Asia’s richest man, Gautam Adani, plans to sell shares to the public in at least five companies between 2026 and 2028, helping the port-to-power conglomerate improve debt ratios and broaden its investor base. “At least five units will be ready to go to the market in the next three to five years,” Adani Group chief financial officer Jugeshinder Singh said in an interview. He said Adani New Industries Ltd, Adani Airport Holdings Ltd, Adani Road Transport Ltd, AdaniConnex Pvt Ltd and the group’s metals and mining units would become independent units.
UNITED STATES
Morgan Stanley confident
Morgan Stanley economists are sticking by their call for a “softish” landing in the US and reckon even if there is a recession it will be milder than most. In a report to clients yesterday, economists led by Seth Carpenter said “it is far too soon to declare victory” given higher US Federal Reserve interest rates take time to bite, but the US labor market has proved stronger than anticipated and “inflation has turned down decisively,” they said. “We continue to think that even if our baseline view is wrong, any recession that might come this year would likely be shallow,” the economists wrote.
CLIMATE
Gates backs cow burp buster
Bill Gates has joined a slew of billionaires investing in an Australian climate technology start-up that has plans to disrupt the methane-emitting animal agriculture industry with a lab-grown feed additive. Breakthrough Energy Ventures LLC, led by the Microsoft Corp founder, and Andrew Forrest’s Harvest Road Group took part in a US$12 million Phase 2 seed funding round for Rumin8 Pty, according to a statement yesterday. The Perth-based firm is developing a supplement for livestock made from synthetically replicated bromoform, the active ingredient found in a red seaweed. Giving cows seaweed in their feed could cut 98 percent of their methane emissions, according to one study. Livestock account for almost one third of man-made emissions of methane, the biggest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide.
PETROLEUM
EG, Asda explore tie-up
EG Group is exploring a merger of its gasoline forecourts with Asda Group Ltd to create a business valued at more than ￡10 billion (US$12.4 billion), according to the The Times. The Issa brothers and London-based TDR Capital are considering the combination with the supermarket chain to help refinance ￡7 billion of debt due in 2025, the paper said. EG’s operating profit will barely cover its interest expenses, which are set to jump by about US$120 million to US$800 million this year, the Times said, citing Roberto Pozzi, an analyst at the credit-rating agency Moody’s. The merger would create a business with 581 supermarkets, 700 gas stations and more than 100 convenience stores. The competition regulator’s view is unclear at this stage, the Times reported.
INVESTMENT
Elliott takes Salesforce stake
Hedge fund Elliott Investment Management has taken a substantial activist stake in Salesforce Inc, making its move after layoffs and a deep stock swoon at the enterprise software giant. Elliott, which often pushes for strategic changes and seeks board representation, took a multibillion-dollar stake in the company, according to a person familiar with the matter. The San Francisco company’s market capitalization is now US$151 billion, down from a peak of more than US$300 billion in 2021. “Salesforce is one of the pre-eminent software companies in the world, and having followed the company for nearly two decades, we have developed a deep respect for Marc Benioff and what he has built,” Elliott managing partner Jesse Cohn said in a statement. “We look forward to working constructively with Salesforce to realize the value befitting a company of its stature.”
ECUADOR
Mexico pact at ‘dead end’
Ecuadoran President Guillermo Lasso said on Sunday that negotiations for his nation to reach a free-trade accord with Mexico are at a “dead end.” Such a free-trade deal would have been a stepping stone for Ecuador to enter the broader Pacific Alliance, but Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador “has told me that the banana and shrimp producers in Mexico don’t want shrimp and plantains or bananas from Ecuador arriving there,” Lasso said. “We are at a dead end.” Ecuador warned last month that it would be “impossible” to sign a free-trade accord with Mexico unless a deal included shrimp and bananas, its major exports after petroleum. However, the failure to get a trade accord with Mexico “is not so serious” since Ecuador has expanded and intensified trade talks elsewhere, he said.
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
Taiwan will prioritize the development of silicon photonics by taking advantage of its strength in the semiconductor industry to build another shield to protect the local economy, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said yesterday. Speaking at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee, Liu said Taiwan already has the artificial intelligence (AI) industry as a shield, after the semiconductor industry, to safeguard the country, and is looking at new unique fields to build more economic shields. While Taiwan will further strengthen its existing shields, over the longer term, the country is determined to focus on such potential segments as
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
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