■ BANKING
Consider rival bids: Darling
British finance minister Alistair Darling has asked troubled mortgage lender Northern Rock to consider rival bids to the one launched by Richard Branson's Virgin Group, the Financial Times said yesterday. The paper, which cited people close to the deal, said that private equity groups Cerberus and JC Flowers had submitted separate bids, after Northern Rock named a consortium led by Virgin as its preferred long-term saviour a week ago. "Clearly it makes sense to have more than one interested party, from the taxpayers' point of view and also from the standpoint of Northern Rock shareholders," an unidentified official close to the deal was quoted as saying.
■ FRANCE
State sells EDF shares
France sold as much as 3.7 percent of Electricite de France SA (EDF) yesterday to raise 5.6 billion euros (US$8.2 billion) for renovating the country's universities. The government offered an initial 45 million shares to money managers, Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said in a faxed statement. That's more than the 3 percent stake announced for sale by President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday. "EDF is a unique case in that it has relatively low profitability," Per Lekander, a UBS AG analyst, said by phone yesterday. "Regulated rates in France are incredibly low. If ever they rise to market price EDF margins would be quadrupled, so the leverage is significant."
■ INSURANCE
AIG cancels REIT listing
American International Group Inc (AIG), the world's largest insurer, canceled plans to list shares of a real estate investment trust in Japan. AIG's real estate unit had planned to list shares of J-REIT Toshi Hojin this month. "We are canceling the December listing because of the market environment," said Takashi Yamauchi, general manger of finance and accounting at AIG's real estate unit in Japan. "We still plan to list a REIT, it's just that it will be delayed."
■ OIL
Caracas opposes quota hike
Venezuela will oppose any increase in crude oil output quotas during Wednesday's OPEC meeting in the United Arab Emirates, Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said on Sunday. A key issue at the Dec. 5 meeting in Abu Dhabi will be a proposal to create a currency basket to price crude sold by all OPEC members, Ramirez told reporters in Caracas. "We don't see a need to increase oil production ... The market is well supplied," he said. "The basket of currencies is something we have pending and we will touch on that."
■ TELECOMS
SK Telecom takes stake
South Korea's top mobile carrier SK Telecom said yesterday that it has signed a US$1 billion deal to take a controlling stake in Internet service operator Hanarotelecom. The deal "will help promote competition through a wider range of new services and revitalize the currently saturated telecommunications market," SK Telecom said in a statement. The firm will buy 38.89 percent of Hanarotelecom for 1.087 trillion won (US$1.17 billion). Along with its existing stake it will become the largest shareholder with 43.59 percent. Hanarotelecom is the country's second-largest broadband service provider. The conditional deal is subject to government approval.
SILENCING CRITICS: In addition to blocking Taiwan, China aimed to prevent rights activists from speaking out against authoritarian states, a Cabinet department said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned transnational repression by Beijing after RightsCon, a major digital human rights conference scheduled to be held in Zambia this week, was abruptly canceled due to Chinese pressure over Taiwanese participation. This year’s RightsCon, the world’s largest conference discussing issues “at the intersection of human rights and technology,” was scheduled to take place from tomorrow to Friday in Lusaka, and expected to draw 2,600 in-person attendees from 150 countries, along with 1,100 online participants. However, organizers were forced to cancel the event due to behind-the-scenes pressure from China, the ministry said, expressing its “strongest condemnation”
DELAYED BUT DETERMINED: The president’s visit highlights Taiwan’s right to international engagement amid regional pressure from China President Willaim Lai (賴清德) yesterday arrived in Eswatini, more than a week after his planned visit to Taiwan’s sole African ally was suspended because of revoked overflight permits. “The visit, originally scheduled for April 22, was postponed due to unforeseen external factors,” Lai wrote on social media. “After several days of careful arrangements by our diplomatic and national security teams, we successfully arrived today.” Lai said he looked forward to further deepening Taiwan-Eswatini relations through closer cooperation in the economy, agriculture, culture and education, as well as advancing the nation’s international partnerships. The president was initially scheduled to arrive in time to celebrate
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) yesterday said the US faced a choice between an “impossible” military operation or a “bad deal” with Tehran, after US President Donald Trump disparaged Iran’s latest peace proposal. Negotiations between the two countries have been deadlocked since a ceasefire came into effect on April 8, with only one round of direct peace talks held so far. Iran’s Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported that Tehran had submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Pakistan, but Trump was quick to cast doubt on it. “I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but
A group affiliated with indicted Chinese immigrant Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) is to be dissolved for monitoring Chinese immigrants in Taiwan, a source said yesterday. Xu, the secretary-general of the Cross-Strait Marriage and Family Service Alliance, was indicted on March 24 on charges of violating the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法). The alliance “illegally monitored" Chinese immigrants living in Taiwan on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Ministry of the Interior is expected to dissolve the organization in the coming days under provisions of the Civil Associations Act (人民團體法), the source said. Xu, who married a Taiwanese in 1993 and became a Republic
RSS