■ PROPERTY
Russian bank invests in UK
Russia's second-largest bank is investing some US$260 million in a residential development project in London, the RBK business daily reported yesterday. Vneshtorgbank is investing in "the purchase and construction of a residential complex" in Hammersmith in west London, the company's legal consultants, Dewey and LeBoeuf, were quoted as saying in a report. The state-controlled bank held an initial public offering earlier this year that raised US$8 billion.
■ BANKING
Ownership caps unchanged
A Chinese regulator says Beijing is unlikely to decide on a US request to raise limits on foreign ownership in banks and securities companies before its legislature meets in March, a news report said yesterday. Raising foreign ownership caps would require a change in Chinese law, Dow Jones Newswires quoted Cai Esheng (蔡鄂生), vice chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, as saying at a financial conference in Beijing. Washington is lobbying Beijing to ease restrictions that limit total foreign ownership of a Chinese bank to 25 percent.
■ MEDIA
LVMH buys newspaper
French luxury goods company LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA said on Monday it had concluded a deal with Britain-based media group Pearson PLC to buy France's leading financial newspaper Les Echos. In a statement, LVMH also said it has signed a deal for the sale of France's other chief financial daily, La Tribune, to businessman Alain Weill. The financial details of the LVMH-Pearson deal for Groupe Les Echos were not given, but news reports have said it could generate around 200 million euros (US$287 million).
■ ENERGY
Three Gorges output up
China's electricity output at the world's biggest hydropower project rose by about 25 percent this year after new generators were installed. The Three Gorges station has generated 60.86 million megawatt-hours of electricity so far this year with output until the end of the year expected to reach 61.6 million megawatt-hours, the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission said in a statement on its Web site yesterday. China added 5,000 megawatts of new capacity at Three Gorges this year, bringing the total capacity to 14,800 megawatts, the commission said. Water flow at the power station had increased 36.4 percent by Dec. 23 compared with last year, it said.
■ ELECTRONICS
Sanyo may be delisted
Sanyo Electric Co, the Japanese electronics maker that has not turned a profit for three years, may have its shares removed from the Tokyo Stock Exchange after the company misstated six years of financial results. The shares are on watch for possible delisting, the exchange said on its Web site after Osaka-based Sanyo disclosed yesterday it understated losses from April 2000 to March of last year. Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission recommended Sanyo be fined ¥8.3 million (US$72,650). Sanyo, the world's largest maker of rechargeable batteries, will cut salaries for executives including the president and cancel retirement pay for board members for their failure to prevent the misstatements. The company erroneously paid dividends because of the errors, it said.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest foundry service provider, yesterday said that global semiconductor revenue is projected to hit US$1.5 trillion in 2030, after the figure exceeds US$1 trillion this year, as artificial intelligence (AI) demand boosts consumption of token and compute power. “We are still at the beginning of the AI revolution, but we already see a significant impact across the whole semiconductor ecosystem,” TSMC deputy cochief operating officer Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “It is fair to say that in the past decade, smartphones and other mobile devices were
US-CHINA SUMMIT: MOFA welcomed US reassurance of no change in its Taiwan policy; Trump said he did not comment when Xi talked of opposing independence US President Donald Trump yesterday said he has not made a decision on whether to move forward with a major arms package for Taiwan after hearing concerns about it from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Trump’s comments on Taiwan came as he flew back to Washington after wrapping up critical talks in which both leaders said important progress was made in stabilizing US-China relations even as deep differences persist between the world’s two biggest powers on Iran and Taiwan. “I will make a determination,” Trump said, adding: “I’ll be making decisions. But, you know, I think the last thing we need right
TAIWAN ISSUE: US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on the first day of meetings that ‘it wouldn’t be a US-China summit without the Taiwan issue coming up’ There were no surprises on the first day of the summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday, as the government reiterated that cross-strait stability is crucial to the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the world. As the two presidents met for a highly anticipated summit yesterday, Chinese state media reported that Xi warned Trump that missteps regarding Taiwan could push their two countries into “conflict.” Trump arrived in China with accolades for his host, calling Xi a “great leader” and “friend,” and extending an invitation to visit the White House
RSS