■BANKING
Allianz to decide bank’s fate
The German insurance group Allianz is to decide on Sunday what to do with troubled banking unit Dresdner Bank, and is in talks with Commerzbank and the Chinese bank CDB, a press report said yesterday. Allianz is expected to retain around 30 percent of the bank’s capital however, to be able to continue selling insurance products at its branches, the business daily Handelsblatt said, quoting sources close to the matter. It added that CDB had offered more for the stake being offered, and would allow Allianz access to the huge Chinese insurance market.
■FOOD
Dairy Farmers co-op bought
National Foods, a unit of Japanese brewing giant Kirin, has acquired Australia’s Dairy Farmers co-operative for A$910 million (US$782 million), the companies confirmed yesterday. The Japanese company is paying 12.8 times this year’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, the Australian company said. “National Foods has the capability and financial strength to leverage the acquisition of ACF to create new business opportunities domestically and in the vitally important Asian region,” National Foods managing director Ashley Waugh said. Ian Langdon, chairman of the Australian Co-operative Foods Limited, which trades as Dairy Farmers, welcomed the move.
■BANKING
Imperial Energy gets offer
British oil and gas explorer Imperial Energy said yesterday that Indian energy giant ONGC has offered to buy the group for £1.4 billion (US$2.6 billion). “Imperial Energy confirms that it is in the course of finalizing the terms of a possible recommended pre-conditional cash offer with ONGC of 1,250 pence per Imperial share,” Imperial said in a brief statement. The offer “would value its entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital at approximately £1.4 billion,” it said. The London-listed group, which hunts for oil and gas in Russia and in Kazakhstan, said further details would be released later yesterday.
■JAPAN
Yamaha shares rise on story
Yamaha Corp shares rose the most in a year after a newspaper report said managers of the Japanese maker of music instruments and audio equipment may buy out the company. Yamaha denied the report. Company managers are in talks with Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd to fund buyout plans, the Kabushiki Shimbun, a stock market newspaper, said yesterday, citing unidentified people. Yamaha aims use a management buyout to protect itself and affiliate Yamaha Motor Co from a hostile takeover, the paper reported. Yamaha spokesman Toshiyuki Nihashi said the report was untrue, in a telephone interview yesterday.
■TRADE
Australia to sign trade deal
Australia and New Zealand are likely to sign free-trade agreements with some ASEAN nations within weeks, in a deal aimed at boosting trade between the Pacific countries and a market of over half a billion people. “I understand it’s only a matter of protocol, a matter of procedure. We’re working on one country which has some difficulty in this protocol but we think that it’s within reach,” the ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said. Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of economy ministers of ASEAN and other Asia-Pacific countries in Singapore, Surin declined to identify the country.
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
RULES BROKEN: The MAC warned Chinese not to say anything that would be harmful to the autonomous status of Taiwan or undermine its sovereignty A Chinese couple accused of disrupting a pro-democracy event in Taipei organized by Hong Kong residents has been deported, the National Immigration Agency said in a statement yesterday afternoon. A Chinese man, surnamed Yao (姚), and his wife were escorted by immigration officials to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, where they boarded a flight to China before noon yesterday, the agency said. The agency said that it had annulled the couple’s entry permits, citing alleged contraventions of the Regulations Governing the Approval of Entry of People of the Mainland Area into the Taiwan Area (大陸地區人民進入台灣地區許可辦法). The couple applied to visit a family member in
CELEBRATION: The PRC turned 75 on Oct. 1, but the Republic of China is older. The PRC could never be the homeland of the people of the ROC, Lai said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) could not be the “motherland” of the people of the Republic of China (ROC), President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks in a speech at a Double Ten National Day gala in Taipei, which is part of National Day celebrations that are to culminate in a fireworks display in Yunlin County on Thursday night next week. Lai wished the country a happy birthday and called on attendees to enjoy the performances and activities while keeping in mind that the ROC is a sovereign and independent nation. He appealed for everyone to always love their
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