■REAL ESTATE
Citi dismisses Asian staff
Citigroup Inc dismissed most of the employees at its real estate investment banking team in Asia after slumping property prices stifled share sales and acquisitions in the industry, three people familiar with the matter said. The bank dismissed at least five people two weeks ago, the people said, declining to be identified. Citigroup, which last month embarked on a plan to shed 52,000 jobs worldwide, will serve property clients through its country and corporate bankers after closing down the team, the people said. The bank, with operations in more than 100 countries, last month received US government insurance on US$306 billion in toxic assets.
■ELECTRONICS
LG forecasts slowdown
LG Electronics Inc, Asia’s second-largest mobile-phone maker, forecast its shipment growth will slow next year amid the global recession. “Growth will clearly slow down and we are aiming for a small increase from this year,” Skott Ahn, president of LG’s mobile-phone business, said in a statement yesterday, without giving details. The Seoul-based company said it expects to meet its shipment target of 100 million units for this year and hasn’t set a goal for next year because of the “uncertain” market outlook. LG, the world’s fifth-largest handset maker in the third quarter, said it plans to increase its market share to 10 percent next year. The phone maker had a 7.8 percent share in the July-to-September period, researcher Gartner Inc said.
■ENERGY
Temasek sells power utility
State-linked Singapore investment firm Temasek Holdings has sold its last remaining power utility to a Malaysian company — days after saying the tender process had stopped because of market conditions. Sabre Energy Industries, a wholly owned subsidiary of Malaysia’s YTL Power International Berhad, will pay S$3.6 billion (US$2.4 billion) and assume S$200 million in net debt, a Temasek statement said late on Tuesday. The sale of PowerSeraya is part of Temasek’s divestment plans announced in July last year, and the transaction with YTL Power International is expected to be completed early next year, Temasek said.
■TELECOMS
Telecom Italia to cut jobs
Italian telecommunications group Telecom Italia said yesterday it would cut a further 4,000 jobs in Italy from next year to 2011 as part of a restructuring plan. Telecom Italia, saddled with 35 billion euros (US$44 billion) in debt, launched a savings scheme last June that called for the elimination of 5,000 jobs in Italy. The June initiative aims at savings of 2 billion euros by 2011 and a sharp cut in the debt. The group has also announced its intention to sell off non-strategic operations in deals that could be worth up to 3.0 billion euros.
■JAPAN
Mergers increase 40%
Mergers and acquisitions involving Japanese firms surged 40 percent in the first 11 months of this year from a year ago, Recof Data Corp said. The total value of takeovers or investment deals reached ¥11 trillion (US$118 billion) this year through last month, compared with ¥7.83 trillion for the same period last year, according to data provided by a unit of Recof Corp, a mergers and acquisitions adviser. Among the top deals announced this year are Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc’s US$9 billion investment in Morgan Stanley and the US$8.8 billion acquisition of Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc by Takeda Pharmaceutical Co, Japan’s largest drugmaker.
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
‘RELATIVELY STRONG LANGUAGE’: An expert said the state department has not softened its language on China and was ‘probably a little more Taiwan supportive’ China’s latest drills near Taiwan on Monday were “brazen and irresponsible threats,” a US Department of State spokesperson said on Tuesday, while reiterating Washington’s decades-long support of Taipei. “China cannot credibly claim to be a ‘force for stability in a turbulent world’ while issuing brazen and irresponsible threats toward Taiwan,” the unnamed spokesperson said in an e-mailed response to media queries. Washington’s enduring commitment to Taiwan will continue as it has for 45 years and the US “will continue to support Taiwan in the face of China’s military, economic, informational and diplomatic pressure campaign,” the e-mail said. “Alongside our international partners, we firmly
KAOHSIUNG CEREMONY: The contract chipmaker is planning to build 5 fabs in the southern city to gradually expand its 2-nanometer chip capacity Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday confirmed that it plans to hold a ceremony on March 31 to unveil a capacity expansion plan for its most advanced 2-nanometer chips in Kaohsiung, demonstrating its commitment to further investment at home. The ceremony is to be hosted by TSMC cochief operating officer Y.P. Chyn (秦永沛). It did not disclose whether Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and high-ranking government officials would attend the ceremony. More details are to be released next week, it said. The chipmaker’s latest move came after its announcement earlier this month of an additional US$100 billion
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
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