■FINANCE
Goldman to bid for iShares
Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs is working on a bid for iShares, the asset management business being auctioned by British bank Barclays, newspaper reports said yesterday. The Financial Times said the business could be valued at up to US$6.5 billion, while the Daily Telegraph put the figure at US$5 billion. Other bidders include Bain Capital and a consortium led by buy-out firm Hellman & Friedman, they said. Barclays has fared better in the financial crisis than many of its British banking rivals, but said on March 16 it had approached “a number of potentially interested parties” about selling iShares.
■ELECTRONICS
Sanyo predicts loss
Japan’s Sanyo Electric Co said yesterday it expected a loss in the financial year ending this month, scrapping an earlier forecast that it would break even. Sanyo, which is being bought by its bigger rival Panasonic Corp, blamed the worse-than-expected performance on the cost of restructuring its businesses, in particular the ailing semiconductor division. The company now expects an annual net loss of ¥90 billion (US$918 million), compared with an earlier forecast of zero profits. It sees an operating loss of ¥30 billion, against an earlier projection of a ¥30 billion profit.
■ENERGY
Suncor to buy Petro-Canada
Suncor Energy Inc will acquire Petro-Canada for C$19.12 billion (US$15.5 billion), uniting two of Canada’s biggest oil companies as the nation’s energy industry retrenches. If the deal announced on Monday is approved, the combined company would be the largest oil company in Canada and have a market capitalization of about C$48 billion. That’s much smaller than global heavyweights such as Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips, which boast market capitalizations of US$326.6 billion and US$55.97 billion respectively, but the company would have some of the same benefits of scale.
■TRADE
South Korea, EU reach deal
South Korea and the EU have reached a tentative trade deal after almost two years of talks and will try to settle outstanding issues early next month, the two sides said yesterday. They “reached provisional agreement on almost all pending issues” during negotiations which began on Monday, Seoul’s foreign and trade ministry said in a statement. They failed to reach a deal on some contentious matters such as rules of origin for products, it said, adding final agreement would be sought at trade ministers’ talks in London on April 2. When concluded, the agreement would eliminate some 97 percent of tariffs on bilateral trade over the next five years, EU negotiator Ignacio Garcia Bercero told a press conference.
■MINING
Iron ore prices to drop
Iron ore prices are certain to fall this year, the first decline in seven years, but not by the 50 percent suggested by some steel makers, Rio Tinto said yesterday. “We need to recognise the fundamentals of the market and the market would show that it does need a downward adjustment this year,” Sam Walsh, head of Rio’s iron ore division, said on the sidelines of a mining conference. But given the potential for a recovery in industrial demand at some stage and indications from the spot ore market, prices don’t need to drop by half, Walsh said, breaking a tradition of keeping silent on price issues until talks are concluded.
CSBC Corp, Taiwan (台灣國際造船) yesterday released the first video documenting the submerged sea trials of Taiwan’s indigenous defense submarine prototype, the Hai Kun (海鯤), or Narwhal, showing underwater navigation and the launch of countermeasures. The footage shows the vessel’s first dive, steering and control system tests, and the raising and lowering of the periscope and antenna masts. It offered a rare look at the progress in the submarine’s sea acceptance tests. The Hai Kun carried out its first shallow-water diving trial late last month and has since completed four submerged tests, CSBC said. The newly released video compiles images recorded from Jan. 29 to
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to make advanced 3-nanometer chips in Japan, stepping up its semiconductor manufacturing roadmap in the country in a triumph for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s technology ambitions. TSMC is to adopt cutting-edge technology for its second wafer fab in Kumamoto, company chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. That is an upgrade from an original blueprint to produce 7-nanometer chips by late next year, people familiar with the matter said. TSMC began mass production at its first plant in Japan’s Kumamoto in late 2024. Its second fab, which is still under construction, was originally focused on
DETERRENCE EFFORTS: Washington and partners hope demonstrations of force would convince Beijing that military action against Taiwan would carry high costs The US is considering using HMAS Stirling in Western Australia as a forward base to strengthen its naval posture in a potential conflict with China, particularly over Taiwan, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. As part of its Indo-Pacific strategy, Washington plans to deploy up to four nuclear-powered submarines at Stirling starting in 2027, providing a base near potential hot spots such as Taiwan and the South China Sea. The move also aims to enhance military integration with Pacific allies under the Australia-UK-US trilateral security partnership, the report said. Currently, US submarines operate from Guam, but the island could
The partisan standoff over President William Lai’s (賴清德) proposed defense budget has raised questions about the nation’s ability to adequately fund its own defense, the US Congressional Research Service (CRS) said in a report released on Tuesday. The report, titled Taiwan: Defense and Military Issues, said the government has increased its defense budget at an average annual rate of 5 percent from 2019 to 2023, with about 2.5 percent of its GDP spent on defense in 2024. Lai in November last year proposed a special budget of about US$40 billion over eight years, and said he intends to increase defense spending to
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