■PHARMACEUTICALS
Dow to sell Morton Salt
Having completed its US$16.5 billion buyout of Rohm & Haas, Dow Chemical Co said on Wednesday it would sell Morton Salt to German fertilizer maker K+S Aktiengesellschaft in a deal valuing the former Rohm & Haas unit at US$1.675 billion. The sale is part of Dow’s plan to sell off non-core Rohm & Haas assets to pay down the hefty debt it had to take on to complete the purchase of the chemical maker. “This sale puts us ahead of schedule on our de-leveraging plan post the close of the Rohm & Haas acquisition,” Dow chairman and chief executive Andrew Liveris said in a statement.
■INSURANCE
Reinsurer to slim workforce
Swiss Reinsurance Co said yesterday it would cut 10 percent of its work force this year in a bid to reduce costs and simplify its operations. The world’s second-biggest reinsurance company, which currently has 11,560 employees, also announced the appointment of Agostino Galvagni as new chief operating officer. The company posted an 864 million Swiss franc (US$809 million) loss last year. The Zurich-based company has received a capital injection of SF3 billion from US investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc and said it was looking for another SF2 billion on the capital markets.
■PROPERTY
British house prices rise
British house prices rose for the first time in 17 months last month, a survey by home-loans provider Nationwide showed yesterday. The cost of a home in Britain increased by 0.9 percent last month from February, leaving the average value of a home at just under £151,000 (US$220,000), Nationwide said. The surprise increase also led to a reduction in the annual rate at which house prices are falling — to 15.7 percent from a record 17.6 percent in February.
■RETAIL
Aeon to trade in China
Japanese retail giant Aeon Co said yesterday that it plans to open 200 convenience stores in China over the next five years as it looks for business beyond its recession-hit home market. The supermarket operator has set up a unit for its Ministop chain in Qingdao, Shandong Province, with US$5 million in capital, said a spokesman who asked not to be named. “We aim to open outlets as early as this summer and plan to increase the number to about 200 in Shandong Province in five years’ time,” said the spokesman, citing “potentially huge demand.”
■COMPUTERS
Many Satyam staff quitting
As many as 13,000 employees may have quit India’s graft-tainted outsourcing giant Satyam, with some poached by clients and others leaving to work for rivals or other firms, a report said yesterday. The workforce of Satyam, which has been struggling for survival since its founder admitted to falsifying profits, stood at 40,000 by the end of March, down from 53,000 at the start of the year, India’s Mint business daily said.
■COMPUTERS
Silicon Graphics goes bust
Silicon Graphics Inc, a one-time computer powerhouse that delivered the special effects in many Hollywood hits, declared bankruptcy on Wednesday and was purchased for US$25 million in cash. Rackable Systems Inc, a Fremont, California-based manufacturer of servers and data storage products, announced that it had agreed to acquire most of the assets of Silicon Graphics and to assume some of its liabilities.
AIR DEFENSE: The Norwegian missile system has proved highly effective in Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the US has recommended it for Taiwan, an expert said The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Taiwan ordered from the US would be installed in strategically important positions in Taipei and New Taipei City to guard the region, the Ministry of National Defense said in statement yesterday. The air defense system would be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), the ministry said, adding that the systems could be delivered as soon as the end of this year. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has previously said that three NASAMS would be sold to Taiwan. The weapons are part of the 17th US arms sale to
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
Seven hundred and sixty-four foreigners were arrested last year for acting as money mules for criminals, with many entering Taiwan on a tourist visa for all-expenses-paid trips, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Saturday. Although from Jan. 1 to Dec. 26 last year, 26,478 people were arrested for working as money mules, the bureau said it was particularly concerned about those entering the country as tourists or migrant workers who help criminals and scammers pick up or transfer illegally obtained money. In a report, officials divided the money mules into two groups, the first of which are foreigners, mainly from Malaysia
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