■MINING
Brazilian firms eye UK listing
Brazilian iron ore firm Ferrous Resources Ltd plans to list in London, raising up to US$450 million to develop its mine projects. “Our target is to be one of the world’s largest iron ore producing companies,” executive chairman Gordon Toll said in a statement yesterday. The listing on the main board of the London Stock Exchange will consist of a combination of new shares and sales of shares by existing shareholders, Ferrous said. The firm, which plans to raise US$350 toUS$450 million from new shares, expects to have a free float of around 25 percent, the firm said. Ferrous aims to produce 25 million tonnes of iron ore per year by the end of 2013 and 65 million tonnes by 2016. It has five assets in Minas Gerais, the largest iron-ore-producing region in Brazil, and one asset in Bahia state, with total resources of 4.5 billion tonnes.
■STEEL
Ansteel plans US expansion
China’s Anshan Iron and Steel Group (Ansteel, 鞍鋼) said yesterday it had signed an equity investment agreement with US mill Steel Development Company that includes building five new US plants. The first plant will be built in Amory, Mississippi, and mainly target the southeastern US and Latin American markets, Ansteel said in a statement on its Web site. It said the structure of the deal, which was signed on Friday, was needed to meet US government requirements that steel used in infrastructure projects funded by a massive US stimulus package come from local manufacturers. The Mississippi government would help subsidize the Amory plant, it said, without providing further details.
■INVESTMENT
Man Group to buy GLG
Man Group Plc, the biggest publicly traded hedge fund firm, agreed to buy GLG Partners Inc for US$1.6 billion to reduce its reliance on a single trading program and expand its range of funds. GLG’s public shareholders will receive US$4.50 in cash for each share, 55 percent more than the firm’s closing price on Friday, London-based Man Group said in a statement yesterday. Man Group has been criticized by analysts for its dependence on AHL, a trading program that accounts for half of assets, and has said it wants to diversify by adding strategies uncorrelated to AHL’s managed futures. The purchase was “central to Man’s stated strategy of acquiring high-quality discretionary investment management capability to broaden our range of diversified, liquid strategies for the benefit of our investors,” Man chairman Jon Aisbitt said in the statement.
■ECONOMY
Singapore’s exports soar
Singapore said yesterday that exports rose 29.4 percent last month from the previous year on strong demand from major trading partners such as the US, China and Hong Kong. The rise in non-oil domestic exports beat expectations and was faster than the 25.4 percent growth in March, trade promotion body International Enterprise (IE) Singapore said. Exports of electronics and non-electronics goods powered the growth, it said. Although shipments to all 10 top export markets climbed, “the largest contributors to the increase were the US, China and Hong Kong,” IE Singapore said. Exports to the US soared 46 percent, up from a 12 percent rise in March, while shipments to China rose 30 percent and to Hong Kong 41 percent. Total trade expanded by 31 percent to nearly S$77 billion (US$55 billion).
WHAT WAS ALL THAT FOR? Jaw Shaw-kong said that Cheng Li-wen had pushed for more drastic cuts and attacked him, just for the outcome to be nearly identical to his bill The legislature yesterday passed a supplementary budget bill to fund the purchase of separate packages of US military equipment, with the combined amount of spending capped at NT$780 billion (US$24.8 billion). The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their legislative majority to pass the bill, which runs until 2033 and has two main funding provisions. One was for NT$300 billion of arms sales already approved by the US for Taiwan on Dec. 17 last year, the other was for NT$480 billion for another arms package expected to be announced by Washington. The bill, which fell short of the NT$1.25
Taiwanese shares yesterday posted a record daily gain of more than 1,700 points to close above 40,000 points for the first time, led by large-cap semiconductor stocks such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) amid optimism about the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The TAIEX ended up 1,778.51 points, or 4.57 percent, at 40,705.14 after moving between 39,228.39 and 40,755.52, while the New Taiwan dollar closed up NT$0.038 at NT$31.610 per US dollar, ending three consecutive sessions of declines. Turnover on the main board totaled NT$1.007 trillion (US$31.9 billion), with foreign institutional investors buying a net NT$66.98 billion
A former television news host and six military personnel — active and retired — have been indicted on espionage charges, Kaohsiung prosecutors said yesterday. Lin Chen-you (林宸佑), a former CTi News host and YouTuber, last year allegedly made videos at the direction of a Chinese agent criticizing the Democratic Progressive Party’s recall campaign, the Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office told a news conference in Kaohsiung. He allegedly received 4,325 tether coins for the videos from an unidentified person surnamed Huang (黃), believed to be an agent of a hostile foreign power, they said. Lin, also known as Ma Te (馬德), has a show named
NON-INTERFERENCE: The US called Taiwan a trusted and capable partner, while an African Union leader urged nations to reflect on respect for sovereign choices Taiwan is a “trusted and capable” partner of the US and Taipei’s global relationships, including with Eswatini, provide significant benefits, the US Department of State said of President William Lai’s (賴清德) trip to the southern African kingdom. Lai arrived in the former Swaziland on Saturday on a surprise visit after a planned trip last month was canceled when Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar denied overflight permission for his aircraft due to Chinese pressure. “Taiwan is a trusted and capable partner of the United States and many others, and its relationships around the world provide significant benefits to the citizens of those countries,
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