■ENERGY
GDF Suez in merger talks
French energy giant GDF Suez said yesterday it had renewed talks for a possible merger with its British competitor International Power after a first offer failed earlier this year. GDF Suez announced in a statement “that it is in preliminary discussions with International Power regarding a possible combination of International Power and GDF Suez Energy International Business Areas [outside Europe] and certain assets in the UK and Turkey.” International Power, which has interests in 45 power stations around the world and owns six power plants in Britain, also announced the preliminary talks in a separate statement in London. If the discussions are successful, they would lead to the creation of an enlarged International Energy group, which would remain on the London stock exchange, and in which GDF Suez would be the major shareholder, both companies said.
■REAL ESTATE
Beijing apartments too dear
A typical Beijing apartment costs about 22 times average incomes in the city, the China Daily said yesterday, highlighting the challenge China faces in providing affordable housing amid a property boom. A 90m² apartment in Beijing cost 1.6 million yuan (US$236,000) last year, the China Daily said, citing an independent report. That compared with an average household disposable income of about 71,000 yuan last year, according to city figures. The report was completed by the Beijing University of Technology and the Social Science Academic Press. It said the building of low-cost, government-subsidized housing had failed to meet demand and called on policymakers to increase the supply of land for such projects. Property prices last month fell 0.1 percent from the previous month, their first monthly fall since the first quarter of last year, according to official data.
■TELECOMS
Reliance shares skyrocket
Shares of India’s Reliance Communications rose nearly 4 percent yesterday on a report by the Financial Times that Abu Dhabi’s Etisalat was close to buying a 26 percent stake in the firm for US$3 billion. Reliance, the country’s second-biggest mobile phone firm, led by billionaire Anil Ambani, is looking for an investor to help raise cash to reduce its debt and upgrade its network. Reliance Communications shares rose to the day’s high of 194.45 rupees yesterday, up 3.92 percent. They have risen more than 40 percent in the past two months on speculation about interest by an overseas investor in the company.
■BANKING
Levies could benefit Asia
The head of Germany’s biggest bank, Josef Ackermann, said yesterday in an interview that growing Asian competition could benefit from proposed European and US bank levies. “The relative importance of Asia will even increase” as a result of regulatory moves against banks in the West, Ackermann told the Wall Street Journal. “Asian countries would be well advised not to copy levies which are so popular in many other parts of the world,” he said. Governments in Europe and the US are set to impose bank levies to help pay for the heavy cost of financial sector bailouts. Many in Asia are planning meanwhile to establish major financial centers to take on the established Western banking powers, Ackermann said. “A lot of governments are determined, including the Chinese, to build up financial hubs at a time when other countries are more skeptical about the financial sector,” he said.
PREPAREDNESS: Given the difficulty of importing ammunition during wartime, the Ministry of National Defense said it would prioritize ‘coproduction’ partnerships A newly formed unit of the Marine Corps tasked with land-based security operations has recently replaced its aging, domestically produced rifles with more advanced, US-made M4A1 rifles, a source said yesterday. The unnamed source familiar with the matter said the First Security Battalion of the Marine Corps’ Air Defense and Base Guard Group has replaced its older T65K2 rifles, which have been in service since the late 1980s, with the newly received M4A1s. The source did not say exactly when the upgrade took place or how many M4A1s were issued to the battalion. The confirmation came after Chinese-language media reported
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
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