■ SOFTWARE
Hurd may take Oracle post
Former Hewlett-Packard Co CEO Mark Hurd is in talks to take a top executive job at Oracle Corp, the database software maker run by his friend Larry Ellison, a person with direct knowledge of the discussions said. The person said on Sunday that Ellison, the only person to serve as Oracle’s CEO since he founded the company 33 years ago, wouldn’t be leaving that post, adding that the talks were not yet finalized. The possibility of Hurd landing at Oracle isn’t a surprise. Ellison was vocal in coming to Hurd’s defense after Hurd’s sudden resignation on Aug. 6 in the wake of a sexual harassment investigation.
■ AVIATION
BA-Iberia eyeing targets
British Airways (BA) and Iberia have identified 12 airlines as potential takeover targets once their own tie-up is finalized, as they bid to create the world’s biggest carrier, newspapers reported yesterday. “In our discussions with colleagues in Iberia we have looked at airlines around the world to identify those that would be attractive to IAG [International Airlines Group],” the Times quoted BA chief executive Willie Walsh as saying. Analysts said BA-Iberia could be interested in Qantas, Cathay Pacific, American, LAN and South African, the Times reported. BA and Iberia are expected to complete their merger by the end of this year, but will operate under their existing brands as part of a new London-based holding company called IAG.
■ FINANCE
Retail mall fund going well
ING Real Estate Investment Management, the world’s largest property asset manager, is close to completing the first round of raising money for its 1.5 billion euro (US$1.9 billion) European shopping-mall fund. Since announcing a plan to set up the European Shopping Centre Fund in March, ING has received pledges of about 500 million euros from pension funds, insurers and other money managers, Pieter Hendrikse, its European chief, said in an interview last week in Amsterdam. ING’s fund aims to deliver an annual investment return of about 11 percent by boosting building values and income generation through better management, Hendrikse said.
■ AUTOMOBILES
UK auto sales dip 17.5%
Sales of new cars in Britain dropped 17.5 percent last month from a year ago, falling for the second consecutive month following the end of an incentive scheme to scrap old models, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said yesterday. The market will remain tough for the rest of the year, the association said, but it forecast that registrations this year would total 2 million, up 1.2 percent from last year. Jointly funded by the government and industry, the scrappage scheme offered motorists £2,000 (US$3,000) to trade in cars more than a decade old for more fuel efficient methods. The association said 55,305 vehicles were sold last month. The Ford Fiesta was the best-selling model last month and year to date.
■BONDS
Banks boost risk holdings
Banks increased their holdings of Greek, Irish, Portuguese and Spanish debt in the first quarter even as the sovereign crisis roiled credit markets, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said. Banks boosted the amount they had at risk to the nations by US$109 billion to US$2.6 trillion, the Basel, Switzerland-based BIS said in its latest quarterly report. Banks in euro-zone countries held the greatest share of bonds from the four countries and Italy, the BIS said.
MILESTONE: The foreign minister called the signing ‘a major step forward in US-Taiwan relations,’ while the Presidential Office said it was a symbol of the nations’ shared values US President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed into law the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, which requires the US Department of State to regularly review and update guidelines governing official US interactions with Taiwan. The new law is an amendment to the Taiwan Assurance Act of 2020 focused on reviewing guidelines on US interactions with Taiwan. Previously, the state department was required to conduct a one-time review of its guidance governing relations with Taiwan, but under the new bill, the agency must conduct a review “not less than every five years.” It must then submit an updated report based on its findings “not later
The Presidential Office today thanked the US for enacting the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, which requires the US Department of State to regularly review and update guidelines governing official US interactions with Taiwan. The new law, signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday, is an amendment to the Taiwan Assurance Act of 2020 focused on reviewing guidelines on US interactions with Taiwan. Previously, the department was required to conduct a one-time review of its guidance governing relations with Taiwan, but under the new bill, the agency must conduct such a review "not less than every five years." It must then submit an updated
CROSS-STRAIT COLLABORATION: The new KMT chairwoman expressed interest in meeting the Chinese president from the start, but she’ll have to pay to get in Beijing allegedly agreed to let Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) around the Lunar New Year holiday next year on three conditions, including that the KMT block Taiwan’s arms purchases, a source said yesterday. Cheng has expressed interest in meeting Xi since she won the KMT’s chairmanship election in October. A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a consensus on a meeting was allegedly reached after two KMT vice chairmen visited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) in China last month. Beijing allegedly gave the KMT three conditions it had to
STAYING ALERT: China this week deployed its largest maritime show of force to date in the region, prompting concern in Taipei and Tokyo, which Beijing has brushed off Deterring conflict over Taiwan is a priority, the White House said in its National Security Strategy published yesterday, which also called on Japan and South Korea to increase their defense spending to help protect the first island chain. Taiwan is strategically positioned between Northeast and Southeast Asia, and provides direct access to the second island chain, with one-third of global shipping passing through the South China Sea, the report said. Given the implications for the US economy, along with Taiwan’s dominance in semiconductors, “deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority,” it said. However, the strategy also reiterated
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