■INVESTMENT
S African accused of fraud
An expatriate South African businessman accused of running a massive pyramid scheme that cost wealthy investors up to US$1.2 billion has denied any wrongdoing, reports said yesterday. Barry Tannenbaum, who lives in Sydney, has been accused of fleecing rich South Africans in what has been billed as one of the country’s biggest Ponzi-style investment scandals, local and South African media reported. But Tannenbaum had denied running a scam in which he allegedly offered 200 percent annual returns for people investing in his pharmaceutical import businesses, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. Tannenbaum, 43, is a relative of one of the founders of South African pharmaceuticals giant Adcock Ingram.
■INSURANCE
Ping An to buy bank stake
China’s Ping An Insurance Group (平安保險), the nation’s second-largest insurer, said yesterday it planned to buy a stake worth up to 22 billion yuan (US$3 billion) in Shenzhen Development Bank (深圳發展銀行). The Hong Kong-listed group said in a statement on its Web site it had agreed to buy up to 1.1 billion shares in the financial institution from the bank itself and from Newbridge Capital, the Asian arm of private equity firm TPG. The Ping An Group currently holds a 4.7 percent stake in Shenzhen Development Bank, but these deals will enable it to acquire up to 30 percent of the firm.
■BANKING
Lehman haggles over assets
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, nine months after it filed bankruptcy and sold its brokerage to Barclays Plc, is still fighting with the British bank over who owns what, including the investment bank’s own furniture. Lehman, once the fourth-largest investment bank, asked a bankruptcy judge in New York last week to let it pay Barclays US$5.9 million to buy back desks, chairs, tables, cubicles, audio-video equipment and security paraphernalia it currently uses in a building at 1271 Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan. The repurchase is necessary because “Barclays has asserted that certain of the office furniture, fixtures and equipment that is located in the building and used by the debtors was previously sold to Barclays,” Lehman said in a June 4 filing in US Bankruptcy Court in New York.
■TRADING
Glitch disrupts NYSE
A computer glitch that halted trading on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) for more than 200 stocks is being resolved, the exchange said. The disruption hit 242 stocks, including American Express Co, General Electric Co, Merck & Co and Exxon Mobil Corp, but they continued to be traded electronically without disruption. About 3,100 stocks are traded at the NYSE. Technicians installed new equipment and the affected stocks were trading an hour later.
■THAILAND
Steel tariffs may be waived
In a bid to assist 15 Japanese auto manufacturers based in the kingdom, Thailand’s finance minister has proposed waiving import tariffs on steel brought in for vehicle production by Japanese firms, media reports said yesterday. Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said the waiver would fall under the Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement, a partial free-trade agreement inked recently. “Now any company that imports steel for auto production will get the privilege,” Korn told the Nation newspaper. The minister, however, will need Cabinet approval before the waiver goes into effect.
Zhang Yazhou was sitting in the passenger seat of her Tesla Model 3 when she said she heard her father’s panicked voice: The brakes do not work. Approaching a red light, her father swerved around two cars before plowing into a sport utility vehicle and a sedan, and crashing into a large concrete barrier. Stunned, Zhang gazed at the deflating airbag in front of her. She could never have imagined what was to come: Tesla Inc sued her for defamation for complaining publicly about the vehicles brakes — and won. A Chinese court ordered Zhang to pay more than US$23,000 in
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday held its first board of directors meeting in the US, at which it did not unveil any new US investments despite mounting tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Trump has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, prompting market speculation that TSMC might consider boosting its chip capacity in the US or ramping up production of advanced chips such as those using a 2-nanometer technology process at its Arizona fabs ahead of schedule. Speculation also swirled that the chipmaker might consider building its own advanced packaging capacity in the US as part
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that its investment plan in Arizona is going according to schedule, following a local media report claiming that the company is planning to break ground on its third wafer fab in the US in June. In a statement, TSMC said it does not comment on market speculation, but that its investments in Arizona are proceeding well. TSMC is investing more than US$65 billion in Arizona to build three advanced wafer fabs. The first one has started production using the 4-nanometer (nm) process, while the second one would start mass production using the
US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose up to 100 percent tariffs on Taiwan’s semiconductor exports to the US to encourage chip manufacturers to move their production facilities to the US, but experts are questioning his strategy, warning it could harm industries on both sides. “I’m very confused and surprised that the Trump administration would try and do this,” Bob O’Donnell, chief analyst and founder of TECHnalysis Research in California, said in an interview with the Central News Agency on Wednesday. “It seems to reflect the fact that they don’t understand how the semiconductor industry really works,” O’Donnell said. Economic sanctions would
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