■INVESTMENT
Chinatrust to raise NT$44bn
Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控), Taiwan’s fourth-largest listed financial services company, plans to raise NT$44.35 billion (US$1.3 billion) in a private placement of shares. The company plans to sell 2.5 billion shares at NT$17.74 each, it said in an exchange filing on Friday. Chinatrust Financial will use the funds “to strengthen capital and financial structure, inject working capital for long-term operation and business expansion,” the company said in the filing. Chinatrust Financial and Primus Financial Holdings Ltd have placed the highest bids for Nan Shan Life Insurance Co (南山人壽), the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported yesterday, citing unnamed sources. Chinatrust Financial has offered to pay US$2.1 billion for Nan Shan, American International Group Inc’s Taiwan unit, while Primus has placed a US$2 billion bid, the paper said.
■AUTOMAKERS
China sales expected to soar
China’s vehicle sales may rise 28 percent this year, according to the nation’s top planning agency, likely enough for the country to surpass the US as the world’s largest auto market. Full-year sales may reach as high as 12 million vehicles, Chen Bin (陳斌), chief director of the industry coordination department at the National Development and Reform Commission, said yesterday at a conference in Tianjin. US sales will likely be around 10.5 million, according to both General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co. China has boosted auto sales this year through tax cuts and subsidies as a part of a wider 4 trillion yuan (US$586 billion) stimulus that has shielded the country from the worst of the global recession.
■BEVERAGES
Coca-Cola grows in Vietnam
The Coca-Cola Company said it would double its investment in Vietnam to US$400 million. The firm said it would invest, in conjunction with its local bottler, an additional US$200 million in the country over the next three years. Since returning to Vietnam in 1994, Coca-Cola has already invested US$200 million and has three bottling plants: in the north, central and southern parts of the country, the company said in a statement on Friday. “Vietnam is a very important growth market to The Coca-Cola Company,” the firm’s chairman and chief executive officer Muhtar Kent said in the statement.
■AUTOMAKERS
Suzuki eyes new India plant
Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp plans to build a new plant in India in 2011 in a bid to meet growing demand for cars in the country, a newspaper reported yesterday. The manufacturer of small cars and motorcycles plans to invest about ¥30 billion (US$323 million) in construction of a plant with annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles, the Nikkei business daily said. The firm will build the plant near its production base in Manesar near New Delhi, where Suzuki has already been producing 300,000 units a year with its Indian partner, the daily’s evening edition said.
■BANKING
US failures hit 89 this year
US bank regulators closed four Midwestern banks and one in Arizona on Friday, bringing to 89 the number of US banks to fail this year as deteriorating loans continue to take their toll on financial institutions. The five failures will cost the FDIC deposit insurance fund an estimated US$401.3 million, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said. Last year, 25 US banks were seized by officials, up from only three in 2007.
STIMULUS PLANS: An official said that China would increase funding from special treasury bonds and expand another program focused on key strategic sectors China is to sharply increase funding from ultra-long treasury bonds this year to spur business investment and consumer-boosting initiatives, a state planner official told a news conference yesterday, as Beijing cranks up fiscal stimulus to revitalize its faltering economy. Special treasury bonds would be used to fund large-scale equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-ins, said Yuan Da (袁達), deputy secretary-general of the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission. “The size of ultra-long special government bond funds will be sharply increased this year to intensify and expand the implementation of the two new initiatives,” Yuan said. Under the program launched last year, consumers can
Citigroup Inc and Bank of America Corp said they are leaving a global climate-banking group, becoming the latest Wall Street lenders to exit the coalition in the past month. In a statement, Citigroup said while it remains committed to achieving net zero emissions, it is exiting the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA). Bank of America said separately on Tuesday that it is also leaving NZBA, adding that it would continue to work with clients on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The banks’ departure from NZBA follows Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Wells Fargo & Co. The largest US financial institutions are under increasing pressure
FUTURE TECH: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang would give the keynote speech at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, which is also expected to highlight autonomous vehicles Gadgets, robots and vehicles imbued with artificial intelligence (AI) would once again vie for attention at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week, as vendors behind the scenes would seek ways to deal with tariffs threatened by US president-elect Donald Trump. The annual Consumer Electronics Show opens formally in Las Vegas tomorrow, but preceding days are packed with product announcements. AI would be a major theme of the show, along with autonomous vehicles ranging from tractors and boats to lawn mowers and golf club trollies. “Everybody is going to be talking about AI,” Creative Strategies Inc analyst Carolina Milanesi said. “From fridges to ovens
TRENDS: The bitcoin rally sparked by US president-elect Donald Trump’s victory has slowed down, partly due to outflows from exchange-traded funds for the token Gold is heading for one of its biggest annual gains this century, with a 27 percent advance that has been fueled by US monetary easing, sustained geopolitical risks and a wave of purchases by central banks. While bullion has ticked lower since US president-elect Donald Trump’s sweeping victory in last month’s election, its gains this year still outstrip most other commodities. Base metals have had a mixed year, while iron ore has tumbled, and lithium’s woes have deepened. The varied performances highlight the absence of a single, over-riding driver that has steered the complex’s fortunes, while also putting the spotlight
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