■ ENERGY
Hyundai signs power deal
South Korea's third-largest builder Hyundai Engineering and Construction said yesterday it had signed a US$680 million deal with the Libyan government to build a power plant. The plant will be 20km west of Tripoli, it said in a regulatory filing, and will take 52 months to complete. Last October the firm signed a preliminary deal to build two power plants. Hyundai Engineering said it had yet to sign a formal contract for the second one.
■ INVESTMENT
China to invest in UK stocks
Chinese banks will be able to invest client money in British stocks and mutual funds, China said after striking a deal with the European nation's regulators. Britain will become only the second overseas investment destination after Hong Kong for Chinese banks, which can invest client money overseas under China's Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor program. The China Banking Regulatory Commission said banks would be able to invest in the US stock market once it strikes a similar arrangement with US regulators.
■ MEDICINE
Bristol to sell imaging unit
Drug developer Bristol-Myers Squibb Co said on Monday it will sell its medical imaging unit to private equity firm Avista Capital Partners for about US$525 million in cash. The unit makes and sells medical imaging products used during ultrasound and diagnostic procedures. It had been on the sales block since earlier this month, when the company announced a series of restructuring moves. Earlier this month, the company said it would lay off about 4,300 employees and close more than half of its manufacturing plants in a move to save US$1.5 billion in costs by 2010.
■ TOBACCO
Loews to spin off Lorillard
US conglomerate Loews Corporation said on Monday that it had decided to spin off its ownership interest in Lorillard, one of the US' oldest tobacco companies. Loews said the spinoff, if approved by regulators, would see Lorillard become a separate publicly traded company. It is presently a subsidiary of Loews, which owns a range of businesses straddling finance, leisure and hospitality, energy and luxury goods. Lorillard claims to be the US' oldest tobacco firm. It was founded by Pierre Lorillard in New York in 1760. Loews' shareholders will still be able to own stakes in Lorillard under the deal's terms. The conglomerate wants to complete the spin-off by the middle of next year.
■ INVESTMENT
Centro shares plummet
Stocks in Australia's second-largest shopping center owner Centro plummeted 40 percent yesterday in the wake of a profit warning prompted by the global credit crunch. The losses added to a 75 percent plunge recorded on Monday, when Centro announced it was considering asset sales because it could not secure sufficient financing in the tight credit market. The stock opened the week at A$5.79 (US$4.98), but has sunk to less than a tenth of its initial value over the past two days. Shares hit A$0.82 in afternoon trading on a falling overall market. Centro warned on Monday that it was reviewing its structure after failing to secure short-term loans worth A$1.3 billion.
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so
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