■ENERGY
Entergy optimistic on spinoff
Entergy Corp’s plans to spin off six nuclear reactors including Indian Point in New York should be able to proceed because credit markets have eased, chief executive officer Wayne Leonard said. Entergy, the second-biggest US operator of nuclear power plants, is focused on getting approval from New York regulators, Leonard said. “Now the market is greatly improved,” Leonard said in an interview in Washington on Friday. “We had some investors this week that were making the point, ‘I don’t think you’d have any trouble raising US$4.5 billion for these kind of assets.’” New Orleans-based Entergy announced in November 2007 plans to create a company, Enexus Energy Corp, which would have almost 5,000 megawatts of nuclear generation.
■GERMANY
Recession may bottom out
The country’s recession may bottom out in the second half of the year as industrial production, private consumption and construction orders begin to stabilize, the Finance Ministry said. Europe’s largest economy is likely to contract less severely in the second quarter ending on June 30, the ministry said yesterday in its monthly report. Economic stimulus programs worth 82 billion euros (US$115 billion) have spurred municipal construction and supported consumption, notably boosting auto purchases, it said. Improved business and consumption sentiment “are a sign that the recession may bottom out in the second half of the year.” The country’s economy is forecast to contract 6 percent this year as the global recession curbs foreign demand for exports.
■OIL
PetroChina acquires SPC
Chinese oil giant PetroChina (中石油) announced yesterday that it had completed the acquisition of nearly half of refiner Singapore Petroleum Company (SPC) in a deal worth more than US$1 billion. PetroChina, the listed unit of the nation’s biggest oil and gas producer, has bought 45.51 percent of SPC’s issued share capital, the Chinese company said in a statement filed with the Shanghai stock exchange. PetroChina said last month it had agreed to buy the stake for US$1.02 billion from Keppel Oil and Gas Services, part of Singapore-based conglomerate Keppel Corp (吉寶企業). It will make a mandatory cash offer for the rest of the Singaporean refiner next month, it added. SPC, a regional energy company with interests in petroleum refining and marketing, owns a 50 percent stake in one of Singapore’s three major petroleum refiners. The deal is the latest high-profile overseas bid by China, which sits on US$1.9 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, to fuel its economy, now the world’s third-largest.
■NIGERIA
Takeovers may be allowed
Central bank governor Lamido Sanusi was prepared to break with a decades-old ban on foreign takeovers of its banks, he said in an interview with the Financial Times. “What we have today is that the central bank is not likely to support a foreign bank owning more than 10 percent of a top tier Nigerian bank. That is something that in my view needs to be looked at again,” Sanusi said. He said the ban was not a legal requirement but policy of the previous leadership of the Central Bank of Nigeria. “If as governor of central bank I am okay to have a bank owned by nominees and I don’t know who owns them, why wouldn’t I be comfortable with a bank owned by Barclays, or HSBC or China Construction Bank, who I know?” he added. “For me it’s a no-brainer.”
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
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