Company news

Maersk close to acquisitions to bulk up land-based logistics

AP Moller-Maersk is getting close to making a number of acquisitions to bulk up its land-based logistics business after the world’s largest container shipping group strengthened its balance sheet.

The Danish group transports one-fifth of all seaborne freight but sells land-based logistic products to fewer than 20 per cent of its ocean customers, according to chief executive Soren Skou.

“We need to accelerate the land side, we need to grow it, we need to make some bolt-on acquisitions. We are getting much closer to the point where it starts to make sense,” Mr Skou told the Financial Times.

Maersk has undergone one of the biggest transformations in European industry in recent years, jettisoning its oil and other energy businesses to focus purely on Maersk Line, the world’s largest container shipping group, as well as its port terminals and logistics units.

Mr Skou has underscored for more than a year that Maersk needs to boost its land logistics business offering services such as supply chain management, truck freight, and running warehouses so that it could “become the global integrator from factory to distribution centre”. - Nampa/Reuters

Japan Display in talks to sell key smartphone screen plant to Apple, Sharp

Cash-strapped Japan Display Inc is discussing the sale of its main smartphone screen factory to Apple Inc and Sharp Corp for as much as US$820 million, the Nikkei business daily reported on Friday.

Sharp, a unit of Taiwan's Foxconn and which like Japan Display is also a supplier of phone screens to Apple, said it was considering the purchase of the plant after receiving a request from a client it did not identify.

"We are carefully considering it, reviewing the impact that any purchase would have on our earnings, and whether and how much risk it would entail," Sharp said in a statement.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The maker of advanced LCD screens owes Apple more than US$800 million for the US$1.5 billion cost of building the plant four years ago. – Nampa/Reuters

Astellas ramps up M&A, buys U.S. biotech Xyphos

Astellas Pharma Inc has bought U.S.-based Xyphos Biosciences Inc to expand its immuno-oncology business, a deal worth up to US$665 million including potential development milestones and its second acquisition announced this month.

Japan's second biggest drugmaker by sales paid US$120 million upfront for Xyphos and the rest will be milestone payments, the companies said in a statement. Astellas also said this month it had agreed to purchase Audentes Therapeutics Inc for about US$3 billion to expand its push into genetic medicines. The deal is due to close in January.

Immuno-oncology, which seeks to use the body's own defense systems to fight cancer, is a primary focus for Astellas and under the deal, the Japanese firm will gain Xyphos' cell therapy technology platform and its research team.

"Combining this technology with our capabilities in cell therapy that we have been working on so far, we can create next-generation high-function cells and maximize the value of our technology," Astellas President Kenji Yasukawa said in the statement. - Nampa/Reuters

Markets in 2019: record stocks, lower rates

On January 3, the S&P 500 sank 2.5% when Apple warned of sagging demand for the iPhone, an inauspicious start to 2019 following a 14% drubbing in last year's fourth quarter.

On January 4, Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell said the central bank would be "patient" with its interest rate policy following four increases in 2018. The S&P 500 soared 3.4% and by the end of the month was up nearly 8%. January's swing helped set the tone for a year in which the market responded to every downturn with a more sustained upswing.

Along the way, stocks kept setting records – 32 of them for the S&P 500 by Dec. 20, and 19 for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

By its final policy meeting in December, the Fed had completely reversed course and cut rates three times in what Powell called a pre-emptive move against any impact a sluggish global economy and the U.S.-China trade war might have on U.S. economic growth.

The stock market, and most Fed observers not named Trump, approved of the Fed's actions. Investors' uncertainty over trade policy eased by December as Washington and Beijing reached a modest, interim agreement that averted a new round of tariffs on US$160 billion worth of Chinese imports and reduced existing import taxes on about US$112 billion in other Chinese goods.

While the pact left unresolved some of the thorniest issues between the two countries, investors appeared happy to have a de-escalation in trade tensions now and push off lingering concerns until 2020. - Nampa/Reuters

Peru watchdog says McDonald's franchisee violated safety laws

Peru’s labor watchdog has found McDonald's Latin America franchisee Arcos Dorados guilty of six "very serious" violations of local safety and health laws following the deaths of two employees in a restaurant kitchen.

The Labor Ministry's regulating body (Sunafil) proposed that the company be fined US$254 000 over the deaths. Arcos Dorados, which operates all 29 McDonald's restaurants in Peru, did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Alexandra Porras, 18, and Carlos Campo, 19 were electrocuted earlier this month in Lima, while cleaning the kitchen. They were a couple who had been working for the fast-food chain for several months.

The government has improved business health and safety regulations in response to the case, Labor Minister Sylvia Caceres told a news conference Thursday. The current system of one inspection of companies per year is being replaced by as many spot inspections as necessary, she said.

Arcos Dorados, which operates McDonald's restaurants throughout South America and the Caribbean, said last week that McDonald's stores in Peru would remain closed until it finished its own investigation into what happened. - Nampa/Reuters