COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Toshiba wants independent probe A major investor in Japan's Toshiba Corp has called for a third-party investigation into the conglomerate's annual shareholder meeting, saying its vote was not fully recognised in a potential breach of governance.The demand from Singapore-based 3D Investment partners is likely to sharpen scrutiny of the treatment of Toshiba's foreign investors. It follows a contentious, but failed, attempt by foreign shareholders to elect some new independent directors to Toshiba's board at the July 31 meeting.3D said voting rights representing a 1.1% stake in Toshiba were not reflected in the results of the meeting, according to an Aug. 9 letter from the hedge fund to Toshiba's outside directors seen by Reuters.The fund, which holds a 4.2% voting stake and ranks among Toshiba's top five shareholders, had nominated two candidates as independent directors and publicly said it would vote against chief executive Nobuaki Kurumatani."Such administration of shareholders meetings by Toshiba including the manner of processing voting forms was at least improper and was questionable from the viewpoint of corporate governance," 3D said in the letter. – Nampa/ReutersSanofi to buy Principia Biopharma French healthcare company Sanofi SA has agreed to buy US company Principia Biopharma Inc for around US$3.7 billion, the companies saidyesterday, strengthening Sanofi's presence in research and development (R&D) areas.Sanofi will buy the outstanding shares of Principia for US$100 per share in cash, according to the joint statement, representing an aggregate equity value of around US$3.68 billion on a fully diluted basis and a premium of 10% to Principia Biopharma's stock closing of US$90.74 on Aug. 14.Sanofi said the acquisition of Principia Biopharma, which develops therapies for serious immune diseases, would strengthen its research capabilities in areas such as autoimmune and allergic diseases."This acquisition advances our ongoing R&D transformation to accelerate development of the most promising medicines that will address significant patient needs," said Sanofi chief executive officer Paul Hudson.Sanofi said it expected to complete the acquisition of Principia Biopharma in the fourth quarter of 2020."The merger will provide global resources to get these novel therapies to patients faster," said Martin Babler, president and chief executive officer at Principia Biopharma. – Nampa/ReutersGoogle goes public with rebuke Internet giant Google criticised proposed Australian antitrust laws, saying its free search service would be "at risk" and users' personal data could be shared if it is made to pay news organisations for their content.The Alphabet-owned company said the proposed laws would also help big media companies artificially inflate their search rankings, luring more viewers to their platforms and giving them an unfair advantage over small publishers and users of Google's YouTube streaming website.The statement, advertised on Google's main search page, marks an escalation of tensions between big tech companies and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) which has called for sweeping changes to rein in how Google and social media titan Facebook Inc use local content and consumer data."You've always relied on Google Search and YouTube to show you what's most relevant and helpful to you," Google Australia managing director Mel Silva wrote in the open letter. "We could no longer guarantee that under this law."The proposed law "wouldn't just impact the way Google and YouTube work with news media businesses, it would impact all of our Australian users" she wrote. – Nampa/ReutersGeely Automobile profit fell China's Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd said on Monday first-half net profit fell 43%, as the coronavirus outbreak slammed the brakes on auto sales in the world's biggest market.Geely, China's highest-profile automaker globally due to the group's investments in Volvo Cars and Daimler AG, posted January-June profit of 2.3 billion yuan (US$331.37 million), versus 4.01 billion yuan in the same period a year prior.Revenue fell 23% to 36.82 billion yuan, Geely said. The result compared with the 36.89-billion-yuan average of three analyst estimates compiled by Refinitiv.Geely earlier this month maintained its annual sales target of 1.4 million vehicles set in January, shortly after the coronavirus outbreak was first reported in China at the end of 2019. On Monday, it trimmed the target by 6% to 1.32 million vehicles. Sales last year reached 1.36 million vehicles. It sold 530,446 vehicles in January-June, around 19% lower than its total over the same period last year. – Nampa/ReutersCanSino wins vaccine patentChina's vaccine specialist CanSino Biologics Inc has won a patent approval from Beijing for its Covid-19 vaccine candidate Ad5-nCOV, state media reported, citing documents from the country's intellectual property regulator.It is the first Covid-19 vaccine patent granted by China, state-owned newspaper People's Daily reported on Sunday.The paper cited documents published by China's National Intellectual Property Administration saying that the patent was issued on Aug. 11.Saudi Arabia said this month it plans to begin Phase III clinical trials for the CanSino vaccine. CanSino has said it is also in talks with Russia, Brazil and Chile to launch phase III trials in those countries.CanSino's Hong Kong shares rose around 14% in Monday's morning session. Its Shanghai shares rose by 6.6% as of midday. – Nampa/Reuters

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