Industrial News

AC Energy, Ayala’s energy platform, and PHINMA today inked a mutually strategic agreement in relation to AC Energy’s investment in PHINMA Energy Corporation (“PHEN”). AC Energy will acquire PHINMA’s combined 51.48% stake in PHEN via a secondary share sale for approximately P3.42bn. This is based on the valuation date of December 31, 2018 and is subject to adjustments. Closing of the Transaction is subject to satisfaction of certain conditions, such as regulatory approvals, including the approval of the Philippine Competition Commission, and compliance with applicable tender offer requirements. AC Energy will also subscribe to approximately 2.632bn PHEN primary shares at [...]

Back in May, it was reported that the Ayala Group will take over the distributorship of the Kia brand of vehicles in the Philippines from current distributor Columbian Autocar Corporation (CAC) by acquiring a 65-percent stake of it, with the remaining 35 percent to remain with CAC founder and Chairman and current Palawan Governor Jose “Pepito” Alvarez. While no formal announcement about the takeover has been made, CARMUDI PHILIPPINES recently learned that it’s a done deal, with CAC practically letting go of almost every employee by October 15. According to our source, only a few holdovers from CAC will remain, [...]

Two years ago, nearly half of SunPower Corporation's (NASDAQ: SPWR) business was in solar power plants where the company did everything from buying land to signing contracts with utilities and even making the solar panels. But the power-plant business has become so competitive that SunPower has decided to shut down most of its operations. Instead, SunPower is returning its focus to high-efficiency solar panels and distributed-solar markets which means solutions for residential and commercial rooftops. The move is dramatic but may be the company's best option long term. How big power plants were for SunPower In 2016, power plants accounted for 54.8% of SunPower's [...]

BEIJING/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) walked away from a $44 billion deal to buy NXP Semiconductors (NXPI.O) after failing to secure Chinese regulatory approval, becoming a high profile victim of a bitter Sino-U.S. trade spat. The world’s biggest smartphone-chip maker and Netherlands-based NXP confirmed in separate statements on Thursday that the deal, which would have been the biggest semiconductor takeover globally, had been terminated. The collapse of the deal is likely to aggravate tensions between Washington and Beijing, damage China’s image as an antitrust regulator and discourage deals that need Chinese approval to go through, sources have said. [...]

A rundown of the locally assembled cars in the Philippines today It's nice to reminiscence about the past. One could say that we had quite the resume with assembling cars, be it completely knocked down or semi-knocked down units. We made muscle cars, luxury sedans and, perhaps most importantly, cars for the common folk. A lot of automakers have abandoned the idea of making cars here in favor of building them in Thailand, or in other neighboring ASEAN countries. However we still have quite a number of cars that we can say have been put together by our workforce. So what's [...]

President Donald Trump on Monday blocked a Singapore-based company's plans to acquire the US chipmaker Qualcomm for $117 billion, citing national security concerns. The order effectively squelches what would have been the largest technology acquisition of all time. US presidents have rarely taken such measures, and the executive order highlights growing economic tensions between the US and the rest of the world as Trump pursues protectionist policies. And it underscores the country's growing fears of cyberwar and espionage from foreign powers. Broadcom, a chipmaker incorporated in Singapore, was looking to take over Qualcomm, its San Diego-based rival. The deal was under scrutiny [...]

Robots have been taking our jobs since the 1960s. So why are politicians and business leaders only now becoming so worried about robots causing mass unemployment? Again, in an ideal scenario, humans may be able to focus on doing the things that make us human, perhaps fuelled by a basic income generated from robotic work. Ultimately, it will be up to us to define whether the robotic workforce will work for us, with us, or against us. It comes down to the question of what a robot really is. While science fiction has often portrayed robots as androids carrying out tasks in the much the same way as humans, the [...]

SAN FRANCISCO — Microchip Technology plans to acquire Microsemi Corp. for about $8.35 billion in cash under the terms of a definitive agreement announced Thursday (March 1). The deal would significantly expand Microchip's presence in several end markets, including the communications and aerospace and defense markets, which make up about 60 percent of Microsemi's sales. Microchip said the acquisition would expand its serviceable market by about $18 billion to more than $50 billion. The combined company would have annual sales of about $5.8 billion, based on each firm's revenue in the fourth quarter of 2017. "Microchip continues to view accretive [...]

While the largest deal in the history of technology continues to hit a number of speed bumps, we’re now getting into the phase of very strongly worded publicly issued statements between the two companies as we get closer and closer to the annual meeting of stockholders in early March. Broadcom  and Qualcomm  — the former of which is trying to acquire the latter — are continuing to duke it out on their respective investor relations pages by issuing public statements to investors over how much drama there is over the pricing of this deal. Broadcom is looking to buy Qualcomm for $79 per [...]

Merlin’s innovative solar panels (screengrab from website) Conglomerate Ayala Corp. has expanded its footprint in solar energy with the acquisition of a controlling stake in Merlin Solar Technologies Inc., a Silicon Valley-based firm that has developed “disruptive” solar farming technology whose operations can be scaled up by a manufacturing hub in the Philippines. The transaction was done through AC Industrials’ subsidiary, ACI Solar Holdings NA, which had previously made a minority investment in Merlin in 2016. AC Industrials will have an ownership interest of 78.2 percent in Merlin after the transaction and completion of other related activities, Ayala [...]