Industrials

Freescale’s mega-LBO does not compute

24 Feb 2011

The chipmaker started to quake under its hulking debt soon after it was bought for $17.6 billion in 2006. A restructuring and a sales rebound have helped. But even if Freescale's IPO fetches the same valuation as rival NXP, the buyout foursome's investment would be halved.

Nokia’s new CEO fluffs his big moment

11 Feb 2011

Stephen Elop has won Microsoft as an ally in the Finnish handsetmaker's battle to regain ground in smartphones. The tieup is Nokia's least bad option. But there's no management shakeup, and Elop's targets are vague. No wonder he's struggling to convince.

Alcatel-Lucent takes itself off the sick list

10 Feb 2011

Former BT boss Ben Verwaayen has shown he can turn around the maker of fixedline networking equipment that he inherited following a difficult 2006 merger. But the way things worked out for the UK firm after he left, suggests investors should temper their enthusiasm.

Asian tech well placed for a recovering world

9 Feb 2011

From flat panels to semiconductors, Asia's hightech exporters stand to gain from a jobless recovery in the West. Their shares are already breaking from the pack. As investors shift from hedging dollar declines to betting on corporate investment, that trend should continue.

ARM is good, but not as good as the shares suggest

2 Feb 2011

The company's business designing lowpower chips for mobile devices is going full tilt. ARM is using its position to capture large chunks of the markets for chips in everything from servers to autos. But an awful lot of rosy future is already baked in the stock's valuation.

Anti-Apple brigade readies group therapy session

5 Jan 2011

The giant tech confab CES kicks off on Thursday, again without any of Steve Jobs hipster crew. Their absence will be more acutely felt than ever, as rivals rush to show off answers to the iPad. Expect happy talk, defensive posturing, and denial but little consumer validation.

Qualcomm makes $3.1 bln push for tablet gold

5 Jan 2011

The wireless technology giant hasn t had much success beyond cellphones. Yet other devices, such as Apple s iPad and its rivals, are starting to take the technological lead from smartphones. Buying Atheros gives Qualcomm the chance to get more mobile.

China may stub its toe on rare earths quotas

30 Dec 2010

Export restrictions on metallic elements are designed to help protect domestic industry. But Chinese companies will lose if the policy leads to broader protectionism. If Beijing is serious about addressing environmental damage, it should limit rare earths production, not exports.

ABB’s fully priced $4.2 bln Baldor bid is worth it

30 Nov 2010

This SwissU.S. engineering tieup looks set to motor. ABB may not have got a bargain in agreeing to buy its U.S. rival. But the likely returns look tolerable and the industrial logic is convincing.

HK’s first proper proxy fight sets right tone

29 Sep 2010

Shareholders in GOME have foiled its jailed founder's plan to kick out two board directors, but denied the Chinese retailer the right to dilute him at will. That's the right result. GOME may gain more by learning to live with the troublesome activist than by trying to squash him.

GOME can’t easily cut cord on jailed entrepreneur

13 Sep 2010

The Chinese electrical retailer wants to neutralise its imprisoned founder, who is using his 35 pct stake to threaten its growth. Westernstyle corporate governance isn't easily suited to vanquishing such problems. Shareholders won't find any easy answers, only valuable lessons.

Are Dell’s shareholders on Xanax?

2 Sep 2010

The company has finally bowed out of its mad bidding war for 3PAR. Yet its investors displayed neither much concern about overpayment nor relief about the deal being dropped. After a decade of scandals, missed opportunities and dismal performance, they may have stopped caring.

Russian law is, shall we say, flexible

26 Jul 2010

A well connected Russian firm backed out of a contract to buy out a utility's foreign minority holders. It argues the Russians were really foreigners who didn't have permission to bid. Up to now, the courts have backed the tortured logic, but a top court may uphold common sense.

GE shrinking into better shape

16 Jul 2010

The downsizing of the conglomerate's finance arm is making the firm healthier, as secondquarter figures illustrate. GE will eventually need revenue growth at its industrial arms. But for now, a bit of relative calm is giving the company the chance to get fitter.

GE’s Immelt tells some hard half-truths

2 Jul 2010

When the head of a leading U.S. company moans privately about China and Obama, it's news. And Jeff Immelt is right: China is selfinterested and the president isn't businessfriendly. But he should remember that both Beijing and Washington have good reasons for their policies.

Cisco’s hype can’t live up to Apple’s

9 Mar 2010

The network equipment maker promised an innovation that would forever change the Internet. It turned out to be a faster router. The unsexy advancement probably will end up more widely useful than a music player. But Cisco could learn a little about buzz from the iPod maker.

Lightbulb ban violates simple economic principles

1 Sep 2009

The EU ban on incandescent lightbulbs imposes substantial hidden costs on the economy. Fluorescent bulbs don t work as claimed and are difficult to dispose of. If the new bulbs were better, consumers would choose them naturally, and could be nudged to do so by a carbon tax.

Apple shouldn’t behave like Pyongyang

25 Jun 2009

The way it handled speculation about dear leader Steve Jobs health risks big problems down the road. Apple s selective silence creates unrealistic expectations for its ailing founder s ability to govern and muddies the firm s succession planning.

NXP’s $1.9bn debt exchange shows signs of failure

19 Mar 2009

The Dutch chipmaker s attempt to cut debt by offering bondholders a chance to swap their notes for supersenior loans appears to have hit trouble. A mere 10% takeup at the half way stage suggests NXP s private equity owners may have to share the pain sooner rather than later.

ArcelorMittal shows strength with E1bn convert

17 Mar 2009

Investors lapped up the steel giant s bond. But the fourtimes oversubscription reflects generous terms; a near 8% yield with a modest conversion premium. ArcelorMittal is paying up to get financial flexibility, and support for its claim that it doesn t need a rights issue.