Krypton Evening News | UBS is said to have laid off four loan syndication bankers in Asia; Nongfu Spring issues another statement to refute rumors; Aston Martin raises £210 million for electrification strategy.
Big Companies:
Deutsche Telekom Increases Investment in OpenRAN and Expands Cooperation with Nokia
Nokia, a network equipment supplier, said on Wednesday that Deutsche Telekom, one of the largest telecommunications operators in Europe, has chosen the company to deploy more than 3,000 open network sites in northern Germany. It is understood that this large-scale network transaction is a large-scale commercial deployment of OpenRAN open technology. OpenRAN technology allows telecom operators to select the required components from different equipment suppliers instead of purchasing the entire set of equipment from a single supplier. According to the cooperation statement between the two parties, Nokia's technology will be connected to the wireless communication equipment of Fujitsu, a Japanese information and communication technology company. (Zhitong Finance)
36Kr learned that China Nuclear Engineering Corporation announced that the company expects to have related party transactions with China Cinda Asset Management Co., Ltd., the company's second-largest shareholder, and its subsidiaries. In order to standardize the management of related party transactions, it is now proposed to sign the "Framework Agreement for Related Party Transactions" with China Cinda for related transactions. The validity period of the agreement is 2 years, and the scope of cooperation focuses on the main business of China Cinda. Within the validity period of the agreement, it will provide services such as acquiring or entrusted operation of assets, revitalizing underlying assets, and providing liquidity support for the company. The total transaction volume within the validity period of the agreement does not exceed 5 billion yuan.
36Kr learned that China Bester Group Telecom Co., Ltd. released an announcement of the investor relations activity record. Up to now, the total computing power put into use by the company exceeds 10,000 P, mainly distributed in Shanghai, Qinghai, Hubei, Anhui and other places. In addition, the construction of the company's new energy production line is progressing smoothly. The civil construction of the production plant and the supporting building has been completed, and the mechanical and electrical supporting professionals have entered the site one after another. The production line equipment has arrived one after another, and the installation and testing of the equipment is underway. The main customers of the company's computing power business include large model manufacturers with AI computing power needs, industry vertical customers, colleges and universities, and research institutes. Overseas business is an important development direction and performance growth point for the company in the future, and the company focuses on layout in countries along the Belt and Road such as the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa.
UBS Reportedly Lays Off Four Loan Syndication Bankers in Asia
It is reported that informed sources revealed that as rising financing costs cast a shadow over the market, UBS Group has laid off four loan syndication bankers in Asia. It is reported that these people joined UBS during the acquisition of Credit Suisse by UBS in 2023 and left on the 25th local time. Informed sources said that the laid-off individuals include two bankers based in Singapore - Terence Chia, the head of the loan syndication team, and Irene Liao, an executive director of the team. (Jiemian)
Ye Guofu and Yu Donglai Meet for the First Time to Jointly Promote Quality Retail
36Kr learned that on November 27, Ye Guofu, the founder, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Miniso Group, met with Yu Donglai, the chairman of Pangdailai for the first time. Ye Guofu said that Miniso has always advocated the consumption proposition of high-quality and affordable products, advocating a return to the essence of consumption, focusing on quality, innovation, and products, rather than price. Yu Donglai believes that entrepreneurs should run their businesses happily, products should have world-class quality, be kind to people, and be well-made. Products should have a reasonable profit, otherwise it will affect creativity. It is understood that the two sides may conduct in-depth cooperation on quality retail in the future.
LONGi Green Energy Sets Up Two New Companies on the Same Day
36Kr learned that the Tianyancha App shows that recently, Hohhot Shengyuan Biomass Processing Co., Ltd. and Hohhot Yifei New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. were established. The legal representatives are both Yu Litao, and the registered capital is 1 million Chinese yuan each. The business scope includes power generation technology services, solar power generation technology services, technical services, technical development, technical consultation, technical exchange, technical transfer, and technical promotion. Shareholder information shows that both companies are wholly-owned by Xi'an LONGi New Energy Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of LONGi Green Energy (601012).
36Kr learned that on November 27, Alibaba Cloud announced the launch of the "Hong Kong Technology Creates the Future" plan, which will further increase the investment in cloud infrastructure construction in the Hong Kong market and enhance the AI technical support and talent cultivation for local enterprises and ecological partners. Gartner data shows that in 2023, Alibaba Cloud is the number one cloud computing IaaS service provider in Hong Kong. It is revealed that Alibaba Cloud continues to grow in Hong Kong. Compared with the same period last year, its revenue maintains double-digit growth, and the number of consumer customers has increased by more than 60%. Currently, Alibaba Cloud operates 28 public cloud regions and 85 availability zones globally, covering more than 200 countries and regions, and serving millions of customers.
36Kr learned that China Electronics Technology Group Corporation Image Technology Co., Ltd. announced that in order to enhance the synergy of the main business, improve management efficiency, and reduce operating costs, the company plans to transfer some display module assets of the parent company to the wholly-owned subsidiary Fujian Huajiacai Co., Ltd. through an agreement, with a total transaction price of approximately 61.4972 million yuan (excluding tax).
Investment and Financing:
Aston Martin Raises £210 Million for Electrification Strategy
The British luxury car manufacturer Aston Martin said on Wednesday that it has raised approximately £211 million (approximately $265.4 million) through a stock and bond issuance to fund its electrification strategy and future investments. (Sina Finance)
The French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi said on Wednesday that it will build a new factory in Singapore to produce vaccines and other drugs to strengthen its preparedness for emergencies, including potential pandemics. According to a statement, the factory, called Modulus, is built with an investment of SGD 800 million (nearly $600 million) in the Tuas Biomedical Park in Singapore. It can simultaneously produce up to four vaccines or biopharmaceuticals and will be fully operational by mid-2026, creating 200 technical jobs in Singapore. (Sina Finance)
New Products:
36Kr learned that on November 26, Sharge joined hands with LOHO and Huiding Optics to establish the "AI Smart Glasses Optical Research Center" and launched exclusive lenses suitable for AI smart glasses. On December 19, Sharge Technology will hold a new product launch in Shenzhen to officially release the first mass-produced AI shooting glasses in China.
36Kr learned that Fullhan Microelectronics Co., Ltd. stated on the interactive platform that the company's AIoT chip can be applied to multiple intelligent application scenarios in terms of technical specifications. Currently, it has been applied in the field of consumer robots, and the company will continue to develop relevant chip products and solutions according to customer needs.
Today's Views:
Nongfu Spring Issues Another Rumor-Refuting Statement
36Kr learned that Nongfu Spring once again issued a rumor-refuting statement on its official Weibo, clarifying 20 major rumors targeting Nongfu Spring and its founder Zhong Shanshan. Nongfu Spring emphasized that the "Red Flag Principle" aims to avoid the abuse of the "Safe Harbor Principle", that is, if a network service provider knows or should know that a network user uses its network service to infringe upon the civil rights and interests of others and fails to take necessary measures, it shall be jointly and severally liable with the network user (Article 1197 of the Tort Liability Chapter of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China). Nongfu Spring stated that under the "Red Flag Principle", for obvious rumors and attacks, the platform should take the initiative to stop them; for rumors that Nongfu Spring has already refuted, the platform should also use technical means to batch delete them and prevent the repeated occurrence and spread of such rumors.
PT Blue Bird, Indonesia's largest taxi company, expects that a factory to be put into production by BYD will significantly reduce the prices of electric vehicles. Noni Purnomo, a senior executive of the Blue Bird Group, said in an interview on Wednesday that the company's goal is to increase the proportion of electric vehicles in its fleet to 3% by next year and gradually increase it to 20% by 2030. "We are very happy that BYD is now investing in Indonesia," said Purnomo, who once led the taxi company. "We hope that the price of electric vehicles can drop significantly soon." (Sina Finance)
Isabel Schnabel, a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, said that caution is needed to avoid excessive interest rate cuts, as borrowing costs are already approaching a level that no longer suppresses the economy, and further rate cuts may be counterproductive. Schnabel said in an interview that monetary policy can continue to be eased, but only gradually, to avoid interest rates falling below the so-called neutral level. The hawkish policymaker warned that excessive easing could waste valuable policy space. (Sina Finance)
Other News Worth Noting:
36Kr learned that the People's Bank of China and other seven departments jointly issued the "Action Plan for Promoting High-Quality Development of Digital Finance". It is mentioned that the construction of new infrastructure related to digital finance should be strengthened. Guide qualified financial institutions to plan and build green and intelligent financial data centers, promote the aggregation of new computing power to national hub nodes, and support massive data storage and real-time data calls. Build and optimize a highly reliable and redundant network architecture, improve the robustness and service capacity of the financial network, and build a communication expressway for financial digital transformation. Layout an advanced and efficient computing power system, accelerate the standardized application of technologies such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence, explore the use of edge computing and quantum technology to break through the existing computing power bottleneck, and provide accurate and efficient computing power support for financial digital transformation.