16/10/2025

BIZ & FINANCE THURSDAY | OCT 16, 2025

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Rakuten weighing US IPO of credit card business

TOKYO: Japanese e-commerce and finance heavyweight Rakuten is weighing an initial public offering in the United States of its credit card business, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Rakuten began considering a potential US listing of one of Japan’s largest credit card businesses last month, the sources said. The considerations are in the early stages, with other potential options including a stake sale to a strategic buyer, one of the sources said. One trigger for considering a US IPO of Rakuten Card was rival SoftBank’s plans to list app pay operator PayPay in the US, the source said. The sources declined to be named as the information is not public. The company’s considerations of a US IPO had not been reported previously. Rakuten did not respond to requests for comment. The company’s shares extended gains after the Reuters report and closed up 4.7%, compared with a 1.6% rise in the Topix index . Mizuho Financial Group acquired a 15% stake in Rakuten Card for ¥165 billion (RM4.6 billion) last year, valuing the business at more than ¥1 trillion, or US$7 billion, with the two launching joint credit cards. For PayPay, institutional investors see a baseline valuation of ¥2 trillion, but expect the valuation could exceed ¥3 trillion in the IPO that could take place as early as December, Reuters reported this week. Rakuten, which is led by founder and CEO Hiroshi Mikitani, shook up Japan’s finance sector by simplifying the process for applying for credit cards and making them available to a wider range of consumers. Credit cards are an important part of a web of Rakuten businesses spanning online shopping, banking, travel and other services, with customers accruing

loyalty reward points by making payments. Rakuten listed Rakuten Bank in Tokyo two years ago as the group reeled from heavy losses due to launching a mobile network. Rakuten also announced plans to list Rakuten Securities, but Mizuho injected funding by taking stakes in the brokerage and card businesses. Rakuten Card has issued more than 30 million credit cards in Japan. Non-GAAP operating profit at the business grew 20% to ¥62 billion last year but fell 4.5% in the April-June quarter of this year compared to the same period a year earlier due to higher costs. Rakuten Card aims to expand profit to ¥100 billion over the medium term and is looking to expand its business with corporate customers, its CEO Koichi Nakamura said in March. The IPO considerations come as companies around the world are looking to list in the US as they seek higher valuations. The US IPO market has had its busiest quarter since the fourth quarter of 2021, with companies raising US$24 billion through first-time share sales in the third quarter, according to Dealogic. – Reuters o Listing considerations in early stages, other options include stake sale: Source

A man walking past a Rakuten shop along a street in Tokyo. – AFPPIC

Thailand draws up measures to boost tourism BANGKOK: Thailand will introduce new incentives to boost domestic travel, Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas said yesterday, as the government steps up efforts to revive a sluggish economy amid early signs of improving sentiment. arrivals fall 7.5% year-on-year to 25.1 million so far this year, well below the record of nearly 40 million before the pandemic. The tourism measures are part of a stimulus package aimed at meeting a 2.2% growth target this year. The government already launched a US$1.4 billion co-payment scheme swift policy rollout, the Federation of Thai Industries said earlier. Sentiment for the next three months was also optimistic, the group said.

India’s palm oil imports hit four-month low MUMBAI: India’s palm oil imports in September dropped to their lowest since May as refiners shifted to cheaper soyoil, shipments of which hit a more than three-year high, the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India said yesterday. Lower palm oil imports by India, the world’s largest buyer of vegetable oils, are expected to weigh on the benchmark Malaysian palm oil futures while supporting US soyoil futures. India’s palm oil imports in September dropped 16.3% to 829,017 metric tons, marking their lowest point since May, the industry trade body said. Imports of soyoil surged 36.8% to 503,240 tons, the highest level since July 2022, while sunflower oil imports rose about 6% to 272,386 tons, the highest since January, it added. The decline in palm oil imports dragged India’s total edible oil imports in September down by 1% month-on-month to 1.60 million tons, the trade body said. India’s palm oil imports are likely to fall to around 600,000 tons in October, while soyoil imports will likely exceed 450,000 tons, said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trade house. India buys palm oil mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia, while it imports soyoil and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine. India purchased 300,000 tons of soyoil from Argentina during Sept 23 and Sept 24, the largest ever purchase in a two-day period, dealers said, taking advantage of Buenos Aires’ move to scrap export taxes on soybeans and other food products. Demand for edible oil in India, particularly palm oil, typically rises during the festival season amid increased consumption of sweets and fried foods. – Reuters

Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy is projected to expand by between 1.8% and 2.3% this year, the state planning agency said, with growth expected to slow in the second half of 2025 under pressure from US tariffs, high household debt, weak consumption, and a strong baht. Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul’s government has a short window to deliver results before he dissolves parliament by the end of January ahead of elections due by April. – Reuters “This factory can probably serve at least as many markets as the European factories under free trade regimes,” he said, while acknowledging the continued uncertainty in global trade as a further reason for the firm to hedge its bets. “What we take for granted today, ‘Europe has a free trade agreement with country X’, you know, it’s not necessarily true tomorrow... (So) it is for us really good to have a third hub inside China, that increases our level of flexibility,” Levin added. Scania’s bet on China comes amid rising trade tensions. The US plans to impose a 25% tariff on all medium- and heavy-duty truck imports from Nov 1. – Reuters

The incentives, which include soft loans and tax measures, were discussed at a meeting of the economic policy committee and will be put to cabinet for approval next week, Ekniti said. Tax deductions of up to 20,000 baht (RM2,600) will be granted to citizens travelling domestically between Oct 29 and Dec 15, he added. Tourism, a key growth driver, has seen

subsidising living costs for about 20 million people, approved a US$49 billion budget for state enterprise investment plan expected to lift GDP by 0.3%, and plans to spend US$307 million to buy bad debt. Thai industrial sentiment rose for the first time in seven months in September amid growing confidence in the government’s

Scania launches new China manufacturing hub SHANGHAI: Volkswagen’s Swedish

have big industrial hubs, meaning customers get both tailor-made product and short lead time,” he said, compared with shipping standard trucks from its production base in Europe to Asia. The project entails a €2 billion (RM9.7 billion) investment for the firm, and it will initially employ 3,000 workers. The factory, alongside Scania’s facilities in Sweden and Brazil, will eventually reach a production capacity of 50,000 vehicles – nearly double the number the Brazilian plant produced last year. According to Levin, part of Scania’s China production calculation is the success the world’s second-largest economy has had forging free trade agreements with various countries.

truckmaker Scania opened its first fully owned factory in China yesterday, in what it described as a hedge against global uncertainty and a move that will give it greater flexibility in delivering to Asian customers. The factory, located in the eastern province of Jiangsu, will initially produce Scania’s advanced “Super” trucks for customers in China and the Asia region, Scania chief executive Christian Levin told Reuters. “It’s really (producing in) China for Asia, if you’d like. So by getting the factory here we can start to operate the way we do in Europe or the way we do in Latin America, where we