15/07/2026

BIZ & FINANCE WEDNESDAY | JULY 15, 2026

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SK Hynix set to benefit from potential rule change cross-shareholdings.

Vault, Genesis to merge and create A$12.6b Australian gold producer SYDNEY: Genesis Minerals has agreed to acquire smaller peer Vault Minerals in a deal that would create Australia’s third largest gold producer with a market capitalisation of around A$12.6 billion (RM35.6 billion). The development, which was an-nounced in a joint statement yesterday, follows Regis Resources dropping its pursuit of Vault, stating that the terms required to match Genesis’offer would not meet its value and return targets. The rival Genesis bid, unveiled last week, was at a 15.7% premium to Vault’s closing price at the time of the offer and values it at about A$5.6 billion. The combination, expected to generate an annual production capacity of up to 700,000 ounces, is estimated to yield A$2 billion in synergies due to the proximity of the firms’ respective operations at Leonora and Bardoc-Mount Monger in Western Australia. That could help Genesis’ higher-grade ore be milled through Vault’s processing plant rather than requiring it to expand its own. Genesis shareholders would own around 59.8% of the combined entity, while Vault shareholders would hold the remaining 40.2% stake, with the scheme being unanimously recommended by the Vault board. The merged entity will have a board comprising four Genesis directors and three Vault directors. Vault non-executive chair Russell Clark will maintain his position at the combined group, while Genesis CEO Matt Nixon will be appointed chief executive of the merged group. – Reuters India regulator finds HP rigged bids on govt procurement platform BENGALURU: India’s competition regu lator found PC maker HP guilty of rigging bids on the government’s electronic procurement platform, ordering the company and 21 of its resellers to stop the practice and pay penalties totalling US$15 million (RM61.15 million). The Competition Commission of India (CCI) found HP India dictated bid prices to its resellers and selectively withheld authorisation documents to control which of them could compete for government contracts. The orders, issued late Monday, covered tenders for personal computers and printer consumables between 2017 and 2020. HP India did not immediately respond to a request for comment. HP India itself filed lesser penalty appli cations under the country’s Competition Act that triggered both investigations, and received significant reductions in penalty for its disclosures and cooperation. Five resellers were found to have colluded with HP India in the personal computers case, and 16 resellers were found liable in the printer supplies case. Several HP India officials and reseller executives were also held personally liable under the competition rules, which imposes individual penalties on officers under whose consent or connivance a contravention took place. The CCI directed all contravening parties to cease the practices and conduct competition compliance training pro grammes within 60 days. The orders add to a growing body of cartel enforcement by the CCI, which has penalised companies across sectors from beer to cement in recent years. – Reuters

rallies, while chip stocks also tend to be volatile due to the historical boom-and-bust cyclical nature of the industry. “SK Hynix is a special case because it is large, liquid, AI-critical, and hard for many US investors to own directly,” said Ophir Gottlieb, CEO of Capital Market Laboratories. Companies known to be interested in a similar move to SK Hynix’s include Japanese memory chipmaker Kioxia, which has said it’s planning an American Depositary Receipts (ADR) listing as soon as the April-June quarter of 2027. Its shares have surged about sixfold this year on AI demand. Singapore-based data centre operator DayOne, while in talks with a potential buyer, is also planning a US-Singapore dual-listing targeting a valuation of US$20 billion, sources have said. DayOne did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Bloomberg News reported yesterday, citing people familiar with the matter, that Samsung Electronics Co is in the early stages of exploring a potential offering of ADR. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Samsung declined to comment. Samsung has held preliminary discussions with banks, but hasn’t yet made a decision about whether to proceed, the report said adding that the discussions are in the very early stages and may not result in a listing. – Reuters

o South Korea’s ruling party seeks to ease capital-raising regulations SEOUL: South Korea’s ruling party is seeking to make it easier for chipmaker SK Hynix to set up ventures to build factories with outside investors – a move that follows a government push to position the country as an AI powerhouse. Members of President Lee Jae Myung’s Democratic Party of Korea have proposed amending a law pertaining to “strategic industries with cutting-edge technologies” that currently forbids a subsidiary of a subsidiary from such a move. If passed, chipmaker SK Hynix – which is a unit of SK Square which is in turn a unit of SK Inc – will be able to attract outside capital for its new fabs if it retains a stake of at least 50% in such a joint venture. The law primarily affects SK Hynix, the leading developer of high-bandwidth memory used in Nvidia’s AI processors. Other major South Korean conglomerates maintain less direct control over their prized units, instead exerting control through a complicated web of

SK Hynix raised US$26.5 billion (RM108 billion) last week in a high-profile US share sale, but is expected to need far more funds to finance aggressive chip expansion plans. The government has outlined projects that aim to build new semiconductor production sites in the country’s southwest. SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics have pledged to invest 400 trillion won (RM1.09 trillion) each. South Korea needs “fast construction of fabs to win against other major countries and companies,“ the lawmakers said in the draft bill, adding that companies can no longer cover such costs with traditional capital raising. The proposed amendment would also require any new venture to have its head quarters or main office outside the greater Seoul area, in line with government efforts to stimulate regional economies, the lawmakers said. SK Hynix may have had a rousing US share sale and market debut last week, but that owed much to its pivotal role in the AI supply chain and timing. Other Asian tech firms are expected to take note and also look to tap foreign investors but they are likely to find appetite for AI-related companies more selective, investors say. Current levels of investor exuberance over AI are going to be hard to maintain as fears grow about the sustainability of AI-driven stock

VOLATILE TRADING ... Dealers work as an electronic board displays the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi), the exchange rate between the US dollar and South Korean won and the Korea Securities Dealers Automated Quotations at the dealing room of a bank, in Seoul yesterday. The Kospi closed up 49.90 points, or 0.73%, at 6,856.83 points. The won appreciated to as much as 1,486.3 per US dollar, its highest level since mid-May. Shares of SK Hynix ended 3.7% higher after plunging 9% during the day. – REUTERSPIC

Revised bids revive stalled IDBI Bank stake sale NEW DELHI: India has received revised bids from Canada’s Fairfax Financial and Dubai’s Emirates NBD for the sale of its majority stake in IDBI Bank, two sources said, reviving a transaction stalled earlier this year over valuation expectations. Indian government owns 45.48% of IDBI Bank, while LIC holds 49.24%. Fairfax is the frontrunner to acquire the bank and is in conversation with the government while Emirates is not actively pursuing the deal after having acquired another Indian lender last year, one of the two sources and a fourth source said.

private lender RBL Bank for US$3 billion, while Japan’s MUFG bought a 20% stake in non-bank lender Shriram Finance for US$4.4 billion, marking some of the largest foreign investments in India’s banking industry. To draw similar interest in state-run banks, India also plans to raise the foreign direct investment limit in them to 49% from 20% currently. IDBI Bank’s stake sale process was initiated in 2022 and has since dragged on due to regulatory and procedural approvals. By March 2026, when the process neared its completion, it stalled due to high government valuation expectations and weak investor appetite amid the Middle East conflict. Concerns over pension and gratuity liabilities also weighed on bids, Reuters had reported. – Reuters

India’s federal government and state-run Life Insurance Corp of India (LIC) are selling a combined 60.7% stake in IDBI Bank, with the transaction expected to be completed in a month, one of the sources said yesterday. The sale process was stalled earlier this year after bids submitted in March by Fairfax and Emirates fell short of the government’s expectations. The revised bids are being evaluated, and a top panel of bureaucrats met on Monday to discuss the stake sale, a third source said. The

Details of the revised bids and valuation of the bank could not be immediately ascertained. The finance ministry, IDBI, LIC, Fairfax and Emirates did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. The revised bids come amid growing foreign investor interest in India’s financial sector. Last year, Emirates NBD acquired a stake in