ZTE stock falls after US penalties over Iran

BEIJING: Shares in ZTE Corp. fell 42 per cent Tuesday in Hong Kong on their first trading day after the Chinese telecoms equipment maker agreed to pay a $1 billion penalty to the US government and replace its top managers.

Shares resumed trading following a two-month suspension after Washington accused state-owned ZTE in April of reneging on a settlement of charges it violated export rules by selling US technology to Iran and North Korea.

ZTE, China’s second-largest maker of telecoms equipment, agreed to replace its top executives and board of directors and to install a team of US compliance experts. In return, the White House rescinded a seven-year ban on purchases of US components that had forced ZTE to suspend most operations.

Also Tuesday, ZTE shares on mainland China’s second stock exchange in Shenzhen fell by the maximum 10pc margin allowed before trading was automatically suspended for the day.—AP

Toyota investing $1bn in Grab

TOKYO: Japan’s top automaker Toyota Motor Corp. is investing $1 billion in Grab, the leading ride-hailing company in Southeast Asia, the company said on Wednesday.

Toyota said it reached a deal with Grab Holdings to strengthen the existing partnership to grow in mobility services in the region.

A Toyota executive will be appointed to Grab’s board and another Toyota official is being tapped to be an executive officer at Grab, the company said.

Grab, which is similar to Uber in the U.S., is in eight nations in the region, including Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.

Uber’s Southeast Asian operations were acquired by Grab earlier this year. Uber retained a 27.5 per cent stake in the new merged entity.

Toyota was initially cautious about ride-sharing and autonomous-driving technology.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2018