Dhaka, Jan 7 (UNB) – Walton Hi-Tech Industries Limited will provide information about the company to eligible institutional investors at a road show as part of its plan to go public.

The show will be held at 6:30pm on January 15 at Walton Corporate Office in Dhaka’s Bashundhara Residential Area. 

Walton aims to collect Tk 1 billion from the market through initial public offering using ‘book building’ method. Book building is a process through which an issuer attempts to determine the price to offer for its security, based on demand from institutional investors. 

A road show is a requirement under the book building regulations before price discovery. 

Eligible institutional investors like merchant bankers, asset management companies, stock dealers, banks, mutual funds and collective investment scheme, financial institutions, insurance companies, alternative investment fund managers and other institutions approved by the commission will participate in the event.

As of July to September of the current fiscal year 2018-19, the company registered its EPS (Earning Per Share) and NAV (Net Asset Value) at Tk 10.41 and Tk 208 respectively. Currently, the company’s authorised and paid up capitals are Tk 600 crores and Tk 300 crores respectively.

AAA Finance and Investment Limited has been appointed as manager to the issue of the company and Prime Bank Investment Limited has been appointed as registrar to the issue of the company.

Md Yakub Ali, company secretary of Walton, invited the eligible institutional investors to the IPO road show, noting how the company had been playing a remarkable role in the GDP growth, employment creation, foreign currency earnings, use of green technology, and spread of sports, among others. 

Abul Bashar Hawlader, chief financial officer and executive director of Walton, said the brand was working with the aim of becoming a global player by 2021. 
 

Beijing, Jan 7 (AP/UNB) — Tesla Inc. broke ground Monday for a factory in Shanghai, its first outside the United States.

CEO Elon Musk said Monday on Twitter that the company will start production in China of its Model 3 and a planned crossover by the end of the year.

Tesla announced plans in July to build the Gigafactory 3 facility in China, the biggest electric vehicle market, despite trade tension between Beijing and Washington. That followed Beijing's announcement it would end restrictions this year on foreign ownership of electric vehicle producers in an effort to spur industry development.

"Looking forward to breaking ground on the @Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory today!" said Musk on Twitter. "Aiming to finish initial construction this summer, start Model 3 production end of year & reach high volume production next year."

China's state broadcaster CCTV showed Musk and other Tesla and local officials attending a chilly ceremony in the rain Monday in Shanghai's outskirts.

The Shanghai factory will produce "affordable versions of 3/Y for greater China," Musk said. The company refers to a planned crossover that has yet to receive a formal name as the Y.

Higher-priced models will be built in the United States for export to China, Musk said.

Tesla, based on Palo Alto, California, global automakers including General Motors Co., Volkswagen AG and Nissan Motor Corp. that are pouring billions of dollars into manufacturing electric vehicles in China.

Local production would eliminate risks from tariffs and other import controls. It would help Tesla develop parts suppliers to support service and make its vehicles more appealing to mainstream Chinese buyers.

Tesla said in October it had signed an agreement for a 210-acre (84-hectare) site in the Lingang district in southeastern Shanghai.

Shanghai is a center of China's auto industry and home to state-owned Shanghai Automotive Industries Corp., the main local manufacturer for GM and VW.

Tesla has yet to give a price tag but the Shanghai government said it would be the biggest foreign investment there to date.

The company faces competition from Chinese brands including BYD Auto and BAIC Group that already sell tens of thousands of hybrid and pure-electric sedans and SUVs annually.

Until now, foreign automakers that wanted to manufacture in China were required to work through state-owned partners. Foreign brands balked at bringing electric vehicle technology into China to avoid having to share it with potential competitors.

The first of the new electric models being developed by global automakers to hit the market, Nissan's Sylphy Zero Emission, began rolling off a production line in southern China in August.

Lower-priced electric models from GM, Volkswagen and other global brands are due to hit the market starting this year, well before Tesla is up and running in Shanghai.

Mexico City, Jan 7 (AP/UNB) — Mexicans are scrambling for gasoline amid long lines at gas stations and widespread shortages prompted by a change in distribution methods aimed at stemming fuel theft.

State oil company Petroleos Mexicanos said the use of more secure transportation methods has resulted in delays for fuel delivery to gas stations in the states of Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Michoacan, Mexico and Queretaro. It is urging consumers not to panic or hoard gasoline, promising that supply will soon stabilize.

Frantic consumers have made a run on the pumps and social media has been filled with images of gas station signs saying they are out of fuel, and consumers comparing the thin supplies to scarcity for basic goods like bread and milk that plagued Mexico during the 1970s.

The shortage has given ammunition to government critics, who say many of the new administration's policies and goals are throwbacks to past decades.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who took office on Dec. 1, said Sunday that complicity within Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, has allowed the fuel theft to blossom for years, growing from $500,000 a year more than a decade ago to roughly $3 billion in stolen fuel last year.

Lopez Obrador said overhauling the network requires taking on powerful and entrenched interests that have benefited from fuel theft for years. Without going into detail on tactics, the president said Mexico has reduced daily theft to 36 truckloads of fuel from an average of more than 1,000 truckloads a day.

Pemex is trying to stem billions of dollars in losses from criminal gangs that tap pipelines to steal gasoline by instead transporting the fuel via truck. Analysts say truck transport is more expensive, and less efficient.

Gasoline is a hot political issue in Mexico. Former President Enrique Pena Nieto's decision to hike gasoline prices in January 2017 sparked ire that many cite as leading to his party's eventual ouster.

Dhaka, Jan 5 (UNB) - A 3-storey premiere pavilion has been erected by the country’s electronics giant ‘Walton’ at the premises of Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF), beginning from January 9 at the capital’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar to showcase and sell out its wide ranges of electronics and electrical appliances.

Walton followed ‘Green Technology’ method during the erection of its premier pavilion (number-23).

The pavilion will be featured with mural, 98-inch LED Television, 18 feet width entrance or exit gate, 7 feet widths stairs for easy moving through different floors, lift, enormous fire and electrical safety equipment.

The entrance gate is decorating with terracotta.

At the ground floor of the pavilion, Walton brand’s world-class frost and non-frost refrigerators, freezers, televisions, washing machines, electric and microwave ovens, blenders, induction cookers, gas stoves, electric fans, switch-sockets, acid led rechargeable batteries, LED lights and other sorts of electrical and home appliances will be showcased.

Walton brand smart and featured phones, laptops and accessories, lift, air conditioners, compressors and Industrial Solutions will be showcased at the first floor. And, the second floor will be used as store room.  

Walton Group’s Executive Director Md Humayun Kabir said, “This year a colorful mural of the Bangladesh’s electronics manufacturing sector pioneer named SM Nazrul Islam will be in the pavilion to pay tribute to his outstanding contribution.”

A 98-inch LED televisions will also be set up in the pavilion as the upcoming model, in which corporate documentary as well as production processes of different sorts of electronics and electrical appliances at Walton factory will be displayed, he added.

Pointing at the safety issue, Walton Pavilion’s Architect Sadde Mohammad Rumman,  said they are establishing premier pavilion on total of 7,500 square feet with the aim of luring buyers and visitors.

Emphasizing the safety issues, Walton used high quality steel made beam, frame, Aluminum Composite Panel (ACP) board, glass as well as other fire and safety equipment, he said adding, adequate fire extinguisher will also be at the pavilion.

“We followed the green-technology method during the establishment of Walton Mega Pavilion at the DITF-19. And, about 90 percent construction materials of the pavilion are reusable, he noted.

Dwelling on the preparation, Walton Pavilion’s Convener Selim Reza said, the construction work is completed. Now, they are decorating the interior part of the pavilion.

Today, Walton is the premier electronics brand in the local market, claiming it he said, thus most of the visiting buyers-customers at the DITF throng Walton Pavilion.

Considering such huge customers flows, an 18 feet widths entrance and exit gate will be available at the pavilion so that large number of buyers or visitors at a time can pass through the gate, he said.

Walton Group’s Executive Director (PR and Media) Md Humayun Kabir said, Walton employed more than 50 exhibitors. They are divided into several groups based on different products and given higher trainings on product’s uniqueness, corporate behaviour and culture and on how to provide better customer service.

Mentionable, Walton secured the highest VAT payer title since the inception of the recognition of the highest VAT Paying enterprises at the DITF. In addition, the local brand honoured with Best Premier Pavilion Award several times at the DITF.

Tokyo, Jan 5 (AP/UNB) — A 612-pound (278-kilogram) bluefin tuna sold for a record 333.6 million yen ($3 million) in the first auction of 2019, after Tokyo's famed Tsukiji market was moved to a new site on the city's waterfront.

The winning bid for the prized but threatened species at the predawn auction Saturday was more than double the 2013 annual New Year auction.

It was paid by Kiyomura Corp., whose owner Kiyoshi Kimura runs the Sushi Zanmai chain. Kimura has often won the annual auction in the past.

Japanese broadcaster NHK showed a beaming Kimura saying that he was surprised by the high price of tuna this year. But he added: "The quality of the tuna I bought is the best."

The auction prices are way above usual for bluefin tuna. The fish normally sells for up to $40 a pound ($88 a kilogram) but the price rises to over $200 a pound near the year's end, especially for prized catches from Oma in northern Japan.

Last year's auction was the last at Tsukiji before the market shifted to a new facility on a former gas plant site on Tokyo Bay. The move was delayed repeatedly due to concerns over soil contamination.

Japanese are the biggest consumers of the torpedo-shaped bluefin tuna, and surging consumption here and overseas has led to overfishing of the species. Experts warn it faces possible extinction, with stocks of Pacific bluefin depleted by 96 percent from their pre-industrial levels.

"The celebration surrounding the annual Pacific bluefin auction hides how deeply in trouble this species really is," said Jamie Gibbon, associate manager for global tuna conservation at The Pew Charitable Trusts.

There are signs of progress toward protecting the bluefin, and Japan and other governments have backed plans to rebuild Pacific bluefin stocks, with a target of 20 percent of historic levels by 2034.

Decades-old Tsukiji was one of Japan's most popular tourist destinations as well as the world's biggest fish market. The new market opened in October. A few businesses stayed in Tsukiji but nearly all of the 500-plus wholesalers and other businesses shifted to Toyosu.

Tsukiji is due to be redeveloped, though for now it's being turned into a parking lot for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.