JULYASIA BUSINESS OUTLOOK8PERTAMINA JOINS HANDS WITH ELECTRUM TO MANUFACTURE EV BATTERY PACKSNWS HOLDINGS STOCKS SOAR POST BUYOUT DEAL VALUING UPTO $4.53 BILLIONPertamina, Indonesia's national energy provider, announced late Monday that it planned to collaborate with Electrum to create battery packs for electric motorcycles, with the goal of putting millions of electric two-wheelers on the Southeast Asian country's highways.The agreement was inked on Friday at the groundbreaking ceremony for Electrum's electric scooter plant, where the company, a joint venture between coal miner TBS Energi Utama and global tech conglomerate GoTo Gojek Tokopedia, plans to build 250,000 electric scooters each year.According to Pertamina spokesman Dicky Septriadi, the projected battery packing factory run by Pertamina's renewables unit and Electrum could have a capacity of around 300 megawatts.Indonesia has the world's largest reserves of nickel - a key element in electric vehicle (EV) batteries - and is keen to utilise the mineral to create a full supply chain for the industry. NWS Holdings rose 10% in Hong Kong on Tuesday after a unit of conglomerate Chow Tai Fook offered to buy up to 97% of the construction firm's stock in a deal valued up to HK$35.5 billion ($4.53 billion).The HK$9.15 per-share offer represents a 14.5% premium over NWS' previous close of HK$7.99. In resumed trading following a halt on Friday pending the news, the shares rose as much as 10.14 percent to HK$8.8, its best since June 2021.NWS, a subsidiary of New World Development (NWD), is an investment holding company that primarily works in Hong Kong and mainland China. Its primary businesses are construction, toll highways, and insurance.The sale will instantly boost NWD's financial situation, providing the property developer with cash proceeds of HK$21.78 billion, according to a joint statement from NWD, NWS, and Chow Tai Fook unit Century Acquisition.Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, Century Acquisition's immediate owner, currently controls 2.5 percent of NWS. Chow Tai Fook Nominee owns 0.56 percent of the company.According to the firms, the transaction would sharpen NWD's strategic emphasis on property development and investment, while NWS will gain additional financial flexibility to optimise its capital structure and lower its cost of capital.According to the joint statement, Century will "proactively optimise the NWS Group's business and asset portfolio" following the transaction, and it expects NWS to continue disposing of certain non-core businesses and investments. NEWSROOM
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